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MAGJ^AIM  CHRISTI  MIEmCAXA . 


OR,    THE 


ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY 


OF 


NEW-ENGLAND 


FROM  ITS    FIRST  PLANTING 


JN  THE  YEAR  1620,  UNTO  THE  YEAR  OF  OUR  LORD,  1G98. 


IN  SEVEN  BOOKS. 


By  the  Revf:rend  and  Learned  COTTON  MATHER,   D.D. P  ,R.S. 

And  Pastor  of  the  North  Church  in  Boston,  Neio-Ensland. 


IN  TWO  VOLUMES. 


VOL.  L 


FIRST  AMERICAN  EDITION,    FROM  THE  LONDON  EDITION  OF    1702. 


HARTFORD : 
PUBLISHED  BY  SILAS  ANDRUS. 


Roberts  &  Burr,  Printers. 
1820. 


GENERAL  CONTENTS  OF  THE  SEVERAL  BOOKS. 


VOL.  L 


I.  Antiquities.  In  seven  chapters. 
With  an  Appendix. 

II.  Containing  the  lives  oftheGov- 
ernours,  and  names  of  the  Ma- 
gistrates of  NcAv  England.  In 
thirteen  chapters.  With  an  Ap- 
pendix. 


III.  The  Lives  of  sixty  Famous  Di- 
vines, hy  whose  ministry  the 
Churches  of  New-England  have 
been  planted  and  continued. 


VOL.  II. 


IV.  An  account  of  the  University  of 
Cambridge  in  New-England  ;  in 
TwoParts.  The  first  contains 
the  Laws,  the  Benefactors,  and 
Vicissitudes  of  Harvard  College; 
with  remarks  upon  it.  The  se- 
cond part  contains  the  Lives 
of  some  eminent  persons  educa- 
ted in  it. 

V.  Acts  and  Monuments  of  the  Faith 

and  Order  in  the  Churches  of 
New-England,  passed  in  their 
Synods ;  with  Historical  Re- 
marks upon  those  venerable  as- 
semblies ;  and  a  great  variety  of 
Church-cases  occurring,  and  re- 
solved by  the  Synods  of  those 
Churches.  In  four  Parts. 
VI,  A  Faithful  Record  of  manv  il- 


lustrious, wonderful  Providen- 
ces, both  of  mercies  and  judg- 
ments, on  divers  persons  in 
New-England.  In  Eight  Chap- 
ters. 
VII.  The  Wars  of  the  Lord.  Be- 
ing an  History  of  the  manifold 
Afflictions  and  Disturbances  of 
the  Churches  in  New-England, 
from  their  various  adversaries, 
and  the  wonderful  methods  and 
mercies  of  God  in  their  deliver- 
ance. In  six  Chapters.  To 
which  is  subjoined,  an  Appen- 
dix of  Remarkable  Occurrences- 
which  New-England  had  in  the 
wars  with  the  Indian  salvages, 
from  the  year  1688,  to  the  year 
1698. 


PREFACE  TO  THE  PRESENT  EDITION. 

THE  Publisher  of  this  second  Edition  of  Dr.  Mather's  Magnalia, 
has  long  been  sensible  of  the  great  demand  for  the  Work,  both  by  lite- 
rary men  and  all  others  who  wish  to  be  acquainted  with  the  early  history 
of  our  country.  The  first  Edition  was  published  in  London  in  the  year 
1702,  in  a  Folio  Volume  of  788  pages.  A  considerable  number  of 
Copies  were  soon  brought  into  New  England  ;  yet,  as  many  of  these  are 
lost,  and  the  work  is  not  to  be  obtained  in  England  but  with  difficulty,  it 
has  become  very  scarce.  In  some  instances  it  has  been  sold  at  a 
great  price,  but,  in  most  cases,  those  who  have  been  desirous  to  possess, 
or  even  to  read,  the  volume,  have  been  unable  to  procure  it. 

The  Magnalia  is  a  standard  work  with  American  Historians,  and  must 
ever  continue  to  be  such,  especially,  respecting  the  affairs  of  New  Eng- 
land. To  this  portion  of  our  country,  always  distinguished  for  emigra- 
tions, a  great  part  of  the  population  of  New-York,  the  most  important 
state  in  the  American  confederacy,  and  of  all  the  western  states  north  of 
the  Ohio,  will  always  trace  their  origin.  Nor  will  the  lapse  of  ages,  dimin- 
ish their  respect  for  the  land  of  their  forefathers. 

The  work  now  presented  to  the  American  public  contains  the  history  of 
the  Fathers  of  New -England,  for  about  eighty  years,  in  the  most  authen- 
tic form.  No  man  since  Dr.  Mather's  time,  has  had  so  good  an  oppor- 
tunity, as  he  enjoyed,  to  consult  the  most  authentic  documents.  The 
greater  part  of  his  facts  could  be  attested  by  living  witnesses  and  the 
shortest  tradition,  or  taken  from  written  testimonies,  many  of  which  have 
since  perished.  The  situation  and  character  of  the  author  afforded  him 
the  most  favourable  opportunities  to  obtain  the  documents  necessary  for 
his  undertaking.  And  no  historian  would  persue  a  similar  design  with 
greater  industry  and  zeal. 

The  author  has  been  accused  of  credulity.  This  charge,  however,  will 
not  be  advanced  with  confidence  by  those  well  acquainted  with  the  char- 
acter of  the  times  of  which  he  treats.  The  great  object  of  the  first  Plan- 
ters of  New-England  was  to  form  A  Christian  Commonwealth.  A  de- 
siga  without  a  parallel  in  ancient  or  modern  times.  The  judicious  read- 
er would  expect  to  discover,  in  the  annals  of  such  a  people,  characters 
and  events  not  to  be  found  in  the  history  of  other  communities. — The 
geography  and  natural  history  of  the  country  were  not  the  principal  ol> 
jects  of  the  author's  attention,  and,  on  these  subjects,  he  has  fallen  into 
some  mistakes. 


1  PREFACE  TO  THE  PRESENT  EDITION. 

The  work  is  both  a  civil  and  an  ecclesiastical  history. — 'J'he  large 
portion  of  it  devoted  to  Biography,  affords  the  reader  a  more  distinct 
view  of  the  leading  characters  of  the  times,  than  could  have  been  given 
in  any  other  form. 

The  author's  language  is  peculiarly  his  own.  In  the  rapidity  of  his 
manner,  he  could  pay  but  little  attention  to  his  style.  Such  as  it  is,  it 
has  been  thought  best  to  retain  it,  in  this  Edition,  as  well  as  his  orthog- 
raphy, unaltered.  The  Titles  of  D.  D.  and  F.  R.  S.  were  given  to  Dr, 
Mather  after  the  publication  of  this  work,  and  are  now  annexed  to  his 
name  in  the  title  page. 

Many  omissions  in  the  original  work  have  been  recommended, 
but  the  publisher  concludes  to  retain  the  whole. — He  is  sensible  of  the 
risk  of  publishing  so  large  a  vrork,  at  the  present  time.  But  relying  on 
the  utility  of  the  object,  he  entertains  a  hope  that  the  liberality  of  the 
public  will  save  him  from  loss. 

Hartford,  Connecticut,  June  1st.  1820. 


ANTIQUITIES. 


THE  ^ 


FIRST  BOOK 


OF     THE 


REPORTING 

THE  DESIGN  \vHERE-072,^    C  The   Several   Colgmes 

THE    MANNER  WHERE-tn,  \     /      of  NeW  EnGLAND  WCrC 

AND   PEOPLE  WHERE-6r/, )    (    Planted. 

WITH 

A  J^JIBRATIVE 

OF  MANY  MEMORABLE  PASSAGES, 

RELATING  TO  THE 

SETTLEMENT  OF  THESE  PLANTATIONS : 

AND 

AN  ECCLESIASTICAL  MAP  OF  THE  COUNTRY. 


BV    THE    ENDEAVOUR    OF 

COTTON  MATHER. 


Tantce  Molis  erat^pro  CHRISTO  condere  Gentem. 

HARTFORD  : 
PRINTED  FOR  SILAS  ANDRUS. 

1820. 


AN 


ATTESTATION 


TO  THIS 


CHURCH-HISTORY 


OF 


NEW  ENGLAND. 


It  hath  been  deservedly  esteemed,  one  of  the  great  and  wonderful 
works  of  God  in  this  last  age,  that  the  Lord  stirred  up  the  spirits  of  so 
many  thousands  of  his  servants,  to  leave  the  pleasant  land  of  England,  the 
land  of  their  nativity,  and  to  transport  themseleves,  and  families,  over  the 
ocean  sea,  into  a  desert  land  in  America,  at  the  distance  ot' a  thousand 
leagues  from  their  own  country  ;  and  this,  meerly  on  the  account  of  pure 
and  imde/iled  Religion,  not  knowing  how  the)'  should  have  their  daily 
bread,  but  trusting  in  God  for  that,  in  the  way  o{  seeking  first  the  kingdom 
of  God,  and  the  righteousness  thereof :  And  that  the  Lord  was  pleased  to 
grant  such  a  gracious  presence  of  his  with  them,  and  such  a  blessing  upon 
their  undertakings,  that  within  a  few  years  a  ■wilderness  was  subdued  be- 
fore them,  and  so  many  Colonies  planted,  Tom-ns  erected  and  Churches  set- 
tled, wherein  the  true  and  living  God  in  Christ  Jesus,  is  worshipped  and 
served,  in  a  place  where  time  out  of  mind,  had  been  nothing  before  but 
Heathenism,  Idolatry,  and  Devil-worship  ;  and  that  the  Lord  has  added  so 
many  of  the  blessings  o(  Heaven  and  earth  for  the  comfortable  subsistence 
of  his  people  in  these  ends  of  the  earth.  Surely  of  this  work,  and  of  this 
time,  it  shall  be  said,  what  hath  God  wrought  ?  And,  this  is  the  Lord^s  do- 
ings, it  is  marvellous  iii  our  eyes!  Even  so  (^0  Lord)  didst  thou  lead  thy  peo- 
ple, to  make  thyself  a  glorious  name!  Now,  one  generation  passeth  away,  and. 
another  cometh.  Thefirst  generation  of  our  fathers,  that  began  this  plan- 
tation of  .Vea)-£wj/a?u:?,  most  of  them  in  their  middle  age,  and  many  of 
them  in  their  declining  years,  who,  after  they  had  served  the  zcill  of  God. 
in  laying  the  foundation  (as  we  hope)  of  many  generations,  and  given  an 
example  of  true  r  formed  Religio?i  in  the  faith  and  order  of  the  gospel, 
according  to  their  best  light  from  the  zi-ords  of  God,  they  are  now  gath- 


8      AN  ATTESTATION  TO  THIS  CHURCH-HISTORY,  &ic. 

ered  unto  their  fathers.  There  hath  been  another  generation  succeeding  thfe 
first,  either  of  such  as  come  over  with  their  parents  very  young,  or  were 
born  in  the  country, and  these  have  had  the  managing  of  the  pubhck  affairs 
for  many  years,  but  are  apparently  passin^g-  away,  as  their  fathers  before 
them.  There  is  also  a  third  generation,  who  are  grown  up,  and  begin  to 
stand  thick  upon  the  stage  of  action,  at  this  day,  and  these  were  all  born 
in  the  country,  and  may  call  New-England  their  native  land.  Now,  in  re- 
spect of  what  the  Lord  hath  done  for  these  generations,  succeeding  one 
another,  we  have  aboundant  cause  of  Thanksgiving  to  the  Lord  our  God, 
who  hath  so  increased  and  blessed  this  people,  that  from  a  day  of  small 
things,  he  has  brought  us  to  be,  what  we  now  are.  We  may  set  up  an 
Ebenezer,  and  say,  hitherto  the  Lord  hath  helped  us.  Yet  in  respect  of  our 
present  state,  we  have  need  earnestly  to  pray,  as  we  are  directed,  Le<  thy 
'work  farther  appear  unto  thy  servants,  and  let  thy  beauty  be  upon  us,  and 
thy  glory  upon  our  children  ;  establish  thou  the  works  of  these  our  hands;  yea^ 
the  works  of  our  hands,  establish  thou  them. 

For,  if  we  look  on  the  dark  side,  the  humane  side  of  this  %vork,  there 
is  much  of  humane  weakness,  and  impcrfectioti''  hath  appeared  in  all  that 
hath  been  done  by  man,  as  was  acknowledged  by  out  fathers  before  us. 
Neither  was  JVew-Etigland  ever  without  some  fatherly  chastisements  from 
God  ;  shewing  that  He  is  not  fond  of  the  formalities  of  any  people  upon 
earth,  but  expects  the  realities  of  practical  Godliness,  according  to  our 
profession  and  engagement  unto  him.  Much  more  may  we,  the  children  of 
such/af/ter5,  lament  our  gradual  degeneracy  from  that  life  and  power  of 
Godliness,  that  was  in  them,  and  the  many  provoking  evils  that  are  amongst 
us  ;  which  have  moved  our  God  severely  to  witness  against  us,  more 
than  in  our  first  times,  by  his  lesser  judgments  going  before,  and  his  great- 
er judgments  following  after  ;  he  shot  off  his  warning-pieces  first,  but  his 
murthering- pieces  have  come  after  them,  in  so  much  as  in  these  calami- 
tous times,  the  changes  of  wars  of  Europe  have  had  such  a  malignant  in- 
fluence upon  us  in  America,  that  we  are  at  this  day  greatly  diminished  and 
brought  low,  through  oppression,  afiliction,  and  sorrow. 

And  yet  if  we  look  on  the  light  side,  the  divine  side  of  this  work,  we 
may  yet  see,  that  the  glory  of  God  which  was  with  our  fathers,  is  not 
wholly  departed  from  us  their  children  ;  there  are  as  yet  many  sig7is  of 
his  gracious  presence  with  us,  both  in  the  way  of  his  providences,  and  in 
the  use  of  his  ordinances,  as  also  in  and  with  the  hearts  and  souls  of  a  con- 
siderable number  of  his  people  in  JS''ew-England,  that  we  may  yet  say  as 
they  did.  Thy  name  is  upon  us,  and  thou  art  in  the  midst  of  1/5,  thereforCy 
Lord,  leave  us  not !  as  Solomon  prayed,  so  may  we,  the  Lord  our  God  be 
withtis,  as  he  was  with  our  fathers ;  let  him  not  leave  nor  forsake  us:  but 
incline  our  hearts  to  keep  his  commandments.  And  then,  that  he  would 
maintain  his  own,  and  his  people"  s  cause ,  at  all  times,  as  the  matter  may  re- 
quire. 

For  the  Lord  our  God  hath  in  his  infinite  wisdom,  grace,  and  holiness, 
contrived  and  established  His  covenant,  so  as  he  will  be  the  God  of  his 
people  and  of  their  seed  with  them,  and  after  them,  in  their  generations ; 
and  in  the  ministerial  dispensation  of  the  covenant  of  grace,  in,  with  and 
to  his  visible  Church,  He  halh  promised  covenant-mercies  on  the  condition 
of  covenant-duties.  If  my  people,  w-ho  are  called  by  my  name,  shall  humble 
themselves,  and  pray,  and  seek  my  face,  and  turn  from  their  wicked  ways, 
then  will  I  hear  their  prayers,  forgive  their  siiis,  and  heal  their  land  ;  and 
mine  eyes,  and.  mine  heart,  shall  be  upon  them  perpetually  for  goofl .'  that  so 


AN  ATTESTATION  TO  THIS  CHURCH-HISTORY,  U.       9 

\he  faithfulness  of  God  may  appear  in  all  generations  for  ever,  Ihat  if  there 
be  any  breach  between  the  Lord  and  his  people,  it  shall  appear  plainly  to 
lye  on  his  people's  part.  And  therefore  he  has  taken  care,  that  his  own 
dealings  with  his  people  in  the  course  of  his  providence,  and  their  deal- 
ings with  him  in  tlie  ways  of  obedience  or  disobedience.  shouUhe  recorded, 
and  so  transmitted  for  the  use  and  benetit  of  after-times,  from  generation 
to  generation  ;  as,  (^Exodus  17.  14.)  the  Lord  said  unlo  Mo-^Pii  writeihis 
for  a  memorial  in  a  book  ;  and,  {Deut.  31.  19.)  write  ye  this  song  for  you^ 
that  it  may  be  a  witness  for  me  against  the  children  of  Israel  ;  and  [Fsa. 
102.  18.)  This  arid  that  shall  be  written  for  the  generation  to  come,  and  the 
people  that  shall  be  created  shall  praise  the  Lord.  Upon  this  ground  it 
was  said  (in  Psal.  44.  1.)  We  have  heard  with  our  ears,  O  God,  and  our 
fathers  have  told  us,  what  work  thou  didst  in  their  days  in  times  of  old,  how 
thou  castest  out  the  Heathen,  and  plantedst  them  ;  (so  likewise  in  Psul.  78. 
V.  3  to  the  8th.)  Upon  the  same  account  it  may  be  said,  (^Psal  45.  last.) 
J  will  make  thy  name  to  be  remembered  to  all  generations :  and  this  is  one 
reason  why  the  Lord  commanded  so  great  a  part  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  to 
be  written  in  an  historical  way,  that  tiie  wonderful  works  of  God  towards 
his  church  and  people,  and  their  acting  towards  him  again,  might  be  known 
unto  all  generations  :  and  after  the  scripture-time,  so  far  as  the  Lord  in 
his  holy  wisdom  hath  seen  meet,  he  hath  stirred  up  some  or  other  to 
write  the  acts  and  monuments  of  the  church  of  God  in  all  ,iges  ;  especially 
since  the  reformation  of  religion  from  antichristian  darkness,  was  vigor- 
ously, and  in  a  great  measure  successfully,  endeavoured  in  the  foregoing 
century,  by  such  learned  and  pious  persons,  as  the  Lord  inclined  and 
inabled  thereunto. 

And  threfore  surely,  it  hath  been  a  duty  incumbent  upon  the  people 
of  God,  in  this  our  New-England,  that  there  should  be  extant,  a  true 
history  of  the  worderful  works  of  God  in  the  late  plantation  of  this  part 
of  America ;  which  was  indeed  planted,  not  on  the  account  of  any 
worldly  interest,  but  on  a  design  of  enjoying  and  advancing  the  true 
reformed  religion,  in  a  practical  way  ;  and  also  of  the  tjood  hand  of  God 
upon  it  from  the  beginning  unto  this  day,  in  granting  such  a  measure  of 
good  success,  so  far  as  we  have  attained  :  such  a  work  as  this  hath  been 
much  desired,  and  long  expected,  both  at  home  and  abroad,  and  too  long 
delayed  by  us,  and  sometimes  it  hath  seemed  a  hopeless  thing  ever  to  be 
attained,  till  God  raised  up  the  spirit  of  this  learned  and  pious  person, 
one  of  the  sons  of  the  colledge,  and  one  of  the  ministers  of  the  third 
generation,  to  undertake  this  work.  His  learning  and  Godliness,  and 
ministerial  abilities,  were  so  conspicuous,  that  at  the  age  of  seventeen 
years,  he  was  called  to  be  a  publick  preacher  in  Boston,  the  metropolis 
of  the  whole  English  America  ;  and  within  a  while  after  that,  he  was 
ordained  ^as^or  of  the  same  church,  whereof  his  own  father  was  the 
teacher,  and  this  at  the  unanimous  desire  of  the  people,  and  with  the 
approbation  of  the  magistrates,  ministers  and  churches,  in  the  vicinity  of 
Boston.  And  after  he  had,  for  divers  years,  approved  himself  in  an 
exemplary  way,  and  obliged  his  native  country,  hy  publishing  many  useful 
treatises,  suitable  to  the  present  state  of  Religion  amongst  us,  he  set 
himself  to  write  the  church- history  of  New-England,  not  at  all  omitting  his 
ministerial  employments  ;  and  in  the  midst  of  many  difficulties,  tears  and 
temptations,  having  made  a  diligent  search,  collecting  of  proper  materials, 
and  selecting  the  choicest  memorials,  he  hath,  in  the  i.«sue,  within  a  few 
months,  contrived,  composed,  and  methodized  the  same   into   this  form 

Voj..  I.  2 


i6    AN  ATTEStATION  TO  THIS  CHURCH-HISTORY,  kc. 

and  frame  which  we  here  see  :  so  that  it  deserves  the  name    of,   THK 
CHURCH-HISTORY  OF  jYEW-ENGLAND. 

But  as  I  behold  this  exemplary  son  o^ Kexs-England,  while  \h\x%  young 
and  tender,  at  such  a  rate  building  the  Temple  of  God,  and  in  a  few 
months  dispatching  such  a  piece  of  Temple-icork  as  this  is  ;  a  work  so 
notably  adjusted  and  adorned,  it  brings  to  mind  the  epigram  upon  young 
Borellus  : 

Cum  Juveni  lantam  dedit  Experientia  Lticem, 
Tale  ut  promat  opus,  qiiam  Dabit  ilia  Sent  ? 

As  for  my  self,  having  been,  by  the  mercy  of  God,  now  above  sixti^ 
eight  years  in  JV  era -England,  and  served  the  Lord  and  his  people  in  my 
weak  measure,  sixty  years  in  the  ministry  of  the  gospel,  I  may  now  say 
in  my  old  age,  J  have  seen  all  that  the  Lord  hath  done  for  his  people  in 
New-England,  and  have  known  the  beginning  and  progress  of  these 
churches  unto  this  day;  and  having  read  over  much  of  this  history,  I 
cannot  but  in  the  love  and  fear  of  God,  bear  witness  to  the  truth  of  it  : 
viz.  That  this  present  church-history  of  New-England,  compiled  by  Mr. 
Cotton  Mather,  for  the  substance,  end  and  scope  of  it,  is,  as  far  as  I  have 
been  acquainted  therewithall,  according  to  truth. 

The  manifold  advantage,  and  usefulness  of  this  present  history,  will  ap- 
pear, if  we  consider  the  great  and  good  ends  unto  which  it  may  be 
serviceable  ;  as, 

First,  That  a  plain  scriptural  duty  of  recording  the  works  of  God  tmto 
cfter-times,  may  not  any  longer  be  omitted,  but  performed  in  the  best 
manner  we  can. 

Secondly,  That  by  the  manifestation  of  the  truth  of  things,  as  they 
have  been  and  are  amongst  us,  the  misrepresentations  of  '^exa-England 
fiiay  be  removed  and  prevented  ;  for.  Rectum  est  sui  4^  obliqui  Index. 

Thirdly,  That  the  true  original  and  design  of  this  plantation  may  not 
be  lost,  nor  buried  in  oblivion,  but  known  and  remembered  for  ever, 
\^Psal.  1 1 1-.  4.  He  hath  made  his  wonderful  works  to  be  remembered.  Psal. 
105.  5.    Remember  ye  the  maToellous  works  which  he  hath  done.'\ 

Fourthly,  That  God  may  have  the  glory  of  the  great  and  good  works 
wh^ch  he  hath  done  for  his  people  in  these  ends  of  the  earth,  [As  in  Isai- 
ah 63.  7.  I  will  mention  the  loving  kindness  of  the  Lord,  and  the  praiseif 
of  the  Lord,  according  to  all  the  great  goodness  and  mercy  he  has  be- 
stowed on  «s.] 

Fifthly,  That  the  names  of  such  eminent  persons  as  the  Lord  made  use 
of,  as  instruments  in  his  hand,  for  the  beginning  and  carrying  on  of  this 
work,  may  be  embalmed,  and  preserved,  for  the  knowledge  and  imitation 
of  posterity  ;  for  the  memory  of  the  just  is  blessed. 

Sixthly,  That  the  present  generation  may  remember  the  way  wherein 
the  Lord  hath  led  his  people  in  this  wilderness,  for  so  many  years  past 
unto  this  day  ;  [according  to  that  in  Dent.  8.  2.  Thou  shalt  remember  all 
the  way  wherein  the  Lord  hath  led  thee  in  the  wilderness  this  forty  years, 
to  humble  thee,  and  to  prove  thee,  and  to  knozo  what  was  in  thy  heart, 
"^vhetlier  thou  wouldest  keep  his  commandments  or  no.]  All  considering 
persons  cannot  but  observe,  that  our  tiDi7c?c?-Hess-condition  hath  been  full 
of  humblins;,  trying,  distressing  providences.  We  have  had  our  Massahs 
and  Meribahs ;  and  few  of  our  churches  but  have  had  some  remarkable 
hours  of  temptation  passing  over  them,  and  God's  end  in  all  has  been  to 


AN  ATTESTATION  TO  THIS  CHURCH-HISTORY,  d:c.  .^• 

prove  us,  whether,  accordiog  to  our  profession,  anA  his  expectation,    we 
would  k£ep  his  commandments,  or  not- 

Seventhly,  That  the  generations  to  come  in  Nersa- England,  may  knoto 
ihe  God  of  their  fathers,  and  ma}''  serve  him  with  a  perfect  heart  and 
ziiiUing  mind ;  as  especially  the  first  generation  did  before  them  ;  and 
that  they  may  set  tlieir  hope  in  God,  and  not  forget  his  works,  but  keep  /a> 
commandments.   (Psal.  78.  7.) 

Eighthly,  And  whereas  it  may  be  truly  said,  (a?  Jer.  23,  21 .)  That  -jshen 
this  people  began  to  follow  the  Lord  into  this  wilderness,  they  were,  holi- 
ness to  the  Lord,  and  he  planted  them  as  a  7ioble  vine  ;  yet  if  in  process  of 
time,  when  they  are  greatly  increased  and  multiplied,  they  should  so  far 
degenerate,  as  to  forget  the  religious  design  of  their  fathers,  and  for- 
sake the  holy  ways  of  God,  (as  it  was  said  of  them  in  Ilosea  4.  7.  As 
they  were  increased,  so  they  sinned  against  the^Lord)  and  so  that  many 
evils  and  troubles  will  befall  them  ;  then  this  Book  may  be  for  a.  witness 
against  them  ;  and  yet  through  the  mercy  of  God,  may  be  also  a  means 
to  reclaim  them,  and  cause  them  to  return  again  unto  the  Lord,  and  his 
holy  ways,  that  he  may  return  again  in  mercy  unto  them  ;  even  unto  the 
many  thousands  of  New-England. 

A'inthiy,  That  the  little  daughter  of  New-England  in  America,  may 
bow  down  herself  to  her  mother  England,  in  Europe,  presenting  this 
memorial  unto  her  ;  assuring  her,  that  though  by  some  of  her  angry 
brethren,  she  was  forced  to  make  a  local  secession,  yet  not  a  separation, 
but  hath  always  retained  a  dutiful  respect  to  the  Church  of  God  in  Eng- 
land ;  and  giving  some  account  to  her,  how  graciously  the  Lord  has 
dealt  with  herself  in  a  remote  wilderness,  and  what  she  has  been  doing 
all  this  while  ;  giving  her  thanks  for  all  the  supplies  she  has  received 
from  her  ;  and  because  she  is  yet  in  her  minority,  she  craves  her  farthejp 
blessing  and  favour  as  the  case  may  require  ;  being  glad  if  what  is  now 
presented  to  her,  may  be  of  any  use,  to  help  forward  the  union  and  agree- 
ment of  her  brethren,  which  would  be  some  satisfaction  to  her  for  her  un- 
desired  local  distance  from  her  dear  England ;  and  finally  promising  all 
that  reverence  and  obedience  which  is  due  to  hec  good  mof/ier,  by  virtue 
of  theffth  commandment.     And 

Lastly,  That  this  present  history  may  stand  as  a  monument,  in  relation 
to  future  times,  of  a  fuller  and  better  reformation  of  the  Church  of  God, 
than  it  hath  yet  appeared  in  the  world.  For  by  this  Essay  it  may  be 
seen,  that  a  farther  practical  reformation  than  that  which  began  at  the 
first  coming  out  of  the  darkness  o(  Popery,  was  aimed  at,  and  endeavour- 
ed by  a  great  number  of  voluntary  exiles,  that  came  into  a  wilderness  for 
that  very  end,  that  hence  they  might  be  free  from  humane  additions  and 
inventions  in  the  worship  of  God,  and  might  practice  \hit  positive  part  of  di- 
vine institutions,  according  to  the  word  of  God.  How  far  we  have  attained 
this  design,  may  be  judged  by  this  Book.  But  we  beseech  our  brethren, 
of  our  own  and  of  other  nations,  to  believe  that  we  are  far  from  think- 
ing that  we  have  attained  a  perfect  reformation.  Oh,  no  !  Our  fathers 
did  in  their  time  acknowledge,  there  were  many  defects  and  imperfections 
in  our  way,  and  yet  we  believe  they  did  as  much  as  could  be  expected 
from  learned  and  godly  men  in  their  circumstances  ;  and  we,  their  suc- 
cessors, are  far  short  of  them  in  many  respects,  meeting  with  many  diffi- 
culties which  they  did  not ;  and  mourning  under  many  rebukes  from  our 
God  which  they  had  not,  and  with  trembling  hearts  obser\ing  the  grad- 
ual declinings  that  are  amongst  us  from  the  holy  ways  of  God ;  we  are 
forced  to  cry  out,  and  say,  LfOrd.  what  uiX/  become  of  the^e  churches  in 


12      A^  ATTESTATION  TO  THIS  CHURCH-HISTORY,  kc. 

time  ?  And  what  wilt  thou  do  for  thy  great  name  ?  And  yet  in  the 
maltitude  of  our  thoughts  and  fears,  the  cojisolations  of  God  refresh  our 
SOULS,  that  all  those  that  in  simplicity  and  godly  sincerity  do  serve  the 
Lord,  arid  l.is  people  in  their  generation  (though  they  should  miss  it  in 
some  things  j  they  shall  deliver  their  own  souls,  they  are  accepted  of  the 
Lord,  and  their  rert-ard  is  wiIIl  him  :  and  in  the  approaching  days  of  a  bet- 
ter reformation,  the  sincere,  though  weak  endeavours  of  the  servants  of 
God,  that  went  before  thera,  will  be  also  accepted  of  the  saints  in  those 
lin.es  of  greater  light  and  holiness,  that  are  to  come  ;  and  when  the 
Lord  siiall  maki-  Jerusalem  (or,  the  true  Church  of  God,  and  the  true 
Christian  religion)  a  praise  in  the  earth,  and  the  joy  of  many  generations, 
then  the  mistaltes  oi  tiiese  times  will  be  rectified  ;  and  that  which  is  of 
God  in  any  of  his  churches,  now  in  any  part  of  the  world,  will  be  owned 
and  improved  unto  an  h.x^eT  Aegvett  oi  practical  godliness,  that  shall 
continue  for  many  ^nerations  succeeding  one  another,  which  hitherto 
hath  been  so  rare  a  thing  to  be  found  in  the  world. 

I  shall  now  draw  to  a  conclnsion,  with  an  observation  which  hath  visited 
my  thoughts  :  that  the  Lord  hath  blessed  the  fimily  of  the  Mathers, 
amongst  us,  with  a  singular  blessing,  in  that  no  less  than  ten  of  them,  have 
been  accepted  of  him,  to  serve  the  Lord  and  his  people  in  the  ministry 
of  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  ;  of  whom,  as  the  Apostle  said  in  another 
case,  though  some  are  fallen  asleep,  yet  the  greatest  part  remain  unto  this 
day  ;  1  do  not  know  the  likei;'.  our  j\''ew-England,  and  perhaps  it  will  be 
found  rare  to  parallel  the  same  in  other  countries.  Truly  I  have  thought, 
it  hath  been  a  reward  of  grace,  with  respect  unto  the  faithfulness  they 
have  expressed,  in  asserting,  clearing,  maintaining,  and  putting  on  for  the 
practice  of  that  great  principle,  of  the  propagation  of  Religion  in  these 
Churches,  viz.  The  Covenant-state  and  Church-membership  of  the  Children 
born  in  these  Churches,  together  with  the  Scripture  duties  appsrtaining 
thereunto,  and  that  by  vertue  of  God's  Covenant  of  Grace,  established  by 
God  with  his  people,  and  their  seed  with  them,  and  after  them  in  their 
generations.  And  tliis  has  been  done  especially  by  Mr.  Richard  Alather 
the  father,  and  by  Mr.  Increase  Mather  his  son,  and  by  Mr.  Cotton  Mather 
his  son,  the  Author  of  this  present  Work. 

I  shall  give  the  Reader  the  satisfaction  to  enumerate  this  happy  Dc- 
cemviraie 

1.  Richard  Mather,  Teacher  of  the  Church  in  Dorchester. 

2.  Samuel  Mather  :  He  was  the  first  Fellow  of  Harvard-CoUedge  in 
Cambridge  in  A'ew-England,  and  the  first  Preacher  at  J\'orth  Boston, 
where  his  brother  and  his  nephew  are  now  his  successors.  He  was  af- 
terwaids  one  of  the  Chaplains  in  Magdalen-Colled ge  in  Oxford  ;  after 
that,  a  senior  Fellow  of  Trinity -Coll  edge  in  Dublin,  and  Pastor  of  a  Church 
in  that  city,  where  he  died. 

.".  Nathaniel  Mather  ;  which  succeeded  his  brother  Samuel  as  Pastor 
of  that  Church  in  Dublin,  and  is  now  Pastor  of  a  Church  in  London. 

4.  Fleazar  Mather  :  He  was  Pastor  of  the  Church  at  Northampton  in 
New-England,  and  much  esteemed  in  those  parts  of  the  country  :  he 
died  when  he  was  but  thirty-two  years  old. 

5.  Increase  Mather  ;  who  is  known  in  both  Knglands.  These  four 
were  sons  o{  Richard  Mather. 

6.  Cotton  Mailer,  the  Author  of  this  History. 

7.  Nat  aniel  Mather.  He  died  at  the  nineteenth  year  of  his  age  ; 
TPas  H  Master  of  Arts  ;  began  to  preach  in  private.  His  piety  and 
learning  was  beyond  hus  year?.     The  history  of  his  Life  and  Death  was 


AN  ATTESTATION  TO  THIS  CHURCH-HISTORY,  Lc.       13 

written  by  his  brother,  and  there  have  been  three  editons  of  it  printed 
at  London.  He  died  here  at  Salem,  and  over  his  Grave  there  is  writ- 
ten, THE  ASHES  OF  AN  HARD  STUDENT,  A  GOOD  SCHOLAR,  AND  A  GREAT 
CHRISTIAN. 

8.  Samuel  Mather  ;  he  is  now  a  publick  preacher.  These  three  last 
mentioned,  are  the  sons  of  Increase  Mather. 

9.  Samuel  Mather,  the  son  oi  Timothy,  and  grandson  oi Richard  Math- 
er ?  He  is  the  pastor  of  a  church  in  Windsor  ;  a  pious  and  prudent  man  ; 
who  has  been  an  happy  instrument  of  uniting  the  church  and  town, 
amongst  whom  there  had  been  great  divisions. 

10.  JVarham  Mather,  the  son  of  Eleazar  Mather,  and  by  his  mother 
grandson  to  the  Reverend  Mr.  Warham,  late  pastor  of  the  church  in 
Windsor ;  he  is  now  also  a  public  preacher.  Behold,  an  happy  family, 
the  glad  sight  whereof,  may  well  inspire  even  an  old  age  past  eighty, 
with  poetry  enough  to    add  this, 

EPIGRAMMA  MATHEROS. 

O  Kimium  Dilecte  Deo,  Venerande  Mathere, 
Gaudens  tot  JS'atos  Christi  nwnerare  Ministros  ! 
Det  Deus  nt  tales  iy^surgajit  usque  Matheri, 
Et  J^''ati,  Natorum,  <^-  qui  Kascentur  ab  illis. 
Has  inter  stellasfulgens,  Cottone  Mathere, 
Patrum  tu  sequeris  vestigia  semper  ad  orans, 
Phosphorus  ast  aliis .' 

Now  the  Lord  our  God,  the  faithful  God,  that  keepeth  covenant  end 
mercy  to  a  thousand  generations,  with  his  people  ;  let  him  incline  the 
heart  of  his  people  of  J\few- Engl  and,  to  keep  covenant  and  duty  to- 
wards their  God,  to  walk  in  his  ways,  and  keep  his  commandments,  that 
he  may  bring  upon  them  the  blessing  of  Abraham,  the  mercy  and  truth 
unto  Jacob,  the  sure  mercies  of  David,  the  grace  and  peace  that  cometh 
from  God  the  Father,  and  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  ;  and  that  the  grace  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  may  be  in  and  with  these  churches,  from  one  gene- 
ration to  another,  until  the  second  coming  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus 
Christ  !      Unto  him  be  glory  and  dominion, for  ever  and  ever.     Amen. 

JOHN  HIGGINSON. 

Saiem,  the  25th  of  the  first  month.  1C97. 


A 


ON  THAT  EXCELLENT  BOOK,  ENTITULED 

MAGNA  LI  A  CHEISTI  A3IERICANA  : 

Written  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  COTTON  MATHER, 
Pastor  of  a  Church  at  Boston,  New-England. 

TO  THE  CANDID  READER. 

Struck  ivith  huge  love,  of  what  to  be  possest, 
I  much  despond,  good  reader,  in  the  quest ; 
Yet  help  me,  if  at  length  it  may  be  said, 
AVho  first  the  chambers  of  the  south  display'd  ? 
Inform  me,  whence  the  tawny  people  came  ? 
Who  was  their  father,  Japhet,  Skcrn,  or  Cham/ 
And  how  they  straddled  to  th'  Antipodes, 
To  look  another  n.-orld  beyond  the  seas  ? 
And  when,  and  why,  and  where  they  last  broke  ground. 
What  risks  they  ran,  where  they  first  anchoring  found  ? 
Tell  rac  their  patriarchs,  prophets,  priests,  and  kings. 
Religion,  manners,  monumental  things  : 
What  charters  had  they  ?  What  immunities  ? 
Vv'hat  altars,  temples,  cities,  colonies. 
Did  they  erect  ?  \Vho  were  their  publick  spirits  ? 
Where  may  we  find  the  records  of  their  merits  ? 
What  instances,  what  glorious  displayes 
Of  heav'ns  high  hand,  commenced  in  their  dayes  ? 
These  things  in  hlack  oblivion  covered  o'er, 
(As  they'd  ne'er  been)  lye  with  a  thousand  more, 
A  vexing  thought,  that  makes  me  scarce  forbear 
To  stamp,  and  wring  my  hands,  and  pluck  my  hair, 
To  think,  what  blessed  ignorance  hath  done, 
What  fine  threads  learning''s  enemies  have  spun. 
How  well  books,  schools,  and  colledge  may  be  spar'd. 
So  men  with  beasts  may  fitly  be  compar'd  ! 
Yes,  how  tradition  leaves  us  in  the  lurch. 
And  who,  nor  stay  at  home,  nor  go  to  church  : 
The  light-vjithin-enthusiasts,  who  let  fly 
Against  onv  pen  and  ink  divinity; 
Who  boldly  do  pretend  (but  who'll  believe  it  ?) 
If  Genesis  were  lost,  they  could  i-etrieve  it  ; 
Yea,  all  the  sacred  writ  ;  pray  let  them  try 
On  the  New  World,  i\\Q.'iv  gift  of  prophecy. 
For  all  them,  the  new  worhVs  antiquities, 
Smother'd  in  everlastnig  silence  lies  ; 


INTRODUCTORY  POEMS,  &c.  Ik 

And  its  Jirst  sachims  mentlon'd  are  no  more, 
Than  they  that  Jigamemnon  livM  before. 
The  poor  Americans  are  under  blame, 
Like  them  of  old,  that  from  Tel-melah  came, 
Conjectur''d  once  to  be  oi' IsraeVs  seed, 
But  no  record  appear'd  to  prove  the  deed  : 
And  like  Habajah's  sons,  that  were  put  by      ^ 
The  priesthood,  holy  things  to  come  not  nigh,  \ 
For  having  lost  their  genealogy.  y 

Who  can  past  things  to  memory  command, 
Till  one  with  Aaron^s  breast-plate  up  shall  stand  '? 
Mischiefs  remediless  such  sloth  ensue  ; 
God  and  their  parents  lose  their  honour  due, 
And  children's  children  suffer  on  that  score, 
Like  bastards  cast  forlorn  at  any  door  ; 
And  they  and  others  put  to  seek  their  father, 
For  want  of  such  a  scribe  as  Cotton  Mather  ; 
Whose  piety,  whose  pains,  and  peerless  pen, 
Revives  New  -  England''  s  nigh-lost  origin. 

Heads  of  onr  tribes,  whose  corps  are  under  ground, 
Their  names  and  fames  in  chronicles  renowned, 
Begemm'd  on  golden  ouches  he  hath  set, 
Past  envy's  teeth  and  times  corroding  fret  : 
Of  Death  and  malice,  he  has  brush'd  off  the  dust. 
And  made  a  resurrection  of  the  just  ; 
And  clear'd  the  land's  religion  of  the  gloss, 
And  copper-cuts  of  Alexander  Ross. 
Fie  hath  related  academic  things. 
And  paid  iheiv  first  fruits  to  the  King  of  kings  ; 
And  done  his  Alma  Mater  that  just  favour, 
To  shew  sal  gentium  hath  not  lost  its  savour. 
He  writes  like  an  historian,  and  divine, 
Of  Churches,  Synods,  Faith,  and  Discipline. 
Illustrious  Providences  are  display'd. 
Mercies  and  judgments  are  in  colours  laid  ; 
Salvations  wonderful  by  sea  and  land, 
Themselves  are  saved  by  his  pious  hand. 
The  Churches''  wars,  and  various  enemies, 
Wild  salvages,  and  wilder  sectaries, 
Are  notify'd  for  them  that  after  rise. 

This  well-instructed  Scribe  brings  new  and  old, 
And  from  his  mines  digs  richer  things  than  gold  ; 
Yet  freely  gives,  as  fountains  do  their  streams, 
Nor  more  than  they,  himself,  by  giving,  drains. 
He's  all  design,  and  by  his  craftier  wiles 
Locks  fast  his  reader,  and  the  time  beguiles  : 
Whilst  wit  and  learning  move  themselves  aright,      i 
Thro'  ev'ry  line,  and  colour  in  our  sight,  / 

So  interweaving  prq^^  with  delight  •  y 

And  curiously  inlaying  both  together, 
That  he  must  needs  find  both,  who  looks  for  either. 

His  preaching,  writing,  and  his  pastoral  care, 
Are  very  much,  to  fall  to  one  man's  share. 
77(/s  added  to  the  rest,  is  admirable. 


16  INTRODUCTORY  POEMS,  &c. 

And  proves  the  author  i7idefatigable. 

Play  is  his  toyl,  and  work  his  recreation, 

And  his  inventions  next  to  inspiration. 

His  pen  was  taken  from  some  bird  of  light. 

Addicted  to  a  swift  and  lofty  flight. 

Dearly  it  loves  art,  air,  and  eloquence. 

And  hates  confinement,  save  to  truth  and  se7isc. 

Allow  what's  known  ;  they  who  write  histories 
Write  many  things  they  see  with  others'  eyes  ; 
'Tis  fair,  where  nought  is  feign'd,  nor  undigested, 
Nor  ought,  but  what  is  credibly  attested. 
The  risk  is  his  ;   and  seeing  others  do. 
Why  may  not  1  speak  mine  opinion  too  ? 

The  stuff"is  true,  the  trimming  neat  and  spruce, 
The  workman  's  good,  the  work  of  publick  use  ; 
Most  piously  design'd,  a  publick  store. 
And  well  deserves  the  publick  thanks,   and  more. 

Nicholas  Noyes,  Teacher  of  the  Church  at  Solemn 


REVERENDO  DOMINO, 

D.  COTTONO  MJIDERO, 

Libri  utilissimi,  cui  Titulus,  Magnalia  Christi  Americana, 

Authori  Doctissimo.  ac  Dilectissimo. 
Duo  Ogdoastica,  &  bis  duo  Anagrammata,  dat  Idem,  .V.  Xoyes. 


Anagr. 


COTTONUS  MADERUS. 

Est  duo  Sanctorum. 


JSi''atus  es  Doctorum» 


Nomina  Sanctorum,  quos  Scribis,  clara  duorum, 
Nojuine  Ccrno  Tuo  j    Virtutes  Lector  easdcm 
Candidus  inveniet  Tecum,  Charitate  refertas. 
Doctrina  Eiximius  Doctos,  Pietate  piosque 
Tu  bene  describis,  describere  nescit  at  alter. 
Doctorum  es  Natus,  Domino  Spirante  Renatus  ; 
De  bene  qucBsitis  gaudefo  Tertius  Hceres ; 
Nomen  prasagit,  nee  non  Anagrammata,  vates. 

COTTONUS  MADERUS. 

,  C  Unctas  demortuos. 

^      ^  bcnatus  Uoctorum. 

Unctas  deniOrt'os,  dccoratur  Laude  Scnatu* 
Doctorum,  Merita,  jit  prcescns  pra^lcrita  atas, 
Jluic  exempla  patent.  ^^  postera  Progcnitorcs 


iNTRODUCTORY  POEMS,  &c. 

■Non  ignorabit,  patriisquc  superbieA  Actis  ; 
More,  Fide,  cultu,  quoque  patrissare  studebit ; 
Gratum  opus  est  Domino,  Patrice  nee  inutile  nostra^ 
Orbifructijicat.     Fer  Fertilitatis  Honorum, 
Scrihendo  Vitas  alienas,  propria  scripta  est. 


CELEBERRIMI 

COTTOJVI  MATHERl, 

CELEBRATIO  ; 

Qui  Heroum  Vitas,  in  sui-ipsius  &  illorum  Memoriam 
sempiternam,  revocavit. 

Quod  patrios  Manes  revocasti  a  Sedibus  altis, 
Sylvestres  Musce  grates,  Mathere,  rependiint. 
HcBC  nova  Progenies,  veterum  sub  Imagine,  ccelo 
Arte  Tua  Terram  visitans,  demissa,  saluiat. 
Grata  Deo  Pietas  ;  Grates  persolvimus  omnes  ; 
Semper  Honos,  Momenque  Tuum,  Mathere,  manehmii. 


Is  the  bless'd  Mather  wecromancer  turn'd, 
To  raise  his  countries  father's  ashes  urn'd  ? 
Elisha''s  dust,  life  to  the  dead  imparts  ; 
This  prophet  by  his  more  familiar  arts. 
Unseals  our  heroes''  tombs,  |nd  gives  them  air; 
They  rise,  they  walk,  they  talk,  look  wond'rous  fair  ; 
Each  of  them  in  an  orb  of  light  doth  shine, 
In  liveries  of  glory  most  divine. 
When  ancient  names  I  in  thy  pages  met, 
Like  gems  on  Aaron's  costly  breast-plate  set ; 
Methinks  Heaven's  open,  while  great  saints  descend. 
To  wreathe  the  brows,  by  which  their  acts  were  penn'd. 

«.  THOMPSOIS', 


V  or.,  t. 


TO  THE  REVEREND 

MR.  COTTON  MATHER, 

ON    HIS 

HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND. 


In  this  hard  age,  when  men  such  slackness  show. 
To  pay  Lovers  debts,  and  what  to  Truth  we  owe, 
You  to  step  forth,  and  such  example  shew, 
In  paying  what's  to  God  and  country  due, 
Deserves  our  thanks  :  mine  I  do  freely  give  ; 
'Tis  fit  that  with  the  raised  ones  you  live- 
Great  your  attempt.     No  doubt  some  sacred  spy, 
That  Leiger  in  your  sacred  cell  did  ly, 
Nurs'dyour  first  thoughts,  with  gentle  beams  of  light. 
And  taught  your  hand  things  past  to  bring  to  sight  : 
Thus  led  by  secret  sweetest  Influence, 
You  make  returns  to  God^  good  providence  : 
Recording  how  that  mighty  hand  was  nigh, 
To  trace  out  paths  not  known  to  mortal  eye. 
To  those  brave  men,  that  to  this  land  came  o'er^ 
And  plac'd  them  safe  on  the  Atlantick  shore  : 
And  how  the  sanSe  hand  did  them  after  save, 
And  say.  Return,  oft  on  the  brink  o'  th'  grave  ; 
And  gave  them  room  to  spread,  and  bless'd  their  root, 
Whence,  hung  with  fruit,  now,  many  branches  shoot. 

Such  were  these  heroes,  and  their  labours  such, 
In  their  just  praise,  sir,  who  can  say  too  much  ? 
Let  the  remotest  parts  of  earth  behold, 
A''e-:o-England''s  crowns  excelling  Spanish  gold. 
Here  be  rare  lessons  set  for  us  to  read. 
That  offsprings  are  of  such  a  goodly  breed. 
The  dead  ones  here,  so  much  alive  are  made, 
We  think  them  speaking  from  bless'd  Eden^s  shade  ; 
Hark  !   how  tliey  check  the  madness  of  this  age, 
The  growth  of  pride,  fierce  lust,  and  worldly  rage. 
They  tell,  we  shall  to  dam-banks  come  again, 
If  Heaven  still  doth  scourge  us  all  in  vain. 

But,  sir,  upon  your  merits  heap'd  will  be, 
The  blessings  of  all  those  that  here  shall  see 
Vertue  embalm'd  ;  this  hand  seems  to  put  on 
The  lawrel  on  your  brow,  so  justly  won. 

Timothy  Woodbridge,  Minister  of  Hartford, 


INTRODUCTORY  POEMS,  &c.  19 

A.D  POLITUM  LITERATUR-E,    ATQUE  SACRARUM  LITERATURUM  ANTISTITEM, 

ANGLIiQlfE   AMERICANS  ANTIQUARIUM  CALLENTISSIMUM, 
REVERENDUM     DOMINUM, 

D.  COTTONUM  MATHERUM, 

APUD  BOSTONENSES,  V.   D.  M. 
EPIGRAMMA. 

COTTONUS  MATHERUS. 

Anagr. 

Tu  tantum  Cohors  es. 

EPIGRAMMA. 

Ipse,  vales  Tantum,  Tu,  mi  memorande  Mathere, 
Fortis  pro  Christo  Milts,  es  ipse  cohors. 

A    PINDARIC, 

Art  thou  Heaven's  Trumpet?  sure  by  the  Archangel  blown  ; 
Tombs  crack,  dead  start,  saints  rise,  are  seen  and  known, 

And  shine  in  constellation  ; 
From  ancient  flames  here's  a  new  Phoenix  flown, 
To  shew  the  world,  when  Christ  returns,  he'll  not  return  alone. 
J.  DANFORTH,  V.  D.  M.  Dorcestr. 


TO  THE  LEARNED  AND  REVEREND 

MR.    COTTON    MATHER. 

ON  HIS  EXCELLENT  MAGNALIA. 

Sir, 
My  muse  will  now  by  chymistry  draw  forth 
The  spirit  of  your  name's  immortal  worth. 

COTTOmUS  MATHERUS. 

Anagr. 

Tuos  Tecum  ornasti. 

While  thus  the  dead  in  thy  rare  pages  rise, 
Thine,  with  thy  self,  thou  dost  immortalize. 
To  view  the  odds,  thy  learned  lives  invite, 
'Twixt  Eleutherian  and  Edomite. 
But  all  succeeding  ages  shall  despair, 
A  fitting  monument  for  thee  to  rear. 
Thy  own  rich  pen  (peace,  silly  Momus,  peace  !) 
Hath  given  them  a  lasting  writ  of  ease. 

Grindal  Rawson,  Pastor  of  Mendon. 


;:  lA    JESU    CMHISTi 

MAGNA  LI  A  AMERICANA, 

DIGESTA    IN    SEPTEM    LIBROS, 
PER  MAGNUM,  DOCTISSIifflUMQUE  VIRUM, 

D.   COTTOJVUM  MATUEBUM, 

J.    CHRISTI  SERVUM,  ECCLESI£€IUE  AMERICANO  B03T0NIENSIS    MINISTRfcJs 
FIUM    &    DISERTISSIMUM. 

Sunt  Miracla  Dei,  sunt  &  Magnolia  Christi, 
Q,ua  patel  Urbis      Erant  ultra  Garaniantas,  &  Indoi 
Jl/azMma,  quae  paucis  licuit  cognoscere.     Sed,  quae 
Cernis  id  America,  procul  unus-quisque  videbit. 

Vivis,  ubi  fertur  nullum  vixisse.     Videsque 
Mille  homines,  res  multas,  Incunabula  mira. 
Strabo  sile,  qui  Magna  refers.     Vesputius  autem 
Primis  scire  Novum  potuit  conatibus  Orbem. 
Et  dum  Magna  docet  te  Grotius,  Unde  repletos 
Ecce  per  ^^/Tjeri'cafft,  volucresque,  hominesque,  Deosque 
Deumque  libet,  tibi  scire  licet  Nova  viscera  rerum. 

Nullus  erat,  nisi  brutus  homo  :  Sine  lege,  Deoque. 
JVwmadat  Antiquis,  6o/onque  &,  Jura  Lycurgus. 
Hie  nihil,  &,  nullae  (modo  sicsibi  vivere)  Leges. 
Jam  decreta  vide,  L  Regum  diplomata,  curque, 
Ne  sibi  vivat  homo,  nostrorum  vivere  Regi  est. 
Die,  tot  habendo  Deos,  legisque  videndo  peritos, 
Centenopque  viros,  celebres  virtute,  Statumque 
Quern  A''ovus  Oi-his  habet  ;  Quantum  mutatus  ab  illo  es  I 

Rea  bona.     Nee  sat  erit,  &.  Rege  &.  Lege  beatum, 
Posse  vehi  super  Astra.     Deum  tibi  noscere,  fas  est. 
l<iil  Lex,  nil  Solon,  nil  &  sine  Numine  JVuma. 

Sit  Deus  ignotosque  Deos  fuge.     Multa  Poetae 
De  Jove  tinxerunt,  Neptuno  &  Marte,  Diisque 
Innumerabilibus.     Magnique  Manitto,  pependit 
Non  convarsa  Deo  Gens  Americana,  Manitto, 
Quem  velut  Artijicem  colit,  &-  ceu  Xumen  adorat. 

E  tenebris  Lux  est.     In  ab}'sso  cernere  Ccelum  esi, 
Jgnotumque  Deum,  notum  Indis,  Biblia  Sancta 
Indica,  Templa.  Preces,  Psalmos,  multosque  Ministroi. 
Ut  Christum  discant,  Indorum  Idiomate  JVumcn 
Utitur,  k.  sese  patefecit  ubique  locorum. 

Plura  canam.     Veterem  Scfiola  sit  dispersaper  Orbeiic 
Et  tot  AthencR'is  scatet  Anglus,  Belga,  Polonus, 
Gerrnanus,  Gallusque.     Sat  est  Academia  nostra. 
Extra  Orbem  Novus  Orbis  habet,  quod  habetur  in  Orhe. 


INTRODUCTORY  POEMS,  kc.  2 J 

Dat  Cantabrigice  Domus  Harvardina  Cathedram 
Cuilibet,  &  cur  non  daret  Indis,  Prosel_ytisque  ? 
Trans  Mare  non  opus  est  ad  Pallada  currere.     Pallas 
Hie  habitat,  confertque  Gradus  ;  modo  Pallada  discas, 
Desistasque  gradum.      Quantum  Sajoienim  confert ! 
Forte  novas,  pluresque  artes  Novus  Orhis  haberet. 

Quotquot  in  America  licet  Admiranda  supersint, 
Singula  non  narro.     Nee  opus  tibi  singula  narrem. 
Multafidem  superant,  multorum  Exempla  doeebunt, 
Plura  quot  Orbis  habet  Novus  Admiranda,  quot  artes, 
Et  quot  in  America  degunt  ubicunque  Coloni. 

Deque  Venejiciis  quid  erit  tibi  noscere  ?  I  usus 
Sperne  Diabolicos.     Sunt  hie  Magnalia  Christi. 
Ne  timeas  Umbram.     Corpus  sine  corpore  spectrum  est. 

Pax  rara  in  terris.     iEtas  quasi  ferrea.     Bellum 
Sceptra  gerens,  gladiosque  ferox  ubicunque  Noverca  est. 
Destruit  omnia,  destruit  oppida,  destruit  artes. 
Mars  nuUi  cedit.     Nihil  exitialius  armis. 
Testis  adest.     jGuro^^a  docetlacrymabile  fie^/Mm, 
Hispani,  Belgce,  Germani,  &  quotquot  in  Orbe 
Sunt  Veteri,  Rigidisq  ;  plagis  vexantur  &  armis. 

Quas  Sectas  vetus  Orbis  habet,  quae  dogmata  Carnis  ? 
Primum  i?oma  locum  tenet,  Enthusiasta  secundum, 
Arminius  tandem,  Menno  &  Spinosa  sequuntur. 
Q,nisqne  incredibeles  poterit  dignoscere  Sectas  ? 
Non  tot  cernuntur  fidei  discrimina,  nee  tot 
Haereticos  novus  Orbis  habet,  quod  &  Enthea  res  est. 

Tu  dilecte  Deo,  eujus  Bostonia  gaudet 
Nostra  Ministerio,  seu  cui  tot  scribere  Libros, 
Non  opus,  aut  labor  est,  &qui  Magnalia  Christi 
Americana  refers,  scriptura  plurima.     Nonne 
Dignus  es,  agnoscare  inter  Magnalia  Christi  ? 

Vive  Liber,  totique  Orbi  Miracula  monstres, 
Quae  sunt  extra  Orbem.     Cottone,  in  saBcula  vive  ; 
Et  dum  Mundus  erit,  vivat  tua  Fama  per  Orbe  m. 

abam,  Neo-Eborad  i  HENRICUS  SELIJNS, 

Amerieana^Xii  Oct.  > 

5597.  ^  Eccksios-  J^eo-Eboracensis  Minister  Belgicus. 


A  GENERAL 

INTRODUCTION. 


Dicam  hoc  propter  utilitatem  eorum  qui  Lecturi  sunt  hoc  opus. 

Theodorit, 


§  1.  1  WRITE  the  Wonders  oi  ihe  Christian  Religion,  flying  from 
the  depravations  of  Europe,  to  the  American  Strand:  and,  assisted  by 
the  Holy  Author  of  that  Religion,  I  do,  with  all  conscience  of  Truth, 
required  therein  by  Him,  who  is  the  Truth  itself,  report  the  xs:onderful 
displays  of  His  infinite  Power,  Wisdom,  Goodness,  and  Faithfulness, 
wherewith  His  Divine  Providence  hath  irradiated  an  Indian  Wilderness. 

I  relate  the  Considerable  Matters,  that  produced  and  attended  the  First 
Settlement  of  Colonies,  which  have  been  renowned  for  the  degree  of 
ReforiMation,  professed  and  attained  by  Evangelical  Churches,  erected 
in  those  ends  of  the  earth:  and  a  Field  being  thus  prepared,  I  proceed 
unto  a  relation  of  the  Considerable  Matters  which  have  been  acted  there- 
upon. 

I  first  introduce  the  Actors,  that  have,  in  a  more  exemplary  manner 
served  those  Colonies ;  and  give  Remarkable  Occurrences,  in  the  exem- 
plary Lives  of  many  Magistrates,  and  of  more  Ministers,  who  so  lived, 
as  to  leave  unto  Posterity,  examples  worthy  of  everlasting  remembrance. 

I  add  hereunto,  the  jXotables  of  the  only  Protestant  University,  that 
ever  shone  in  that  hemisphere  of  the  JVew  World;  with  particular  in- 
stances of  Criolians,  in  our  Biography,  provoking  the  whole  world,  with 
vertuous  objects  of  emulation. 

I  introduce  then,  the  Actions  of  a  more  eminent  importance,  that  have 
signalized  those  Colonies:  whether  the  Establishments,  directed  by  their 
Synods;  with  a  rich  variety  of  .Si/iiorf/caZ  and  Ecclesiastical  Determina- 
tions ;  or,  the  Distu7-bances,  with  which  they  have  been  from  all  sorts  of 
temptations  and  enemies  tempestuated  ;  and  the  Methods  by  which  they 
have  siill  weathered  out  each  horrible  tempest. 

And  into  the  midst  of  these  Actions,  1  interpose  an  entire  BooA:,  wherein 
there  is,  with  all  possible  veracit}',  a  Collection  made,  of  Memorable  Oc- 
currences ;  and  amazing  Judgments  and  Mercies,  befalling  many  particu- 
lar persons  among  the  people  of  J\'ezv- England. 

Let  my  readers  expect  all  that  I  have  promised  them,  in  this  Bill  of. 
Fare  ;  and  it  may  be  they  will  tind  themselves  entertained  with  yet  many 
other  passages,  above  and  beyond  their  expectation,  deserving  likewise 
a  room  in  History  :  in  all  which,  there  will  be  nothing,  but  the  Author's 
too  mean  way  of  preparing  so  great  entertainments,  to  reproach  the  In- 
vitation. 


24  GENERAL  INTRODUCTION.     • 

§  2.  The  reader  will  doubtless  desire  to  know,  what  it  was  that 

tot  Volvere  casus 


Insigiics  Pietate  Viros,  tot  adire  Labores, 
Impulerit. 

And  our  History  shall,  on  many  fit  occasions  which  will  be  therein  offer- 
ed, endeavour,  with  all  historical  fidelity  and  simplicity,  and  with  as  little 
offence  as  may  be,  to  satisfie  him.  The  sum  of  the  matter  is,  that  from 
the  very  beginning  of  the  Reformation  in  the  English  Nation,  there 
hath  always  been  a  generation  of  Godly  Men,  desirous  to  pursue  the 
Reformation  of  Religion,  according  to  the  Word  of  God,  and  the  Example 
of  the  best  Reformed  Churches ;  and  answering  the  character  of  Good 
Men,  given  by  Josephus,  in  his  Paraphrase  on  the  words  of  Sam.uel  to 
Saul,  f^yioev  'cc?iX)  7rpxj(jBviT£6xi  KAXm^  ' v<p''  eeturav  vt/nt^evTe?  »j  o,  n  '«>  w«<?)C-«s-< 
T«  ©£«  x(Ke>ievxc]cs  They  think  they  do  nothing  right  xn  the  service  of  God, 
but  zvhat  tney  do  according  to  the  command  of  God.  And  there  hath  been 
another  generation  of  men,  who  have  still  employed  the  power  which 
they  have  generally  still  had  in  their  hands,  not  only  to  stop  the  progress 
of  the  desired  Reformation,  but  also,  with  innumerable  vexations,  to  per- 
secute those  that  most  heartily  wished  well  unto  it.  There  were  many 
of  the  Reformers,  who  joyned  with  the  Reverend  John  Fox,  in  the  com- 
'plaints  which  he  then  entred  in  his  Martyrology,  about  the  baits  of  Po- 
pery yet  left  in  the  Church  ;  and  in  his  wishes,  God  take  them  away,  or 
ease  us  from  them,  for  God  knows  they  be  the  cause  of  much  blindness  and 
strife  amongst  men  !  They  zealously  decreed  the  policy  of  complying  al- 
ways with  the  ignorance  and  vanity  of  the  People  ;  and  cried  out  ear- 
nestly for  purer  Administrations  in  the  house  of  God,  and  more  con- 
formity to  the  Law  of  Christ,  and  primitive  Christianity  :  while  other? 
would  not  hear  of  going  any  further  than  the  first  Essay  of  Reformation. 
"Tis  very  certain,  that  the  first  Reformers  never  intended,  that  what  they 
did,  should  be  the  absolute  boundary  of  Reformation,  so  that  it  should  be 
a  sin  to  proceed  any  further  ;  as,  by  their  own  going  beyond  Wicklift, 
and  changing  and  growing  in  their  own  Models  also,  and  the  confessions 
of  Cranmcr,  with  the  Scripta  Anglicana  of  Bucer,  and  a  thousand  other 
things,  was  abundantly  demonstrated.  But  after  a  fruitless  expectation, 
wherein  the  truest  friends  of  the  Reformation  long  waited,  for  to  have 
that  which  Heijlin  himself  owns  to  have  been  the  design  of  theirs/;  Re- 
formers, followed  as  it  should  have  been,  a  party  very  unjustly  arrogat- 
ing to  themselves,  the  venerable  name  of.  The  Church  of  England,  by 
numberless  oppressions,  grievously  smote  those  their  Fellow-Servants. 
Then  'twas  that,  as  our  great  Owkn  hath  expressed  it,  "  Multitudes  of 
pious,  peaceable  Protestants,  were  driven,  by  their  severities,  to  leave 
their  native  country,  and  seek  a  refuge  for  their  lives  and  liberties, 
with  freedom,  for  the  worship  of  God,  in  a  wilderness,  in  the  ends  of 
the  earth." 

§  3.  It  is  the  History  of  these  Protestants,  that  is  here  attempted  : 
Protestants  that  highly  honoured  and  affected  the  Church  of  England, 
and  humbly  petition  to  be  a  part  of  it :  but  by  the  mistake  of  a  few  pow- 
erful brethren,  driven  to  seek  a  place  for  the  exercise  of  the  Protestant 
Religion,  according  to  the  light  of  their  consciences,  in  the  desarts  of 
.hnerica.  And  in  this  attempt  I  have  proposed,  not  only  to  preserve 
and  secure  the  interest  of  Religion,  in  the  Churches  of  that  little  coun- 
try New-Engi,an»,  so  far  as  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  may  please  to  bless  it 


OExXERAL  INTRODUCTION.  26 

for  that  end,  but  also  to  offer  unto  the  Churches  of  the  Reformation. 
abroad  in  the  world,  some  small  Memorials,  that  may  be  serviceable  un- 
to the  designs  of  Reformation,  whereto,  1  believe,  they  are  quickly  to  be 
awakened.  I  am  far  from  any  such  boast,  concerning  these  Churches, 
that  they  have  need  of  nothing,  I  wish  their  works  were  more  perfect  be- 
fore God.  Indeed,  that  which  Austin  called  the  perfection  of  Christians . 
is  like  to  be,  until  the  term  for  the  antichristian  apostasie  be  expiied, 
the  perfection  of  Churches  too  ;  ut  Agnoscant  se  nunqnam  esse  perftctas. 
Nevertheless,  I  perswade  myself,  that  so  far  as  they  have  attained,  they 
have  given  great  examples  of  the  methods  and  measures,  wherein  an 
Evangelical  Reformation  is  to  be  prosecuted,  and  of  the  qualitications 
requisite  in  the  instruments  that  are  to  prosecute  it,  and  of  the  difficul- 
ties which  may  be  most  likely  to  obstruct  it,  and  the  most  likely  Direc- 
tions and  Remedies  for  those  obstructions.  It  may  be,  'tis  not  possible 
for  me  to  do  a  greater  service  unto  the  Churches  on  the  best  Island  of 
the  universe,  than  to  give  a  distinct  relation  of  those  great  examples 
which  have  been  occurring  among  Churches  of  exiles,  that  were  driven 
out  of  that  Island,  into  an  horrible  -wilderness,  meerly  for  their  being 
well-wiliers  unto  the  Reformation.  When  that  blessed  Martyr  Co?iifa?t- 
tine  was  carried,  with  other  Martyrs,  in  a  dung-cart,  unto  the  place  of 
execution,  he  pleasantly  said,  "  Well,  yet  we  are  a  precious  odour  to 
God  in  Christ."  Though  the  Reformed  Churches  in  the  American  Re- 
gions, have,  hy  very  injurioMs  representations  of  their  brethren  (all  which 
they  desire  to  forget  and  forgive  I)  been  many  times  thrown  into  a  dung- 
cart ;  yet,  as  they  have  been  a  precious  odour  to  God  in  Christ,  so,  I 
hope,  they  will  be  a  precious  odour  unto  His  people ;  and  not  only  pre- 
cious, but  useful  also,  when  the  History  of  them  shall  come  to  be  consid- 
ered. A  Reformation  of  the  Church  is  coming  on,  and  I  cannot  but  there- 
upon say,  with  the  dying  Ci/rMS  to  his  children  in  Xenophon,  'ex  rav 
TpaysyinTiy.fvuv  f^iMvSxveri,  'ccvtti  yap  ^etpiTJi;  oiS'xTx.xXtx..  Learn  Jrom  the  things 
that  have  been  done  already,  for  this  is  the  best  zvay  of  learning.  The 
reader  hath  here  an  account  of  the  things  that  have  been  done  already. 
Bernard  upon  that  clause  in  the  Canticles,  [0  thou  fairest  among  xc-omen] 
has  this  ingenious  gloss,  Pulchram,  non  omnimodc  quidem,  sed  pjilchra^n 
inter  mtdicres  earn  docet,  videlicet  cum  distinctione,  quatenus  ex  hoc  amplius 
reprimatur ;  &  sciat  quid  desit  sibi.  Thus  I  do  not  say,  that  the  Churches 
of  J^ezc-England  are  the  most  regidar  that  can  be  ;  yet  I  do  say,  and  am 
sure,  that  they  are  very  like  unto  those  that  were  in  the  first  ages 
of  Christianity.  And  if  1  assert,  that  in  the  Reformation  of  the  Church, 
the  state  of  it  in  those  first  Ages,  is  to  be  not  a  little  considered,  the 
great  Peter  Ramus,  among  others,  has  emboldened  me.  For  when  the 
Cardinal  of  Lorrain,  the  Macenas  of  that  great  man,  was  offended  at  him, 
for  turning  Protestant,  he  replied.  Inter  Opes  illas,  qtiibus  me  ditasti,  has 
ciiam  in  wJernum  recordabor,  quod  Benefcio,  PoessiacK  Responsionis  tucc- 
didici,  de  quindecim  a  Christo  soecuUs,  primitm  vere  esse  aureum,  Reliqua, 
quo  longius  abscedereiit  esse  nequiora,  atqiie  deteriora  :  turn  igitiir  cum 
fieret  optio,  Aureum  sceculum  delegi.  In  short,  the^rs^  Age  was  the  gol- 
den Age:  to  return  unto  that,  will  make  a  man  a  Protestant,  and  I  may  add, 
3l  Puritan.  'Tis  possible,  that  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  carried  some  thou- 
sands of  Reformers  into  the  retirements  of  an  American  desart,  on  pur- 
pose, that,  v/ith  an  opportunity  granted  unto  many  of  his  fiithful  ser- 
vants, to  enjoy  the  precious  liberty  of  their  .Ministry,  though  in  the  midst 
of  many  temptations  all  their  days,  He  might  there,  to  them  first,  and 
then  by  them,  dve  a  specimen  of  many  good  things,  which  He  would 
Vol.   I-.  '  4 


26  GENERAL  INTKODUCTION. 

have  His  Churches  elsewhere  aspire  and  arise  unto:  and//n's  heing  done, 
he  knows  not  whether  there  be  not  all  done,  that  J\'€zv- England  was 
planted  for  ;  and  whether  the  Plantation  may  not,  soon  after  this,  come 
to  nothing.  Upon  that  expression  in  the  sacred  Scripture,  Cast  the  nn- 
profitable  servant  into  outer  darkness,  it  hath  been  imagined  by  some,  that 
the  Regiones  Extcrce  of  America,  are  the  Tenebrce  Erteiiores,  which  the 
Tinprolitable  are  there  condemned  unto.  No  doubt,  the  authors  of  those 
Ecclesiastical  impositions  and  severities,  which  drove  the  English  Chris- 
tians into  the  dark  regions  of  America,  esteemed  those  Christians  to  be  a 
vei'y  unprofitable  sort  of  creatures.  But  behold,  ye  European  Churches, 
there  are  gulden  Candlesticks  [more  than  twice  seven  times  seven  /]  in  the 
midst  of  this  outer  darkness  :  unto  the  upright  children  of  Abraham,  here 
hath  arisen  light  in  darkness.  And  let  us  humbly  speak  it,  it  shall  be 
profitable  for  you  to  consider  the  light,  which  from  the  midst  of  this 
outer  darkness,  is  now  to  be  darted  over  unto  the  other  side  of  the  Allan- 
tick  Ocean.  But  we  must  therewithal  ask  your  Prayers,  that  these  golden 
Candlesticks  ma}'  not  quickly  be  removi  d  out  of  their  place  ! 

§  4.   But  whether  .Veio  England  may   live  any  where  else  or  no,    it 
must  live  in  our  History  ! 

History,  in  general,  hath  had  so  many  and  mighty  commendations 
from  the  pens  of  those  numberless  authors,  who,  from  Herodotus  to 
How  el ,  have  been  the  professed  writers  of  it,  that  a  tenth  part  of  them 
transcribed,  would  be  a  furniture  for  a  Polyanthea  in  foJio.  We,  that 
have  neither  liberty,  nor  occasion,  to  quote  those  commendations  o{  His- 
tory, will  content  ourselves  with  the  opinion  of  one  who  was  not  much 
o(  a  professed  historian,  expressed  in  that  passage,  whereto  all  mankind 
subscribe,  Historic  est  Testis  temporum,  JVuntia  vetustatis,  Lux  veritatis, 
vifa  memoricE,  magistra  vitce.  But  of  all  History  it  must  be  confessed, 
that  the  palm  is  to  be  given  unto  Church  History  ;  wherein  the  dignity, 
the  suavity,  and  the  utility  of  the  sidject  is  transcendent.  I  observe, 
that  for  the  description  of  the  whole  rcoi-ld  in  the  Book  of  Ge)iesis,  that 
first-born  of  all  historians,  the  great  Moses,  implies  but  one  or  two  chap- 
ters, whereas  he  implies,  it  may  be  seven  times  as  many  chapters,  in  de- 
scribing that  one  little  Pavilion.,  the  Tabernacle.  And  when  I  am  thinking, 
what  may  be  the  reason  of  this  difi'erence,  methinks  it  intimates  unto  us, 
that  the  Church  wherein  the  service  of  God  is  performed,  is  much  more 
precious  than  the  tcorld,  which  was  indeed  created  for  the  sake  and  use 
of  the  Church.  'Tis  very  certain,  that  the  greatest  entertainments  must 
needs  occur  in  the  History  of  the  people,  whom  the  Son  of  God  hath 
redeemed  and  purified  unto  himself,  as  a  peculiar  people,  and  whom  the 
Spirit  of  God,  by  supernatural  operations  upon  their  mmds,  does  cause  to 
live  like  strangers  in  this  world,  conforming  themselves  unto  the  Truths 
and  Rules  of  his  Holy  Word,  in  expectation  of  a  Kingdom,  whereto  they 
shall  be  in  another  and  a  better  World  advanced.  Such  a  people  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  hath  procured  and  preserved  in  all  ages  rjsiWc  ;  and  the  dis- 
pensations of  his  uumderous  Providence  towards  this  People  (for,  O  Lord, 
thou  do'st  lift  them  up,  and  cast  them  dcicnf)  their  calamities,  their  deliv- 
erances, the  dispositions  which  they  have  still  discovered,  and  the  con- 
siderable/)ers.'»?js  and  actions,  found  among  them,  cannot  but  aflbrd  matters 
of  admiration  a>id  admonition,  above  what  any  other  story  can  pretend 
unto  :  'tis  nothing  hut  Atheism  in  the  hearts  of  men,  that  can  perswade 
them  otherwise.  Let  any  person  of  good  sense  peruse  the  History  of 
Herodotus,  which,  like  a  river  taking  rise,  where  tlie  Sacred  Records  of 
the  Old  Testament  leave  off,  runs  along  smoothlv  and  sweetly,  with  rela- 


GENERAL  INTRODUCTION.  27 

tions  that  sometimes  perhaps  want  an  apology,  down  until   the  Grecians 
drive  the  Persians  before  them.     Let  him  then  peruse  Thucydides,  who 
from  acting  betook  himself  to  writings  and  carries  the  ancient  state  of  the 
Grecians,  down  to  the  twenty  tirst  year  of  the  Peluponnesian  wars  in  a 
manner,  which  Casaubon  judges  to  be  Mirandurn  potius  quant  iniitandum. 
Let  him  next  revolve  Xenophm,  that  Bte  of  Alliens,  who  continues  a  nar- 
rative of  the  Greek  affairs,  from  the  Peluponnesian  wais,  to  the  battle  of 
Maniinea,  and  gives  us  a  Cyrus  into  the  bargain,  at  such  a  rate,  thatLy;- 
sius  reckons  the  character  of  a  Suavi,  Fidus  ^  Cu ciimspcctus  Scriptor,  to 
belong  unto  him.  Let  him  from  hence  proceed  unto  Diodorus  Siculus,  who, 
besides  a  rich  treasure  of  Egyptian,  Assyrian,  Lyhian  and  Grecian,  and 
other  AiitiqitiLies,  in  a  phrase  which  according  to  Photius^s  judgment,  is 
'<rroptct  fMc^trrx  Ts-peTsraa-yj,  of  all  most   becoming  an  historian,  carries   on 
the  thread  begun  by  his  predecessors,  until  the  end  of  the  hundred  and 
nineteenth  Olympiad  ;  and  where  he  is  detective,  let  it  be  supplied  from 
Arianus,  from  Justin,  and  from  Curtius,  who  in  the  relish  of  CoZ^j'ms  is, 
Qtiovis  milh  didcior.     Let  him  hereupon  consult  Polybius,  and  acquaint 
himself  with  the  birth  and  growth  of  the  Roman  Empire,  as  far  as  'tis 
described,  mfite  of  ihe.  forty  books  composed  by  an  author,  who  with  a 
learned  Professor  of  History  is,  Prudens  Scriptor,  si  quis  alius.     Let  him 
now  run  over  the  table  of  the  Roman  affairs,  compendiously  given  by 
Lucius  Florus,  and  then  let  him  consider  the  transactions  of  above  three 
hundred  years  reported  by  Dionysius  Halicarnas  cms,  who,  if  the  censure 
of  Bodin  may  be  taken,  Grcecos  omnes  8f  Latinos  superasse  videatur.     Let 
him  from  hence  pass  to  Livy,  of  whom  the  famous  crilick  says.  Hoc  solum 
ingenium  [de  Historicis  Loquor)  populus  Ramanus  jiar  Imperio  sno  habuit, 
and  supply  those  of  his  Decads  that  are  lost,  from  the  best  fragments  of 
antiquity,  in  others  (and  especially  Dion  and  Salust)  that   lead  us  on  still 
further  in  our  way.     Let  him  then  proceed  unto  the  writers  of  the  Ce- 
sarean times,   and  first  revolve  Sue'onius,   then  Tacitus,  then  HerodiaUy 
then  a  whole  army  more  of  historians,  which   now  crowd   into  our  Li- 
brary ;  and  unto  all  the  rest,  let  him  not  fail  of  adding  the  incomparable 
Plutarch,  whose  books  they  say,  Theodore  Gaza  preferred  before  any  in 
the  world,  next  unto  the  inspired  oracles  of  the  Bible:  but  if  the  num- 
ber be  still  too  little  to  satisfie  an  historical  apjjxnite,  let  him  add  Polyhis- 
tor  unto  the  number,  and  all  the  Chronicles  of  the  following  ages.     After 
all,  he  must  sensibly  acknowledge,  that  the  two  short  books  of  Ecclesi- 
astical History,  written  by  the  evangelist  Luke,  hath  given  us  more  glo- 
rious entertainments,  than  all  these  voluminous    historians  if  they  were 
put  all  together.     The   atchievements   of  one  Paul  particularly,  which 
that  evangelist  hath  emblazoned,  have  more  true  glory  in  them,  than  all 
the  acts  of  those  execrable  plunderers  and  murderers,  and  irresistible 
banditti  of  the  world,  which  have  been  dignified  by  tha  name  of  conque- 
rors.    Tacitus  counted  Ingentia  hella,  Expugnationes  urbium,  fusos  cap- 
tosque  Reges,  the  rages  of  war,  and  the  glorious  violences,  whereof  great 
•warriors  make   a  wretched  ostentation,  to   he  the  noblest  matter  for  an 
historian.     But   there  is  a  nobler,   I  humbly  conceive,  in  the  planting 
and  forming  o(  Evangelical  Churches,  and  the  temptations,  the  corruptions, 
the  afflictions,  which  assault  them,  and   their  salvations  from  those  as- 
saults, and  the  exemplary  lives  of  those  that  Heaven  employs  to  be  pat- 
terns of  Iwliness  and  usefulness  upon  earth  :  and  unto  such  it  is,  that  I 
now  invite  my  readers  ;  things,  in  comparison  whereof,  the  subjects  of 
many  other  Histories,  are  of  as  little  weight,   as  the  questions  about  Z, 
the  last  letter  of  our  Alphabet,  and  whether  H  is  to  be  pronounced  with 


28  GENERAL  INTRODUCTION. 

an  aspiration,  where  about  whole  volumes  have  been  written,  and  of  no 
more  account,  than  the  composure  of  JJidyrnus.  But  lor  the  manner  of 
luy  treating  this  luatur,  I  must  now  give  some  account  unto  him. 

^  5.  Htuder  /  I  have  cUjne  the  part  of  an  impartial  histurian,  albeit 
not  without  all  occasion  perhaps  for  the  rule  which  a  worthy  writer,  in 
his  Historica,  gives  to  ever}'  reader,  Histonci  Legantur  cum  Moderlulione 
Sf  tenia,  ^  cugitelur  Jieii  nun  posae  lit  in  umnihus  circumstantiis  siiit  Lymei. 
Foiybiua  complains  ol  those  hmiorians,  who  always  made  either  the  Cariha- 
genians  brave,  or  the  Romans  base,  or  e  cmtra,  in  all  their  actions,  as  their 
atibction  for  their  own  party  led  them.  1  have  endeavoured,  with  all  good 
conscience,  todeclme  this  writing  meerly  for  a  party,  or  doing  like  the  deal- 
er in  History,  vvhom  Lucian  derides,  for  always  calling  the  captain  of  his 
own  party  nnAchilles,  but  of  the  adverse  party  a  Thersites:  nor  have  I  added 
unto  the  just  provocations  for  the  complaint  made  by  the  Baron  Manner, 
th.it  the  gieatest  part  of  Histories  are  but  so  many  panegyricks  composed 
by  interested  hands,  which  elevate  iniquity  to  the  Heavens,  like  Patercu- 
Ins,  and  like  Machiavel,  who  propose  Tiberius  Cesar,  and  Cesar  Borgia, 
as  examples  tit  for  imitation,  whereas  true  History  would  have  exhibited 
them  as  horrid  monsters,  as  very  devils.  'Tis  true,  I  am  not  of  the 
opinion,  that  one  cannot  merit  the  name  of  an  impartial  historian,  except 
he  wi'ite  bare  matters  of  fact  without  all  rejleclion  ;  for  I  can  tell  where 
to  tind  this  given  as  the  dttinition  of  History,  Historia  est  rerum  gcsta- 
rum,  cam  laude  ant  vituperatione,  Nariatio  :  and  if  1  am  not  altogether 
a  Tacitus,  when  vcrtues  or  vices  occur  to  be  matters  of  reflection,  as  well 
as  ot  relation,  I  will,  for  my  vindication,  appeal  to  Tacitus  himself,  whom 
Lipsius  calls  one  of  the  prudentest  (though  Tert^dlian,  long  before,  counts 
him  one  of  the  lymgest)  of  them  who  have  inriched  the  world  with  His- 
tory :  he  says-  Prctcipuum  mvnus  Annalium  reor,  ne  virtutes  sileantur, 
utque  pravis  Dictis,  Faclisqve  ex  posteritate  4-  hifnrnia  melus  sit.  I  have 
not  commended  any  person,  but  when  I  have  really  judged,  r.ot  only  that 
he  deserved  it,  but  also  that  it  would  be  a  benefit  unto  posterity'  to  know, 
wherein  he  deserved  it  :  and  my  judgment  of  desert,  hath  not  been  bi- 
assed, by  persons  being  of  my  own  particular  judgment  in  matters  of  dis- 
putation, among  the  Churches  of  God.  I  have  been  as  willing  to  wear 
the  name  of  Simplicius  Verinus,  throughout  my  whole  undertaking,  as 
lie  that,  before  me,  hath  assumed  it  :  nor  am  I  like  Pope  Zachary,  impa- 
tient so  much  as  to  hear  of  any  Antipodes.  The  spirit  of  a  Schlusselber- 
gius,  who  fills  foul  with  fury  and  reproach  on  all  who  differ  from  him  ; 
the  spirit  of  an  Heylin,  who  seems  to  count  no  obloquy  too  hard  for  a 
Reformer  ;  and  the  spirit  of  those  (folio-writers  there  are,  some  of  them, 
in  the  English  nation  !)  whom  a  noble  Historian  stigmatizes,  as.  Those 
hot-headed,  passionate  bigots,  from  whom,  ^tis  enough,  if  you  he  of  a  Re- 
ligion contrary  unto  theirs,  to  be  defamed,  C07idemned  ai:d  pursued  with  a 
thousand  calumnies.  I  thank  Heaven  1  hnte  it  w^ith  all  my  heart.  But 
how  can  the  lives  of  the  commendable  be  written  without  commending 
them  ?  or,  is  that  law  of  History  given  in  one  of  the  eminentest  pieces 
of  antiquity  we  now  have  in  our  hands,  wholly  antiquated,  Maxime  pro- 
primn  est  Historice  Laudem  rerum  egregie  gestarum  persequi  ?  nor  have 
I,  on  the  other  side,  forbore  to  mention  many  censurable  thmgs,  even  in 
the  best  of  my  friends,  whon  the  things,  in  my  opinion,  were  not  good ; 
or  so  bore  away  for  Place/itin,  in  the  course  of  our  story,  as  to  pass  by 
Verona  ;  but  been  mindful  of  the  direction  which  Polybius  gives  to  the 
historian.  It  becomes  him  that  writes  an  History,  sometimes  to  extol  enemies 
in  his  praises,  when  their  praise  worthy  actions  bespeak  it,  and  at  the  same 


GENERAL  INTRODUCTION.  29 

ti'ine  to  reprove  the  best  friends,  whc7i  their  deeds  appear  worthy  of  a  re- 
proof;  in-as  much  as  History  is  good  for  nothing,  if  truth  {which  is  the 
very  eye  of  the  animal)  be  not  in  it.  Indeed  1  have  thought  it  my  duty 
upon  all  accounts,  (and  if  it  have  proceeded  unto  the  degree  of  n  fault, 
there  is.  it  may  be,  something  in  my  temper  and  nature,  that  has  betrayed 
me  therein)  to  be  more  sparing  and  easie  in  thus  mentiotiing  oi  censura- 
ble things,  than  in  my  otJier  liberty  :  a  writer  of  Church-History,  should, 
I  know,  be  like  the  builner  of  the  temple,  one  of  the  tribe  of  Js'aphthali  ; 
and  for  this  1  will  also  plead  my  Polybius  in  my  excuse  ;  It  is  not  the 
work  of  an  historian,  to  commemorate  the  vices  and  villanies  of  men,  so 
much  as  their  just,  their  fair,  their  honest  actions  :  and  the  readers  of  His - 
tory  get  more  good  by  the  objects  of  their  emulation,  than  of  tlicir  indigna- 
tion. Nor  do  I  deny,  that  though  I  cannot  approve  the  conduct  o(  Jose- 
phus ;  (whom  Jerom  not  unjustly  nor  ineptly  calls,  the  Greek  Livy)  when 
he  left  out  of  his  Antiqxdties,  the  story  of  the  gcLlen  Calf,  and  1  don't 
wonder  to  dnd  Chamier,  and  Rivet,  and  others,  taxing  him  for  his  par- 
tiality towards  his  country-men  ;  yet  I  have  left  unmentioned  some  ce?i- 
surable  occurrences  in  the  story  of  our  Colonies,  as  things  no  less  un- 
useful  than  improper  to  be  raised  out  of  ihe  grave,  wherein  oblivion  hath 
now  buried  them  ;  lest  I  should  have  incurred  the  pasquil  bestowed 
upon  Pope  Urban,  who  employing  a  committee  to  rip  up  the  old  errors 
of  his  predecessors,  one  clapped  a  pair  of  spurs  upon  the  heels  of  the 
statue  of  St.  Peter;  and  a  label  from  the  statue  of  St.  Paul  opposite 
thereunto,  upon  the  bridge,  asked  him,  Whither  he  was  bound  ?  St.  Peter 
answered,  I  apprehend  some  danger  m  staying  here  ;  I  fear  they'' II  call  me 
in  question  for  denying  my  Master.  And  St.  Paul  replied,  J^ay,  then  I 
had  best  be  gone  too,  for  theyHl  question  me  also,  for  pei  scenting  the  Chris- 
tians  before  my  conversion.  Briefly,  my  pen  shall  reproach  none,  that  can 
give  a  good  word  unto  any  good  man  that  is  not  of  their  own  faction,  and 
shall  fall  out  with  none,  but  those  that  can  agree  with  no  body  else,  ex- 
cept those  of  their  oxvn  schism.  If  I  draw  any  sort  of  men  with  char- 
(  coal,  it  shall  be,  because  I  remember  a  notable  passage  of  the  best 
Queen  that  ever  was  in  the  world,  our  late  Q,ueen  Mary.     Monsieur  Ju- 

Ivien,  that  he  might  justitie  the  Reformation  in  Scotland,  made  a  very 
black  representation  of  their  old  Queen  Mary  •  for  which,  a  certain 
sycophant  would  have  incensed  our  (ci,ueen  Alary  against  that  Reverend 
person,  saying,  Is  it  not  a  shame  that  this  man,  without  any  consideration 
for  your  Royal  Person,  shotdd  dare  to  throw  suchinfamous  ccdumnies  upon 
a  Qiieen,from  whom  your  Royal  Highness  is  descended  F  But  that  excel- 
lent Princess  replied,  JVo,  not  at  all ;  is  it  not  enough  that  by  fid  some 
praises  great  persons  be  luWd  asleep  all  their  lives;  but  must  flattery  ac- 
company them  to  their  very  graves  ?  How  should  they  fear  the  judgment  of 
posterity.,  if  historians  be  not  allowed  to  speak  the  truth  after  their  death  i' 
But  whether  1  do  my  self  commend,  or  whether  I  give  my  reader  an  op- 
portunity to  censure,  1  am  careful  above  all  things  to  do  it  with  truth  ; 
and  as  1  have  considered  the  words  of  Plato,  Deum  indigne  ^  graviier 
ferre.  cnm  quis  ei  similem  hoc  est,  virtute  prcestantem,  vituperet,  aut  laudet 
contrarium  :  so  I  have  had  the  JVinth  Commandment  o(  a  greater  law-giver 
than  Plato,  to  preserve  my  care  of  Truth  from  first  to  last.  If  any  mis- 
take have  been  any  where  committed,  it  will  be  found  meerly  circum- 
stantial, and  wbolly  involuntary;  and  let  it  be  remenibred.  that  though  no 
historian  ever  merited  better  than  the  incomparable  Thvanus,  yet  learn- 
ed men  have  said  ofhis  work,  what  they  never  shall  truly  say  of  o«rs,that 
it  contains  multa  falsissima  ^  indigna.   I  find  Erasmus  himself  mistaking 


30  GENERAL  INTRODUCTION. 

one  man  lor  tzvo,  when  writing  of  the    ancients.     And  even  our  own 
English  writers  too  are  often  mistaken,  and  in  matters  of  a  very  late  im- 
portance, as  Baker,  and  Heylin,  and  Fuller,  (professed  historians)  tell  us, 
that  Richard  Suttoji,  a  single  man,  founded  the  Chartcr-Hovsc  ;  whereas 
his  name  was    Thomas,  and  he  was  a  married  man.     I  think  I  can  recite 
such  mistakes,  it  may  be  sans  number  occurring  in  the  most  credible 
writers  ;  yet  I  hope  I  shall  commit  nono^  such.     But  although  I  thus  chal- 
lenge, as  my  due,  the  character  of  an  impartial,  I  doubt  I  may  not  chal- 
lenge that   of  an  elegant  historian.     I    cannot  say,  whether   the  style, 
wherein  this  Church-History  is  written,  will  please    the  modern  critics  : 
but  if  I  seem  to  have  used  uzs-xarlaTtt  a-wra^n  y^«^^.,  a  simple,  submiss, 
humble  style,  'tis    the  same  that  Eusebius  atlirms  to  have  been  used  by 
Hegesippus,  who,  as  far   as  we  understand,  was   the  first  author  (after 
Liike)  that  ever  composed  an  entire  body  of  Ecclesiastical  History,  which 
he  divided  into  Jive  books,  and  entitled, '  vTrofivtifMirx  tuj  ^ey,K>^a-ixv1ix.u))  w^«|- 
tm.     Whereas  others,  it  maybe,  will  reckon  the  style  embeilished  with 
too  much  of  ornament,  by  the  multiplied  references  to  other  and  former 
concerns,  closely  couched,  for  the  observation  of  the  attentive,  in  almost 
every  paragraph  ;  but  I   must  confess,  that  I  am  of  his  mind  who  said, 
Sicuti  sal  modice  cibis  aspersus   Gondii,  4*  gratiam  saporis  addit,   ita  si 
paulum  antiquitatis  admiscueris,  Oratiojit  venustior.     And  1  have  seldom 
seen   that  waj  of  writing  faulted,   but  by  those,  who,  for  a  certain  odd 
reason,  sometimes  find  fault,  that  the  grapes  are  not  ripe.     These  embel- 
lishments (of  which  yet  I  only — Veiiiam  pro  laude  peto)  are  not  the  pue- 
rile spoils   oi  Polyanthea''s ;  but  I   should  have  asserted  them  to  be  as 
choice  Jlowers  as  most  that  occur  in  ancient  or  modern  writings,  almost 
unavoidably  putting  themselves  into  the  author's  hand,  while  about  his 
work,  if  those  words  of  Ambrose  had  not  a  little  frighted  me    as  well  as 
they  did   Baronius,   Unumquemqne  Fallunt  sua  scripta.     I  observe  that 
learned  men  have  been  so  terrified  by  the  reproaches  of  pedantry,  which 
little  smatterers  at  reading  and  learning  h;ive,  by  their  quoting  humours 
brought  upon  themselves,  that,  for  to  avoid  all  approaches  towards  that 
which  those  feeble  creatures  have  gone  to  imitate,  the  best  way  of  wri- 
tinof  has  been  most  injuriously  deserted.     But  what  shall  we  say  ?     The 
best  way  of  writing,   under  heaven,  shall   be  the  worst,  when  Erasmus 
his  monosyllable   tyrant  will  have  it  so  !  and  if  I  should   have  resigned 
my  self  wholly  to  the  judgment  of  others,  what  way  of  writing  to  have 
taken,  the  story  of  the  two  statues  made  by  Pnlicletus  tells  me,  what  may 
have  been  the  issue  :  he  contrived  one  of  them  according  to  the  rules 
that  best  pleased  himself,  and  the  other  according  to  the  fancy  of  every 
one  that  looked  upon  his  work  :  the  former  was  afterwards  applauded  by 
all,  and  the  latter  derided  by  those  very  persons  who  had  given  their  di- 
rections for  it.     As   for  such  vnaccuracies  as  the  critical  may  discover, 
Opere  in  longo.  I  appeal  to  the  courteous,  for  a  favourable  construction  of 
them;  and  certainly  they  will  be  favourably  judged  of,  when  there  is 
considered  the  variety  of  my  other  employments;  which  have  kept  me 
jn  continual  hurries,  1  had  almost  said,  like  those  of  the  ninth  sphere,  for 
the  few  months  in  which  this  Work  has  been  digesting.     It  was  a  thing 
well  thought,  by  the  wise  designers   of  Chelsey-Colledge,   wherein  able 
historians  were   one  sort  of  persons  to  be  maintained  ;  that  the  Roman- 
ists do  in  one  point  condemn  the  Protestants  ;  for  among  the  Romanists, 
they  don't  burden  their  Professors  with  any  Parochial  incumbrances  ;  hut 
among  the  Protestants,  the  very  same  individual  man  must  preach,  cate- 
chize, administer  the  Sacraments,  visit  the  aiflicted,  and  manage  all  the 


GENERAL  INTRODUCTION.  ^I 

parts  of  Church-discipline ;  and  if  any  books  for  the  service  of  Religion, 
be  written,  persons  thus  extreamhj  inc}(mhred  must  be  the  writers.  Now, 
of  all  the  Churches  under  heaven,  there  are  none  that  expect  so  much 
variety  of  service  from  their  Pastors,  as  those  of  New -England ;  and  of 
all  the  Churches  in  New-England,  there  are  none  that  require  more  than 
those  in  Boston,  the  metropolis  of  the  English  America ;  whereof  one  is, 
by  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  committed  unto  the  care  of  the  unworthy 
hand,  by  which  this  History  is  compiled.  Reader,  give  me  leave 
humbly  to  mention,  with  him  in  Tully,  Antequam  de  Re,  Paiica  de  Me  .' 
Constant  sermons,  usually  more  than  once,  and  perhaps  three  or  four 
times,  in  a  week,  and  all  the  other  duties  of  a  pastoral  xi^atchfulness,  a 
very  large  flock  has  all  this  while  demanded  of  me  ;  wherein,  if  I  had 
been  furnished  witn  as  many  heads  as  a  Typheus,  as  many  eyes  as  an  Ar- 
gos,  and  as  many  hajids  a?  a  Briareus,  I  might  have  had  work  enough  to 
have  employed  them  all  ;  nor  hath  my  station  left  me  free  from  obliga- 
tions to  spend  very  much  time  in  the  Evangelical  service  of  others  also. 
It  would  have  been  a  great  sin  in  me,  to  have  omitted,  or  abated,  my  just 
cares,  to  fulfil  my  Ministry  in  these  things,  and  in  a  manner  give  my  self 
zvholly  to  them.  All  the  time  I  have  had  for  my  Church-History,  hath 
been  perhaps  only,  or  chietly,  that,  which  I  might  have  taken  else  for  less 
profitable  recreations  ;  and  it  hath  all  been  done  by  snatches.  My  read- 
er will  not  tind  me  the  person  intended  in  his  Littany,  when  he  says, 
Libera  me  ah  homine  unius  Xegotis :  nor  have  I  spent  thirty  years  in 
shaping  this  my  History,  as  Diodorus  Sicidus  did  for  his,  [and  yet  both 
Bodinus  and  Sigonius  complain  of  the  G-p*Xf^»]z  attending  it.]  But  I  wish 
I  could  have  enjoyed  entirely  for  this  work,  one  quarter  of  the  little 
more  than  two  years  which  have  rolled  away  since  I  began  it ;  whereas 
I  have  been  forced  sometimes  wholly  to  throw  by  the  work  whole  months 
together,  and  then  resume  it,  but  by  a  stolen  hour  or  two  in  the  day,  not 
without  some  hazard  of  incurring  the  title  which  Coryai  put  upon  his 
History  of  his  Travels,  Crudities  hastily  gobbled  up  in  five  months.  Pro- 
togenes  being  seven  years  in  drawing  a  picture,  Apelles  upon  the  sight  of 
it,  said.  The  grace  oj  the  work  was  much  allayed  by  the  length  of  the  time. 
Whatever  else  there  may  have  been  to  take  oil  the  grace  of  the  work, 
now  in  the  reader's  bands,  (whereof  the  pictures  of  great  and  good  men 
make  a  considerable  part)  1  am  sure  there  hath  not  been  the  length  of  the 
time  to  do  it.  Our  English  Marty rologer,  counted  it  a  sufficient  apology, 
for  what  meanness  might  be  found  in  the  first  edition  of  his  acts  and  mo- 
numents, that  it  was  hastily  rashed  up  in  about  fourteen  months  :  and  I  may 
apologize  for  this  collection  of  our  acts  and  monuments,  that  I  should 
have  been  glad,  in  the  little  more  than  two  years  which  have  ran  out, 
since  I  entered  upon  it,  if  I  could  have  had  one  half  of  about  fourteen 
months  to  have  entirely  devoted  thereunto.  But  besides  the  time,  which 
the  daily  services  of  my  own  first,  and  then  many  other  Churches,  have 
necessarily  called  for,  I  have  lost  abundance  of  precious  time,  through  the 
leeble  and  broken  state  of  my  health,  which  hath  unfitted  me  for  hard 
study  ;  I  can  do  nothing  to  purpose  at  lucubrations.  And  yet,  in  this  time 
also  of  the  two  or  three  years  last  past,  I  have  not  been  excused  from  the 
further  diversion  ofpublishing  (though  not  so  many  as  they  say  Mercurius 
Trismegistus  did,  yet)  more  than  a  score  of  other  books,  upon  a  copious 
variety  of  other  subjects,  besides  the  composing  of  several  more,  that 
are  not  yet  published. 

Nor  is  this  neither  all  the  task  that  I  have  in  this  while  had  lying  upon 
vS  :  for  (though   I   am  yorv  sensible  of  what  Jerom  said.  A''on  bene  fir. 


3^  GENERAL  INTRODUCTION. 

giiod  occupato  Animojit  ;  and  g{  Quint  Hi  an'' s  remark,  J^'on  simtdin  mvlta 
■inlcndere  Animus  totum  potest  ;)  when  I  applied  my  mind  unto  this  way 
of  serving  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  ray  generation.  I  set  upon  another 
and  a  greater,  which  has  had,  I  suppose,  more  of  my  thought  and  hope 
than  this,  and  wherein  there  hath  passed  me,  for  the  most  part,  KuUa  dies 
sine  linea.  I  considered,  that  all  sort  oflearning  might  be  made  glorious- 
ly subservient  unto  the  illustration  of  the  sucied  Scriplvrc  ;  and  that  no 
professed  commentaries  had  hitherto  given  a  thousandth  part  of  so  much 
illustration  unto  it,  as  might  be  given.  I  considered,  that  multitudes  of 
particular  texts,  had,  especially  of  later  years,  been  more  notably  illus- 
trated in  the  scattered  books  of  learned  men,  than  in  any  of  the  ordinary 
commentators.  And  I  considered,  that  the  tieasures  of  illustration  for  the 
Bible,  dispersed  in  many  hundred  volumes,  might  be  fetched  all  together 
by  a  labour  that  would  resolve  to  conquer  all  lh>ngs  ;  and  that  all  the  im- 
provements which  the  later  ages  have  made  in  the  sciences,  might  be  also, 
with  an  inexpressible  pleasure,  called  in,  to  Christ  the  ilhistration  of  the 
holy  oracles,  at  a  rate  that  hath  not  been  attempted  in  the  vulgar  J«7io<a- 
tions  ;  and  that  a  common  degree  of  sense,  would  help  a  person,  who 
should  converse  much  with  these  things,  to  attempt  sometimes  also  an 
illustration  of  his  own,  wiiich  might  expect  some  attention.  Certainly, 
it  will  not  be  ungrateful  unto  good  men,  to  have  innumerable  Antiquities, 
Jezcish,  Chaldec,  Arabian,  Grecian  and  Roman,  brought  home  unto  us, 
with  a  s^^eet  light  reflected  from  them  on  the  -n'ord,  which  is  our  light ;  or, 
to  have  all  the  typical  men  and  things  in  our  Book  of  Mysteries,  accom- 
modated with  their  Antitypes:  or,  to  have  many  hundretis  of  references  to 
our  dearest  Lord  Jllessiah ,  discovered  in  tne  writings  which  testijic  of  Him, 
oftner  than  the  most  of  mankind  have  hitherto  imagine<i  :  or,  to  have 
the  histories  of  all  ages,  coming  in  with  punctual  and  surprising /w//i//»7en.rs 
of  the  divine  Prophecies,  as  far  as  they  have  been  hitherto  fultilied  ;  and 
not  meer  conjectures,  but  even  mathematical  and  incontestibie  demonstra- 
tions, given  of  expositions  offered  upon  the  Prophecies,  that  yet  remain  to 
be  accomplished  :  or.  to  have  in  one  heap,  thousands  of  those  remaikable 
discoveries  of  the  deep  things  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  whereof  one  or  (tco,  or 
a  few,  sometimes,  have  been,  with  good  success  accounted  materials 
enough  to  advance  a  person  into  Authorism  ;  or  to  have  the  delirious 
I'uriosties  of  Grotius,  TiuA  Bochart,  and  Alede.  nml  Lightfoot,  and  Sclden, 
and  Spencer,  (carefully  selected  and  corrected)  and  many  more  giants 
in  kr;owledge,  all  set  upon  one  Table. 

Travellers  tell  us,  that  at  Florence  there  is  a  rich  table,  worth  a  thou- 
sand crowns,  made  of  precious  stones  neatly  inlaid  ;  a  table  that  was  | 
tifteen  years  in  making,  with  no  less  than  thirtv  men  daily  at  work  upon  * 
it ;  even  such  a  table  could  not  afford  so  rich  entertainments,  as  one 
that  should  have  the  soul-feasting  thoughts  of  those  learned  men  togeth* 
er  set  upon  it.  Only  'tis  pitj',  that  instead  of  one  poor  feeble  American, 
overwhelmed  with  a  thousand  other  cares,  and  capable  of  touching  this 
work  no  otherwise  than  in  a  digression,  there  be  noi;  more  than  thirty  men 
daily  employed  about  it.  For,  when  the  excell'^nt  Mr.  Pool  had  finished 
his  laborious  and  immortal  task,  it  was  noted  by  some  considerable  per- 
sons, "■  That  wanting  assistance  to  collect  for  him  many  miscellaneous 
criticisms,  occasionally  scattered  in  other  authors,  he  left  many  better 
things  behind  him  than  he  found."  And  more  than  all  this,  our  Essay 
is  levelled,  if  it  be  not  anticipated  with  that  Epitaph,  agnis  tamen  excidit 
ausis.  Designing  accordingly,  to  give  the  Church  of  God  such  displays 
of  his  blessed  word,  as  may  be  more  entertaining  for  the  rarity  and  rw- 


GENERAL  INTRODUCTION.  3.3 

velty  of  them,  than  any  that  have  hitherto  been  seen  tos^ether  in  any 
Exposition  ;  and  yet  such  as  may  be  acceptable  unto  the  most  judicious, 
for  the  demonstrative  truth  of  them,  and  unto  the  most  orthodox,  for  the 
regard  had  unto  the  Analogy  of  Faith  in  all,  I  have  now,  in  a  few  months, 
got  ready  an  huge  number  of  golden  keys  to  open  the  pandects  of  Heav- 
en, and  some  thousands  of  charming  and  curious  and  singular  notes,  by 
the  new  help  whereof,  the  word  of  Christ  may  run  and  be  glorified. 
If  the  God  of  my  life,  will  please  to  spare  my  life  [my  yet  sinful,  and 
slothful,  and  thereby  forfeited  life  !]  as  many  years  longer  as  the  barren 
fig-tree  had  in  the  parable,  1  may  make  unto  the  Church  of  God,  an  hum- 
ble tender  of  our  Biblia  Americana,  a  volume  enriched  with  better 
things  than  all  the  plate  of  the  Indies ;  yet  not  I,  but  the  Grace  of 
Christ  with  me.  My  reader  sees,  why  1  commit  the  fault  of  a  TssptuvTix, 
which  appears  in  the  mention  of  these  minute  passages ;  'tis  to  excuse 
whatever  other  fault  of  inaccuracy,  or  inadvertency,  may  be  discovered 
in  an  History,  which  hath  been  a  sort  of  rapsody  made  up  (like  the  pa- 
per whereon  'tis  written  !)  with  many  little  rags,  torn  from  an  employ- 
ment, multifarious  enough  to  overwhelm  one  of  my  small  capacities. 

Magna  dabit,  qui  magna  potest  ;  mibi  parva  potenti, 
Parvaque  poscenti,  parva  dedisse  sat  est. 

§  6.  But  shall  I  prognosticate  thy  fate,  now  that, 

Parve  (^sed  invideo)  sine  me,  Liber,  ibis  in  Urbem. 

Luther,  who  was  himself  owner  of  such  an  heart,  advised  every  historian 
to  get  the  i/earf  of  a  Lion;  and  the  more  1  consider  of  the  provocation, 
which  this  our  Church-History  must  needs  give  to  that  roaring  Lion,  who 
has,  through  all  ages  hitherto,  been  tearing  the  church  to  pieces,  the 
more  occasion  I  see  to  wish  my  self  a  Cosur  de  Lion.  But  had  not  m}'^ 
heart  been  trebly  oak'd  and  brass'd  for  such  encounters  as  this  our  his- 
tory may  meet  withal,  I  would  have  worn  the  silk-worms  motto,  Operi^ 
tiir  dum  Operatur,  and  have  chosen  to  have  written  Anonymously  ;  or,  as 
Claudius  Salmasivs  calls  himself  Walo  Messalinus.  as  Ludovicus  Molinwus 
j  calls  himself  Lwc?{o7n«Ms  Colvinus,  as  Carolus  Scribanius  calls  himself  CZa- 
rus  Bonarscius,  (and  no  less  men  than  Peter  du  Moidin  and  Dr.  Henry 
I  More,  stile  themselves,  the  one //^pJoo/2/^ws  FroTi^o,  the  other  Franciscus 
j  Paleopolitanus.)  Thus  I  would  have  tried  whether  I  could  not  have 
Anagrammatized  my  name  into  some  concealment  ;  or  I  would  have  re- 
ferred it  to  be  found  in  the  second  chapter  of  the  second  Syntagm  of 
Selden  de  Diis  Syris.  Whereas  now  I  freelj'  confess,  'tis  Cotton  Ma- 
ther that  has  written  all  these  things  ; 

Me,  me,  ad  sum  qui  scripsi ;  tu  me  convertite  Ferrum. 

I  hope  'tis  a  right  work  that  I  have  done  ;  but  we  are  not  yet  arrived 
unto  the  day,  wherein  God  will  bring  every  work  into  judgment  (the  day 
of  the  kingdom  that  was  promised  unto  David)  and  a  Son  of  David  hath 
as  truly  as  wisely  told  us,  that  until  the  arrival  of  that  happy  day,  this  is 
one  of  the  vaiiities  attending  humane  affairs  ;  For  a  right  work  a  man 
shall  be  envied  of  his  neighbour.  It  will  not  be  so  much  a  surprise  unto 
me,  if  I  should  live  to  see  our  Church- Hi  story  vexed  with  anie  mad-ver- 
sions of  calumnious  writers,  as  it  would  haye  been  unto  Virgil,  to  reatl 
Voi..  I.  5 


34  GENERAL  INTRODUCTION. 

his  Bucolicks  reproached  by  the  Antibucolica  of  a  nameless  scribbler,  and 
his  JEneids  travestied  by  the  JEneidomastix  of  Carbilius  :  or  Herenniui 
taking  pains  to  make  a  collection  of  the  faults,  and  Faustinus  of  the 
thefts,  in  his  incomparable  composures  :  yea,  Pliny,  and  Seneca  them- 
selves, and  our  Jerom.  reproaching  him,  as  a  man  of  no  judgment,  nor 
skill  in  sciences  ;  while  Puedianus  affirms  of  him,  that  he  was  himself. 
Usque  cdeo  invidiie  Expers,  ut  si  quid  erudite  dictum  inspiceret  alterius, 
lion  minus  gauderet  ac  si  suum  esset.  How  should  a  book,  no  better  la- 
boured than  this  of  ours,  escape  Zoilian  outrages,  when  in  all  ages,  the 
most  exquisite  works  have  been  as  much  vilified,  as  Plato's  by  Scaliger^ 
and  Aristotle' shy  Lactantiiis  ?  In  the  time  of  our  K.  Edward  VI.  there 
was  an  order  to  bring  in  all  the  teeth  of  St.  Apollonia,  which  the  people 
of  his  one  kingdom  carried  about  them  for  the  cure  of  the  tooth  ach  ;  and 
they  were  so  many,  that  they  almost  filled  a  tun.  Truly  envy  hath  as 
many  teeth  as  madam  Apollonia  would  have  had,  if  all  those  pretended 
reliques  had  been  really  hers.  And  must  all  these  teeth  be  fastned  on 
thee,  O  my  Book?  It  may  be  so  !  and  yet  the  Book,  when  ground  be- 
tween thebe  teeth,  will  prove  like  Ignatius  in  the  teeth  of  the  furious  ty- 
gers,  The  -whiter  manchet  for  the  Churches  of  God.  The  greatest  and 
fiercest  rage  oi  envy,  is  that  which  1  expect  from  those  lot m^ans,  whose 
religion  is  all  ceremony,  and  whose  charity  is  more  for  them  who  deny 
the  most  essential  things  in  the  articles  and  homilies  of  the  Church  of 
England,  than  for  the  most  conscientious  men  in  the  world,  who  manifest 
their  being  so,  by  their  dissent  in  some  little  cerersony  ;  or  those  per- 
sons whose  hearts  are  notably  expressed  in  those  words  used  by  one  of 
them  ['tis  Honel  in  his  familiar  Letters,  vol.  I.  sec.  6.  lett.  32.]  /  rather 
pitty,  than  hate,  Turk  or  Infidel,  for  they  are  of  the  same  metal,  and  bear 
the  same  stamp,  as  I  do,  though  the  inscriptions  differ  ;  if  I  hate  any,  'tis 
those  schisniaticks  that  puzzle  the  sweet  peace  of  our  Church;  so  that  I 
could  be  content  to  see  an  Anabaptist  go  to  hell  on  a  Brownist' s  back.  The 
writer  whom  1  last  quoted,  hath  given  us  a  story  of  a  young  man  in  High- 
Holbourn,  who  being  after  his  death  dissected,  there  was  a  servient  with 
divers  tails,  found  in  the  left  ventricle  of  his  heart.  I  make  no  question, 
that  our  Church-History  will  find  some  reader  disposed  like  that  writer, 
with  an  heart  as  full  of  serpent  and  venom  as  ever  it  can  hold  :  nor  in- 
deed will  they  be  able  to  hold,  but  the  tongues  and  pens  of  those  angry 
folks,  will  scourge  me  as  with  scorpions,  and  cause  me  to  feel  (if  I  will 
feel)  as  many  lashes  as  Cornelius  Agrippa  expecled  from  their  brethren, 
for  the  book  in  which  he  exposed  their  vanities.  A  scholar  of  the  great 
JuELS,  made  once  about  fourscore  verses,  for  which  the  Censor  of  Cor- 
pus Christi  Colledge  in  the  beginning  of  Queen  Maries  reign,  publickly 
and  cruelly  scourged  him,  with  one  lash  for  every  verse.  Now  in  those 
verses,  the  young  man's  prayers  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  have  this  for 
part  of  the  answer  given  to  them. 

Respondet  Dominvs,  spectans  de  sedibus  altis, 

.Ye  dubites  recte  credere,  parve  puer. 
Glim  sum  passus  mortem,  nunc  occupn  dextram 

Patris,  nunc  summi  sunt  mea  regnapoli, 
Sed  tu,  crede  mihi,  vires  Scriptura  resumet^ 

Tulleturque  suo  tempore  missanequam. 

In  English. 
The  Lord  beholding  from  his  throne,  rcply'd. 
Doubt  not,  0  Youth,  firmly  in  me  confide  : 


GENERAL  INTRODUCTION.  35 

I  dy'd  long  since,  now  sit  at  the  right  hand 
Of  my  biess'd  Father,  and  the  world  command. 
Believe  me.  Scripture  shall  regain  her  sway, 
And  wicked  Mass  in  due  time  fade  away. 

Reader,  I  also  expect  nothing  but  scourges  from  that  generation,  to 
whom  the  mass-book  is  dearer  than  the  Bible  :  but  1  have  now  likewise 
confessed  another  expectation,  that  shall  be  my  consolation  under  all. 
They  tell  us,  that  on  the  highest  of  the  Capsian  mountains  in  Spain, 
there  is  a  lake,  whereinto  if  you  throw  a  stone,  there  presently  ascends 
a  smoke,  which  forms  a  dense  cloud,  from  whence  issues  a  tempest  of 
rain,  hail,  and  horrid  thunder-claps  for  a  good  quarter  of  an  hour.  Our 
Church-History  will  be  like  a  stone  cast  into  that  lake,  for  the  furious 
■tempest  which  it  will  raise  among  some,  whose  Ecclesiastical  dignities 
have  set  them,  as  on  the  top  of  Spanish  mountains.  The  Catholick  spirit 
of  communion  wherewith  'tis  written,  and  the  liberty  which  I  have  ta- 
ken, to  tax  the  schismatical  impositions  and  persecutions  of  a  paity,  who 
have  always  been  as  real  enemies  to  the  English  nation,  as  to  the  Chris- 
tian and  Protestant  interest,  will  certainly  bring  upon  the  Avhole  compo- 
sure, the  quick  censures  of  that  party,  at  the  tirst  cast  of  their  look  up- 
on it.  In  the  Duke  of  Alva's  council  of  twelve  judges,  there  was  one 
Hessels  a  Flemming,  who  slept  always  at  the  trial  of  criminals,  and  when 
they  waked  him  to  deliver  his  opinion,  he  rubbed  his  eyes,  and  cryed, 
between  sleeping  and  waking.  Ad  patibulum '.  ad  patibuhim !  to  the  gal- 
lows with  them!  [And,  by  the  way,  this  blade  was  himself,  at  the  last, 
condemned  unto  the  gallows  without  an  hearing!]  As  quick  censures 
must  this  our  labour  expect  from  those  who  will  not  bestow  waking 
thoughts  upon  the  representations  of  Christianity  here  made  unto  the 
world  ;  but  have  a  sentence  of  death  always  to  pass,  or  at  least,  wish, 
upon  those  generous  principles,  without  which,  'tis  impossible  to  main- 
tain the  Reformation  :  and  I  confess,  I  am  very  well  content,  that  this 
our  labour  takes  the  fate  of  those  principles  :  nor  do  I  dissent  from  the 
words  of  the  excellent  IMiilaker  upon  Luther,  Fcelix  ille,  quean  Dorrnmis 
eo  Honore  dignatus  est,  ut  Homines  neqnissimos  suos  haberet  inimicos.  But 
if  the  old  epigrammatist,  when  he  saw  guilty  folks  raving  mad  at  his 
lines,  could  say — 

Hoc  volo  ;  nunc  nobis  carmina  nostra  placent : 

certainly  an  historian  should  not  be  displeased  at  it,  if  the  enemies  of 
truth  discover  their  madness  at  the  true  and  free  communications  of  his 
history  ;  and  therefore  the  more  stones  they  throw  at  this  book,  there 
will  not  only  be  the  more  proofs,  that  it  is  a  tree  which  hath  good  fruits 
growing  upon  it,  but  I  will  build  my  self  a  monument  with  them,  where- 
on shall  be  inscribed,  that  clause  in  the  epitaph  of  the  martyr  Stephen  : 

Excepit  Lapid&s,  cui  petra  Christus  erat  : 

Albeit  perhaps  the  epitaph,  which  the  old  7no»A:s  bestowed  upon  JVick- 
liff,  will  be  rather  endeavoured  for  me,  (if  J  am  thought  worth  one  .')  by 
the  men,  who  will,  with  all  j/ossible  monkery,  strive  to  stave  off  the  ap- 
proaching Reformation. 

But  since  an  undertaking  of  this  nature,  must  thus  encounter  so  much 
envy,  from  those  who  are  under  the  power  of  the  spirit  that  "works  in  the 


36  GENERAL  INTRODUCTION. 

children  of  unperswadeableness,  methinks  I  might  perswade  my  self,  that 
it  will  rind  another  sort  of  entertainment  from  those  good  men  who  have 
abetter  spirit  in  them  :  for,  as  the  Apostle  James  hath  noted,  (so  with 
Monsieur  Claude  1  read  it)  The  spirit  that  is  in  us,  lusteth  against  envy  ; 
and  yet  even  in  wsalso,  t-'iere  will  be  theyZesfe,  among  whose  works,  one 
is  envy,  which  will  be  lusting  against  the  spirit.  All  good  men  will  not 
be  satisfied  with  every  thing  that  is  here  set  before  them.  In  my  own 
country,  besides  a  considerable  number  of  loose  and  vain  inhabitants 
risen  up,  to  whom  the  Congregational  Church-discipline,  wliich  cannot 
live  well,  where  the  power  of  godliness  dyes,  is  become  distdSteful  for 
the  purity  of  it  ;  there  is  also  a  number  of  eminently  godly  persons, 
who  are  for  a  larger  way,  and  unto  these  my  Church-History  will  give 
distaste,  by  the  things  which  it  may  happen  to  utter,  in  favour  of  that 
Church-discipline  on  some  few  occasions  ;  and  the  discoveries  which  I 
may  happen  to  make  of  my  apprehensions,  that  Scripture,  and  reason, 
and  antiquity  is  for  it ;  and  that  it  is  not  far  from  aglorious  resurrection. 
But  that,  as  the  famous  Mr.  Baxter,  after  thirty  or  forty  years  hard  stu- 
dy, about  the  true  instituted  Church-discipline,  at  last,  not  only  owned, 
but  also  invincibly  proved,  that  it  is  the  Congregational ;  so,  the  further 
that  the  unprejudiced  studies  of  learned  men  proceed  in  this  matter,  the 
more  generally  the  Congregational  Church-discipline  will  be  pronounced 
for.  On  the  other  side,  there  are  some  among  us,  who  very  strictly 
profess  the  Congregational  Church-discipline,  but  at  the  same  time  they 
have  an  unhappy  narrowness  of  soul,  by  which  they  confine  their  value 
and  kindness  too  much  unto  their  own  party  :  and  unto  those  my  Church- 
History  will  be  oliensive,  because  my  regard  unto  our  own  declared 
principles,  doea  not  hinder  me  from  giving  the  right  hand  of  fellowship 
unto  the  valuable  servants  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  find  not  our 
Church-discipline  as  yet  agreeable  unto  their  present  understandings 
and  illuminations.  If  it  be  thus  in  my  own  country,  it  cannot  be  other- 
wise in  that  wtiereto  I  send  this  account  of  my  own.  Brieily,  as  it  hath 
been  said,  that  if  all  Episcopal  men  were  like  Archbishop  Usher,  and  all 
Presbyterians  like  Stephen  Marshal,  and  all  Independents  like  Jeremiah 
Bui  roughs,  the  wounds  of  the  Church  would  soon  be  healed  ;  my  essay  to 
carry  that  spirit  through  this  whole  Church-History,  will  bespeak 
wounds  for  it,  from  those  that  are  of  another  spirit.  And  there  will  also 
be  in  every  country  those  good  men,  who  yet  have  not  had  the  grace  of 
Christ  so  far  prevailing  in  them,  as  utterly  to  divest  them  of  that  piece 
of  ill  nature  which  the  Comedian  resents,  In  homine  Imperito,  quo  nil 
quicquam  Injnstius,  quia  nisi  quod,  ipsejacit,  nil  recte  factum  putat. 

However,  all  these  things,  and  an  hundred  more  such  things  which  1 
think  of,  are  very  small  discouragements  for  such  a  service  as  I  have 
here  endeavoured.  I  loresee  a  recompence  which  will  abundantly 
swallow  up  all  discouragements  !  It  may  be  Strata  the  Philosopher 
counted  himself  well  recompensed  for  his  labours,  when  Ptolomy  be- 
stowed fourscore  talents  on  him.  It  may  be  Archimelus  the  poet  count- 
ed himself  well  recompensed,  when  lliero  sent  him  a  thousand  bushels 
of  wheat  for  one  little  epigram  :  and  Salcius  the  poet  might  count  himself 
well  recompensed,  when  Vespasian  sent  him  twelve  thousand  and  five 
hundred  philippicks  ;  and  Oppvn  the  poet  might  count  himself  well  re- 
compensed, when  Caracalla  sent  him  a  piece  of  gold  for  every  line  that 
he  had  inscribed  unto  him.  As  I  live  in  a  country  where  such  recom- 
pences  never  were  in  fishion  ;  it  hath  no  preferments  for  me,  and  I 
shall  count  that  I  am  well  rewarded  in  it,  if  I  can  escape  without  being  { 


GENERAL  INTRODUCTION.  37 

heavily  reproached,  censured  and  condemned,  for  what  I  have  done  :  so 
I  thank  the  Lord,  1  should  exceedingly  scorn  all  such  mean  considera- 
tions, I  seek  not  out  for  benefactors,  to  whom  these  labours  may  be  dedi- 
cated :  there  is  ONE  to  whom  all  is  due !  from  Him  1  shall  have  a  re- 
compence :  and  what  recompence  ?  The  recompence,  whereof  I  do, 
with  inexpressible  joy,  assure  my  self,  is  this.  That  these  my  poor  labours 
will  certainly  serve  the  Churches  and  interests  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
And  I  think  I  may  say,  that  I  ask  to  live  no  longer,  than  I  count  a  service 
unto  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  his  Churche*-,  to  be  it  self  a  glorious  re- 
compence for  the  doing  of  it.  When  David  was  contriving  to  build  the 
house  of  God,  there  was  that  order  given  from  Heaven  concerning  him, 
Go  tell  David  my  servant.  The  adding  of  that  more  than  roycd  title  unto 
the  name  of  David,  was  a  sufficient  recompence  for  all  his  contrivance 
about  the  house  of  God.  In  our  whole  Church -History,  we  have  been  at 
work  for  the  house  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  [even  that  Ma;/,  who  is 
the  Lord  Gud,  and  whose /on/i  seems  on  that  occasion  represented  unto 
His  David.]  And  herein  'tis  recompence  enough,  that  I  have  been  a 
servant  unto  that  heavenly  Lord,  The  greatest  honour,  and  the  sweet- 
est pleasure,  out  of  Heaven,  is  to  serve  our  illustrious  Lord  Jesus  CnrasT, 
who  hath  loved  us,  and  given  himself  for  us  ;  and  unto  whom  it  is  infi- 
nitely reasonable  that  we  should  give  our  selves,  and  all  that  we  have  and 
are  :  and  it  may  be  the  Angels  in  Heaven  too,  aspire  not  after  an  higher 
felicity. 

Unto  thee,  therefore,  0  thou  Son  of  God,  and  King  of  Heaven,  and  Lord 
of  all  things,  whom  all  the  glorious  Angels  of  Light,  unspeakably  love  to 
glorifie ;  I  humbly  offer  up  a  poor  History  of  Churches,  which  own  thee 
alone  for  their  Head,  and  Prince,  and  Law  giver  ;  Churches  which  thott, 
hast  purchased  wi'h  thy  own  blood,  and  with  wonderful  dispensations  of  thy 
Providence  hitherto  protected  and  preserved  ;  and  of  a  people  which  thou 
didst  form  for  thy  self,  to  sheza  forth  thy  praises.  I  bless  thy  great  Name, 
for  thy  inclining  of  me  to,  and  carrying  of  me  through,  the  woik  of  this 
History  :  I  pray  thee  to  sprinkle  the  book  of  this  History  with  thy  blood, 
and  make  it  acceptable  and  profitable  unto  thy  Churches,  and  serve  thy 
Truths  and  Ways  among  thy  people,  by  that  which  thou  hast  here  prepared ; 
for  ^tis  THOU  that  hast  prepared  it  for  them.     Amen. 

Quid  sum  ?  Ml-     Quis  sum  ?  Nullus,     Sed  Gratia  CnnisTr, 
Quod  sum,  quod  Vivo,  quodque  Laboro,  facit. 


THE  FinST  BOOK. 


ANTICtUITIES: 

OR, 

A  FIELD  PREPARED  FOR  CONSIDERABLE  THINGS  TO  BE 
ACTED  THEREUPON. 


THE  INTRODUCTION. 

n  '  .V 

It  7vas  not  long  ago,  as  about  the  middle  of  the  former  century, 
that  under  the  influences  of  that  admirable  hero  and  martyr,  of  thepro- 
testant  religion,  Gasper  Coligni,  the  great  Admiral  of  France,  a  noble 
and  learned  knight  called  Villagagnon,  began  to  attempt  the  Settlement 
of  some  Colonies  in  AnKKic  A,  {as  it  was  declared)  for  the  propagation 
of  that  religion.  He  sailed  with  several  ships  of  no  small  burthen,  till 
he  arrived  at  Brasile  ;  where  he  thought  there  were,  now  shoion  him 
quiet  seats,  for  the  retreat  of  a  people  harrassed  already  with  deadly 
persecutions,  and  threatned  with  yet  more  calamities.  Thence  he  wrote 
home  letters  unto  that  glorious  patron  oj  the  reformed  churches,  to 
inform  him,  that  he  had  now  a  fair  prospect  of  seeing  those  churches 
erected,  multiplyed  and  sheltered  in  the  southern  regions  of  the  new 
world  y  and  requested  him,  that  Geneva  might  supply  them  with  Pas- 
tors for  the  planting  of  such  churches  in  these  New  Plantations.  The 
blessed  Calvin,  with  his  colleagues,  thereupon  sent  of  their  number 
two  worthy  persons,  namely  Richerius  and  Quadrigarius,  to  assist 
this  undertaking  ;  and  unto  these  were  joined  several  more,  especially 
Lcirus,  and  who  became  a  leader  to  the  rest,  Corquillerius,  an  eminent 
man,  for  the  cause  of  Christianity,  then  residing  at  Geneva.  Embarked 
in  three  ships,  well  fitted,  they  came  to  the  American  country,  whi- 
ther they  had  been  invited  ;  and  they  soon  set  up  an  evangelical  church 
order,  in  those  corners  of  the  earth  where  God  in  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
had  never  before  been  called  upon.  But  it  was  not  long  bfore  some 
unhappy  controversies  arose  among  them,  which  drove  their  principal 
ministers  into  Europe  again,  besides  those  three  that  were  murthered 
by  their  apostate  Governour,  whose  martyrdom  Lerius  procured  Cris- 
pin to  commemorate  in  his  history,  but  I  now  omit  in  this  of  ours,  Ae  me 
Crispini  scrinia  lecti,  compitasse  putes,  and  as  for  the  people  that  staid 
behind,  no  other  can  be  learned,  but  that  they  are  entirely  lost,  either  in 
paganism  or  disastpr  :  in  this,  more  unhappy  sure,  than  that  hundred 


40  MAGNALIA  CHRISTI  AMERICANA :  [Book  1. 

thousand  of  their  brethren  who  were  soon  after  butchered  at  home, 
in  that  horrible  massacre,  which  then  had  not,  but  since  hath,  known 
a  parallel.  So  has  there  been  titterly  lost  in  a  little  time,  a  country 
intended  for  a  receptacle  of  Protestant  Churches  on  the  American 
Strand.  It  is  the  7nost  incomparable  De  Thou,  the  honourable  Presi- 
dent of  the  Parliament  at  Paris,  a7i  Historian  whom  Casaubon  pro- 
nounces, A  singular  gift  of  Heaven,  to  the  last  age,  for  an  example 
of  piety  and  probity,  that  is  our  author,  {besides  others)  for  this 
History. 

^Tis  now  time  for  me  to  tell  my  reader,  that  in  our  age  there  has 
been  another  essay  made  not  by  French,  but  by  English  Protestants, 
tofll  a  certain  country  in  America  with  Reformed  Churches  ;  noth- 
ing  in  doctrine,  little  in  disciphne,  different  from  that  of  Geneva. 
Mankind  will  pardon  me,  a  native  of  that  country,  if  smitten  with  a 
just  fear  of  incroaching  and  ill-bodied  degeneracies,  I  shall  use  my 
modest  endeavours  to  prevent  the  loss  of  a  country,  so  signalized  for 
the  profession  of  the  purest  Religion,  and  for  the  protection  of  God 
upon  it,  in  that  holy  profession.  J  shall  count  my  country  lost,  in  the 
loss  of  the  primitive  principles,  and  the  primitive  practices,  upon 
which  it  was  at  first  established  :  but  certainly  one  good  way  to  save 
that  loss,  woidd  be  to  do  something  that  the  memory  of  the  great  things 
done  for  us  by  our  God  may  not  be  lost,  and  that  the  story  of  the  cir- 
cumstancts  attending  the  foundation  and  formation  of  this  country , 
and  of  its  preservation  hitherto,  may  be  impartially  handed  unto  pos- 
terity. Tills  is  the  undertaking  whereto  I  now  address  myself  ^  and 
now.  Grant  me  thy  gracious  assistances,  O  my  God  ;  that  in  this 
my  undertaking  1  may  be  kept  from  every  false  way  :  but  that  sin- 
cerely aiming  at  thy  glory  in  my  undertaking,  I  may  find  my  labours 
made  acceptable  and  profitable  unto  thy  Churches,  and  serviceable 
unto  the  interests  of  thy  gospel ;  so  let  my  God  think  upon  me  for 
good  ;  and  spare  me  according  to  the  greatness  of  thy  mercy  in  the 
blessed  Jesus,  Amen 


CHAPTER  I. 


Venisti  tandem  ?  or  discoveries  of  America,  tending  to,  and  ending  in, 
discoveries  of  New-England. 

§.  1.  It  is  the  opinion  of  some,  though  'tis  but  an  opinion,  and  hut  of 
some  learned  men,  that  when  the  sacred  oracles  of  heaven  assure  us,  the 
things  under  the  earth  are  some  of  those,  whose  knees  are  to  bote  in  the 
name  of  Jesus,  by  those  things  are  meant  the  inhabitants  of  America,  who 
are  Antipodes  to  those  of  the  other  hemisphere.  I  would  not  quote  any 
words  o(  Lactantiiis,  though  there  are  some  to  countenance  this  interpre- 
tation, because  of  their  being  so  ungeogiaphical :  nor  would  1  go  to 
strengthen  the  interpretation  by  reciting  the  words  of  the  Indians  to  the 
first  white  invaders  of  their  territories,  we  hear  you  are  come  from  under 
the  world  to  take  our  ivorldfrom  us.  But  granting  the  uncertainty  of  such 
an  exposition,  I  shall  yet  give  the  Church  of  God  a  certain  account  of 


Book  I.]       OR,  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  41 

those  things,  which  in  America  h;\vc  been  believing  and  adoring  the  glo- 
rious name  of  Jesus  ;  and  of  that  country  in  Anierioi,  where  those  things 
have  been  attended  with  circumstances   most   remarkable.     I   can  con- 
tentedly allow  that  Americn  (which  as   the   learned  Nicolas  FtUler  ob- 
serves, might  more  justly  be  called  Cnhnnbina)  was  altogether  unknown 
to  the  penmen  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  in  the  ages  when  the  scriptures 
were  penned.     I  can  allow,  that  those  parts  of  the  earth,  which  do  not 
include  America,  are  in  the  inspired  writings  o(  Luke,  and  of  Paul,  stil- 
ed,  all  the  n'orld.     I  can  allow,  that  tlie  opinion  of  Torniellus,  and  of  Pa- 
gius,  about  the  apostles  preaching  the  gospel  in  America,  has  been  sufiB- 
ciently  refuted  b)^  Basnogivs.     But  1  am  out  of  the  reach  of  pope  Zach- 
a^y^s  excommunication.     I  can  assert  the  existence  oixhe  Axmerican  Anti- 
podes:  and  1  can  report  unto  the  European  churches  great  occurrences 
among  these  Americans.    Yet  I  will  report  every  one  of  them  with  such  a 
Christian  and  exact  veracity,  that  no  man  shall  have  cause  to  use  about  any 
one  of  them,  the  words  which  the  great  Austin  (as  great  as  he  was)  used 
about  the  existence  oi Antipodes;  it  is  a  fable,  and,  nulla  ratione  credendum. 
§  2.   If  the  wicked  one  in  whom  the  whole  world   hjeth,  were  he,  who 
like  a  dragon,  keeping  a  guard  upon  the  spacious  and  mighty  orchards  of 
America,  could  have  such  a  fascination  upon  the  thoughts  of  mankind, 
that  neither  this  hallancing  half  of  the  globe  should  be  considered  in 
I    Europe,  till  a  little  more  than  two  hundred  years  ago,  nor  the  clue  that 
I    might  lead  unto  it,  namely,  the  Loadstone,  should  be  known,  till  a  JVea- 
;   politan  stumbled  upon  it,  about  an  hundred  years  before  ;  yet  the  over- 
ruling Providence  of  the  great  God  is  to  be  acknowledged,  as  well  in  the 
I    concealing  o(  America  for  so  long  a  time,  as  in  the  discovering  of  it,  when 
the  fulness   of  time   was  come  for  the  discovery  :  for  we   may   count 
America  to  have  been  concealed,  while  mankind  in  the  other  hemisphere 
had  lost  all  acquaintance  with  it,  if  we  may  conclude  it  had  any  from  the 
words  of  Diodorus  Siculus,  that  Piiosnecians  were  by  great  storms  driven 
on  the  coast  of  Afnca,  (ht  westward,  'itti  TreAAss?  '■/if/.sexi.for  many  days  to- 
gether, and  at  last  fell  in  with  an  Island  of  prodigious  magnitude  ;  or  from 
the  words  of  Plato,  that  beyond  the   pillars  of  Hercules  there  was  an 
Island  in  the  Atlantick  Oc.'an,  cc/lco,  ?ii(ivr,i  x«i  Afriec^  f^i^at,  larger  than  Afri- 
ca and  Asia  put  together  :  nor  should  it  pass  without  remark,  that  three 
most  memorable  things  which   have  born   a  very  great  aspect  upon  hu- 
mane affairs,  did  near  the  same  time,  namely  at  the  conclusion  of  the 
ffteenth,  and  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century,  arise  unto  the  world  : 
il  the  first  was  the  resurrection  of  literature;  the  second  was  the  opening 
!  of  America  ;  the  third  was  the  Reformation  of  Religion.     But.  as  proba- 
bly, the  devil  seducing   the  first  inhabitants  of  America  into  it,  therein 
aimed  at  the  having  of  them  and  th<?ir  posterity  out  of  the  sound  of  the 
silver  trumpets  of  the  Gospel,  then  to  be  heard  through  the  Roman  Em- 
pire ;  if  the  devil  had  any  expectation,  that  by  the  peopling  of  America, 
be  should  utterly  deprive  any  Europeans  of  the  two  benefits,  Literature 
and  Religion,  which  dawned  upon  the  miserable  world,  one  just  before, 
the  other  just  cfter,  the  first  famed  navigation  hither,  'tis  to  be  hoped  he 
will  be  disappointed  of  that  expectation.     The  Church  of  God  must  no 
longer  be  wrapped  up  in  Straho's  cloak  ;  Geography  must  now  find  work 
for  a  Christiano-graphy  m  regions  far  enough  beyond  the  bounds  wherein 
the  Church  of  God   had  throuch  all  former  ages  been  circumscribed. 
Renowned  Churches  of  Christ  must  be  gathered  where  the  Ancients  once 
derided   them  that  looked  for  any  iyihabitants.     The  mystery  of  our 
Lord's  garments,  made  four  parts,  by  the  soldiers  that  cast  lots  for  them. 
Vor.  l.  '  6 


42  MAGNALIA  CHRIST!  AMERICANA :  [Book  I. 

is  to  be  accomplished  in  the  good  sence  put  upon  it  by  Austiti,  who  if  he 
had  known  America  could  not  have  given  a  better  Quadripartita  vestis 
Domim  Jesu.  quadripartitnm  figuravit  ejus  Ecclesiam,  toto  scilicet,  qui 
qiiatuor partibus  constat,  terraram  orbe  diffvsarn. 

§  3.  Whatever  truth  may  be  in  that  assertion  of  one  who  writes  ;  if 
7ve  may  credit  any  records  besides  the  Scriptures,  I  know  it  mis[ht  be  said 
o.nd  proved  Tn-ell,  that  this  nerc  taorld  was  knoxien,  and  partly  inhabited  by 
Britains,  or  by  Saxons  from  Enjrland,  tliree  or  four  hundred  years  before 
the  Spaniards  coining  thither  ;  which  assertion  is  demonstrated  fiom  the 
discourses  between  the  Alexicans  and  the  Spaniards  at  their  first  arrival ; 
and  the  Popish  reliqnes,  as  well  as  British  terms  and  words,  which  the 
Spaniards  then  found  among  the  jMcxicans,  as  well  as  from  undoubted 
passages,  not  only  in  other  authors,  but  even  in  the  British  annals  also: 
nevertheless,  mankind  generally  agree  to  give  unto  Christopher  Colum- 
bus, a  Genoese,  the  honour  of  being  the  first  European  that  opened  a  way 
into  these  parts  of  the  world.  It  was  in  the  year  1492,  that  this  famous 
man,  acted  by  a  most  vehement  and  wonderful  impulse,  was  carried  into 
the  northern  regions  of  this  vast  hemisphere,  which  might  more  justly 
therefore  have  received  its  name  from  him,  than  from  Americus  Vesputius 
a  Florentine,  who  in  the  year  1497,  made  a  further  detection  of  the  more 
southern  regions  in  this  continent.  So  arn'orld,  which  has  been  one  great 
article  annngthc  Res  depeiditce  of  PanciroUus,  is  now  found  out,  and  the 
affairs  of  the  whole  world  have  been  affected  by  the  finding  of  it.  So  the 
C/inrch  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  well  compared  unto  a  ship,  is  now  victo- 
riously  sailing  round  the  globe  after  Sir  Francis  Drake's  renowned  ship, 
called,  The  Victory,  which  could  boast, 

Prima  ego  velivolis  ambiin  cursibus  orbcm. 

And  yet  the  story  about  Cohtmbus  himseU  must  be  corrected  from  the  in- 
formation of  De  la  Vega,  That  one  Sanchez,  a  native  of  Helva  in  Spain. 
did  before  him  find  out  these  regions.  He  tells  us,  thai  Sanchez  using  to 
trade  in  a  small  vessel  to  the  Canaries,  was  driven  by  a  furious  and  tedi- 
ous tempest  over  unto  these  western  countri'^s  ;  and  at  his  return  he 
gave  to  Colon,  or  Columbus,  an  account  of  what  he  had  seen,  but  soon 
after  died  of  a  disease  he  had  got  on  his  dangerous  voyage.  However, 
1  shall  expect  my  reader  e're  long  to  grant,  that  some  things  done  since 
by  .Almighty  God  for  the  English  in  those  regions,  have  exceeded  all  that 
has  been  hitherto  done  for  any  other  nation  :  if  this  iiezc  world  were  not 
found  out  first  by  the  English  ;  yet  in  those  regards  that  are  of  all  the 
greatest,  it  seems  to  be  found  out  moreybr  them  than  any  other. 

§  4.  But  indeed  the  two  Cabots,  father  and  son,  under  the  commission 
of  our  King  Hmry  VII.  entering  upon  their  generous  undertakings  in  the 
3'ear  1497,  made  further  disscoveries  o{  AmerirM,  than  either  Columbus 
OT  Vesputius ;  in  regard  of  which  notable  enterprizes,  the  younger  of 
them  had  very  great  honours  by  the  Crown  pui  upon  him,  till  at  length  he 
died  in  a  good  old  age,  in  which  old  age  King  Edward  VI.  had  allowed 
him  an  honourable  pension.  Yea,  since  the  Cabots,  employed  by  the  King 
()( England,  made  a  discovery  of  this  conlinent  in  the  year  1497,  and  it  was 
the  year  l49o  before  Columbus  discovered  any  part  of  the  continent; 
and  Vesputius  came  a  considerable  time  after  both  of  them  ;  I  know  not 
why  the  Spaniard  should  go  vnrivalled  in  the  claim  of  tL'Js  new  world, 
which  from  the  frst  fnding  of  it  is  pretended  unto.  These  discoveries 
of  the  Cabots  were  the  foandation  of  all  the  adventures,  with  which  the 


i 


Book  1.]       OR,  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  43 

English  nation  have  since  followed  the  sun,  and  served  themselves  into  an 
acquaintance  on  the  hither  side  of  the  Atlantick  ocean.  And  now  I  shall 
drozn'n  my  reader  with  my  self  in  a  tedious  digression,  if  I  enumerate  all 
J.he  attempts  made  by  a  Willonghby,  a  Fiobiskcr,  iiGHbert^aud  besides 
many  others,  an  incomparable  Ramleigh,  to  settle  English  colonies  iu  the 
desarts  of  the  western  India.  It  will  be  enough  if  1  entertain  him  with 
the  History  of  that  Engnsh  Settlement,  which  may,  upon  a  thousand  ac- 
counts, pretend  unto  more  of  true  English  than  ail  the  rest,  and  which 
alone  therefore  has  been  called  Nem- England. 

§  5.  After  a  discouraging  series  of  disasters  attending  the  endeavours 
«f  the  English  to  swarm  into  Flurida,  and  the  rest  of  the  continent  unto 
the  northward  of  it,  called  Virginia,  because  the  lirst  white  born  in  those 
regions  was  a  daughter,  then  born  to  one  Ananias  Dare,  in  the  year 
1583.  The  courage  of  one  Barth<dotae~u)  Gosnold,  and  one  captain  Bar- 
tholomexi)  Gilbert,  and  several  other  gentlemen,  served  them  to  make  yet 
more  essays  upon  the  like  designs.  This  captain  Gosnuld  in  a  small 
bark,  on  May  11,  1602,  made  land  on  this  coast  in  the  latitude  of  forty- 
three  ;  where,  though  he  liked  the  welcome  he  had  from  the  Salvages 
that  came  aboard  him,  yet  he  disliked  the  zi-eaiher,  so  that  he  thought  it 
necessary  to  stand  more  southward  into  the  sea.  Next  morning  he  found 
himself  embayed  within  a  migiity  head  of  land  ;  which  promontory,  in 
remembrance  of  the  Codfish  in  great  quantity  by  him  taken  there,  he 
called  Cape-Cod,  a  name  which  1  suppose  it  will  never  lose,  til!  shoals 
of  Cod-fish  be  seen  swimming  upon  the  top  of  its  highest  hills.  On  this 
Cape,  and  on  the  Islands  to  the  southward  of  it,  he  found  such  a  com- 
fortable entertainment  from  the  summer-fruits  of  the  earth,  as  well  as 
from  the  xvild  creatures  then  ranging  the  woods,  and  from  the  wilder  peo- 
ple now  surprised  into  courtesie,  that  he  carried  back  to  England  a  re- 
port of  the  country,  beter  than  what  the  spies  once  gave  of  the  land 
flowing  with  milk  and  honey.  Not  only  did  the  merchants  of  Bristol  now 
raise  a  considerable  stock  to  prosecute  these  discoveries,  but  many  other 
persons  of  several  ranks  embarked  in  such  undertakings  ;  and  many  sal- 
lies into  America  were  made  ;  the  exacter  narrative  whereof  1  had  ra- 
ther my  reader  should  purchase  at  the  expeace  of  consulting  Purchases 
Pilgrims,  than  endure  any  stop  in  our  hastening  voyage  unto  the  History 
OF  A  New  English  Israel. 

§.  6.  Perhaps  my  reader  vvould  gladly  be  informed  how  America  came 
to  he  first  peopled;  and  if  Harniits's  Discourses,  De  origine  Gentium 
Americananim,  do  not  satisfie  him,  1  hope  siiortly  the  most  ingenious  Dr. 
Woodward,  in  his  JVatural  History  of  the  Earth,  will  do  it.  In  the  mean 
time,  to  stay  thy  stomach,  reader,  accept  the  account  which  a  very  sen- 
sible Russi  in,  who  had  been  an  officer  of  prime  note  in  Siberia,  gave  un- 
to father  Avril.  Said  he,  '  There  is  beyond  the  Ohi  a  great  river  called 
'  Kawoina,  at  the  mouth  whereof,  discharging  it  self  into  the  Frozen  Sea, 
'  there  stands  a  spacious  Island  very  well  peopled,  and  no  less  consider- 
'  able  for  hunting  an  animal,  whose  teeth  are  in  great  esteem.  The  in- 
'  habitants  go  frequently  upon  the  side  of  the  Frozen  Sea  to  hunt  this  mon- 
'  ster  ;  and  because  it  requires  great  labour  with  assiduity,  they  carry 
'  their  families  usually  along  with  them.  Now  it  many  times  happens 
'  that  being  surprized  with  a  thaw,  they  are  carried  away,  I  know  not 
'  whither,  upon  huge  pieces  of  ice  that  break  off  one  from  another. 
'For  my  part,  I  am  perswaded  that  several  of  those  hunters  have  been 
'  carried  upon  these  floating  pieces  of  ice  to  the  most  northern  parts  of 
'-  America,  which  is  not  far  from  that  part  of  Asia  that  jutts  out  into  the 


44  MAGNALIA  CHKISTI  AMERICANA :  [Book  I. 

'sea  ofTartary.  And  that  which  confirms  me  in  this  opinion,  is  this, 
'  that  the  Americans  who  inhabit  that  country,  which  advances  farthest 
'  towards  that  sea,  have  the  same  Physiognomy  as  those  Islanders.'  Thus 
the  Fayode  of  Smotetisko.  But  all  the  concern  of  this  our  history,  is  to 
tell  how  English  people  first  came  into  America  ;  and  what  English 
people  first  came  into  that  part  of  America,  where  this  History  is 
composed.  Wherefore  instead  of  reciting  the  many  Adventures  of 
the  English  to  visit  these  parts  of  the  world,  I  shall  but  repeat 
the  words  of  one  Captain  Weymouth,  an  historian,  as  well  as  an  xmder- 
taker  of  those  Adventures  ;  who  reports,  that  one  main  end  of  all  these  un- 
dertakings, was  to  plant  the  gospel  in  these  dark  regiotis  o/"  America. 
How  well  the  most  of  the  English  plantations  have  answered  this 
main  end,  it  mainlu  becomes  them  to  consider  :  however,  I  am 
now  to  tell  mankind,  that  as  for  one  of  these  Englif>h  plantations, 
this  was  not  only  a  tnain  end-  but  the  sole  end  upon  which  it  was 
erected.  If  they  that  are  solicitous  about  the  interests  of  the  gos- 
pel, vt'ould  know  what  and  xohere  that  plantation  is  ;  be  it  noted,  that 
all  the  vast  country  from  Florida  to  Nova-Francia,  was  at  first  called  Vir- 
ginia; but  this  Firgiiii'j  was  distinguished  into  jYorfh  Virginia  »nd  South 
Virginia,  till  that  famous  Traveller  Captain  John  Smith,  in  the  year  1614, 
presenting  unto  the  court  ot  England  a  draught  of  North  Virginia,  got 
it  called  by  the  name  of  New-England  ;  which  name  has  been  ever 
since  allowed  unto  my  country,  as  unto  the  most  resembling  daughter,  to 
the  chief  lady  of  the  European  world.  Thus  the  discoveries  of  the 
country  proceeded  so  lar,  that  K.  James  \.  did  by  his  letters  patents 
under  the  great  seal  o(  England,  in  the  18th  year  of  his  reign,  give  and 
grant  unto  a  certain  honourable  council  established  ni  Plymouth,  in  the 
county  of  Devon,  for  the  planting,  ruling,  and  ordering,  and  governing 
of  New-England  in  America,  and  to  their  successors  and  assigns,  all  that 
part  of  America,  lying  and  being  in  breadth,  horn  forty  degrees  of  north- 
erh'  latitude,  from  the  equinoctial  line,  to  the  Joriy-eighih  degree  of  the 
said  norlhciiy  latitude  inclusively  ;  and  the  length  of,  and  within  all  the 
breadth  aforesaid,  throughout  all  the  firm  lands  from  sea  to  sea.  This 
at  last 'S  the  spot  of  earth,  which  the  God  of  heaven  spied  out  for  the 
seat  of  such  evangelical,  and  ecclesiastical ,  and  very  remarkable  transac- 
tions, as  require  to  be  made  an  history  ;  here  'twas  that  our  blessed  Jesus 
intended  a  resting  place,  must  1  say  ?  or  only  an  hiding  place  for  those 
reformed  Churches,  which  have  given  him  a  little  accomplishment  of 
his  eternal  lather's  promise  unto  him  ;  to  be,  we  hope,  yet  further  ac- 
complished, of  having  the  utmost  parts  of  the  earth  for  his  }iossession? 

§.  7.   The  learned  Joseph  Mede  conjectures  that  the  American  Hem- 
isph:re  will  escape  the  confagration  of  the  earth,  which  we  expect  at  the 
descent  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  from    Heaven  :    and  that  the  people 
here  will  not  have  a  share  in  the  blessedness  which  the  renovated  viorld 
shall  enjoy,  during  the   thousand  years  of  holy  rest  promised  unto   the 
Church  of  God  :  and  that  tlie  inhabitants  of  these  regions,   who  were 
originally    Scythcans,  and    tlierein  a  notable  fulfilment  of  the  prophecy, 
about  the  eulargeinent  f>/  Japhet,  will  be  the  Gng  and  Magog  whom  the-  ; 
d'vilwWl  seduce,  to  invade  the  JVeiv-Jerus.ilem,  with  an  envious  hope  to- 1 
gain  the  angelical  circumstances  of  the  people  there.     All  this  is  but  con-  • 
jerture  ;  and  it  may  be  'twill  appear  unto  some  as  little  probable,  as  that 
of  the  inter  Pierre  Poiret  in  his  L'Oeccjnomy  Divine,  that  by  Gog  and  Magog 
are  meant  the  devils  and  the  damned,  which  he  thinks  will  be  let  loose 
at  the  end  of  the  thousand  years,  to  make  a  furious,  but  a  fruitless  attempt 


Book  I.]         OR,  THE  HISTORY  OP  NEW-ENGLAND.  45 

on  the  glorified  saints  of  the  yew-Jerusalem.  However,  I  am  going  to 
•^ive  unto  the  christian  reader  an  history  o{  some  feeble  attempts  made  in  the 
American  hemisphere  to  anticipate  the  state  of  the  ^eic- Jerusalem,  as  far 
a;  the  unavoidable  vanity  o{  humane  affairs,  and  i-Jlnence  of  Satan  upon 
them  would  allow  of  it;  and  of  many  worthy  persons  whoi^e  posterity ,  i{ 
they  make  a  squadron  in  the  Jleets  of  Gog  and  Mag>g,  will  be  apostates 
deserving  a  room,  and  a  doom  with  the  legions  of  the  grand  apostate,  that 
v,iJl  deceive  the  nations  to  that  mysteriuus  enierprize. 


CHAPTER  n. 

Primordia  :  or,  the  voyage  to  New-Englakb,  which  produced  the  first 
setflement  of  New-Plymouth  ;  z^ith  an  acc-junt  of  many  remarkable 
and  memorable  Providences  relating  to  that  voyage. 

§  I.  A  NUMBER  of  devout  and  serious  Christians  in  the  English  nation, 
rinding  the  Reformunon  of  the  Church  in  that  nation,  according  to  the 
Vv'oRD  OF  God,  and  the  design  of  many  among  the  first  Reformers,  to  la- 
bour under  a  sort  of  hopeless  retardation  ;  tney  did,  A7ino  1602,  in  the 
north  of  England,  enter  into  a  Covenant,  wherein  expressing  them- 
selves desirous,  not  only  to  attend  the  worship  of  our  Lord  lesus  Christ, 
with  a  freedom  from  humane  inventions  and  additions,  but  also  to  enjoy 
oil  the  Evangelical  Institutions  of  that  worship,  they  did  like  those  J\Ia- 
redonians,  that  are  therefire  by  the  Apostle  Paul  commended,  give  them- 
selves itp,  first  unto  God,  and  then  to  one  another.  These  pious  people 
finding  that  their  brethren  and  neighbours  in  the  Church  of  England, 
as  then  established  by  la-v,  took  oftence  at  these  their  endeavours  after  a 
scriptural  reformation  ;  and  being  loth  to  live  in  the  continual  vexations, 
which  they  felt  arising  from  their  non-conformity  to  things  which  their 
consciences  accounted  superstitious  and  unwarrantable,  they  peaceably 
and  willingly  embraced  a  banishment  into  the  A'eiherlands ;  where  they 
settled  at  the  city  of  Lcyden,  about  seven  or  eight  years  after  their  first 
combination.  And  now  in  that  city  this  people  sojourned,  an  Holy 
Church  of  the  blessed  Jesus,  for  several  years  under  the  pastoral  care 
of  Mr.  John  Robinson,  who  had  for  his  help  in  the  government  of  the 
Church,  a  most  wise,  grave,  good  man,  Mr.  William  Brextster.  the  ruling 
Elder.  Indeed  Mr.  John  Robinson  had  been  in  his  younger  time,  (as  ve- 
ry good  fruit  hath  sometimes  been,  before  age  hath  ripened  it)  sowred 
with  the  principles  of  the  most  rigid  separation,  in  the  maintaining 
whereof  he  composed  and  published  some  little  Treatises,  and  in  the 
management  of  the  controversie  made  no  scruple  to  call  the  incompara- 
ble Dr.  Ames  himself.  Dr.  Amiss,  for  opposing  such  a  degree  of  separa- 
tion. But  this  worthy  man  sufi'ered  himself  at  length  to  be  so  far  con- 
vinced by  his  learned  antagonist,  that  with  a  most  ingenious  retractation, 
he  afterwards  writ  a  little  book  to  prove  the  lawfulness  of  one  thing, 
which  his  mistaken  zeal  had  formerly  impugned  several  years,  even  till 
16-25,  and  about  the  j^/i/e?/i  year  of  his  own  age,  continued  he  a  blessing 
unto  the  whole  Church  of  God,  and  at  last,  when  he  dyed,  he  left  behind 
him  in  his  immortal  writings,  a  yiame  very  much  embalmed  among  the 
people  that  are  best  able  to  judge  of  merit;  and  even  among  such,  as 
about  the  matters  of  Church-discipline,  were  not  of  his  perswasion.  Of 
such  an  eminent  character  was  he,  while  he  lived,  that  when  Arminian- 


4t»  MAGNALIA  CHRISTI  AMERICANA :  [Book  i. 

ism  so  much  prevailed,  as  it  then  did  in  the  low  countries,  those  famous 
Divines,  Polyander,  and  Festus  Hommius,  employed  this  our  learned 
Robinso7i  to  dispute  publickly  in  the  University  of  Leyden  against  Epis- 
copius,  and  the  other  champions  of  that  grand  choak-weed  of  true  Chris- 
tianity :  and  when  he  died,  not  only  the  University,  and  Ministers  of  the 
city,  accompanied  him  to  his  grave,  with  all  their  accustomed  solemnities, 
but  some  of  the  chief  among  them  with  sorrowful  resentments  and  ex- 
pressions affirmed,  That  all  the  Churches  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  had 
sustained  a  great  loss  by  the  death  of  this  worthy  man. 

§  2.  The  English  Church  had  not  been  very  long  at  Leyden,  before 
they  found  themselves  encountred  with  many  inconveniences.  They 
felt  that  they  were  neither  for  health,  nor  purse,  nor  language  well  ac- 
commodated ;  but  the  concern  which  they  most  of  all  had,  was  for  their 
posterity.  They  saw,  that  whatever  banks  the  Du'ch  had  against  the  in- 
roads of  the  sea,  they  had  not  sufficient  ones  against  a  flood  of  manifold 
profaneness.  They  could  not  with  ten  years  endeavour  bring  their  neigh- 
bours particularly  to  any  suitable  observation  of  the  Lord's  Day  ;  with- 
out which  they  knew,  that  all  practical  Religion  must  wither  miserably. 
They  beheld  some  of  their  children,  by  the  temptations  of  the  place, 
which  were  especially  given  in  the  licentious  ways  of  many  young  peo- 
ple, drawn  into  dangerous  extravagancies.  Moreover,  they  were  very 
loth  to  lose  their  interest  in  the  English  nation;  but  were  desirous  ra- 
ther to  enlarge  their  King^s  dominions.  They  found  themselves  also 
under  a  very  strong  disposition  of  zeal,  to  attempt  the  establishment  of 
Congregational  Churches  in  the  remote  parts  of  the  world  ;  where 
they  hoped  they  should  be  reached  by  the  Royal  influence  of  their  Prince, 
in  whose  allegiance  they  chose  to  live  and  die  ;  at  the  same  time  likewise 
hoping  that  the  Ecclesiasticks,  who  had  thus  driven  them  out  of  the  king- 
dom into  a  JVew  fVorld,  for  nothing  in  the  world  but  their  non-conformity 
to  certain  rites,  by  the  imposers  confessed  indifferent,  would  be  ashamed 
ever  to  persecute  them  with  any  further  molestations,  at  the  distance  of 
a  thousand  leagues.  These  reasons  were  deeply  considered  by  the 
Church  ;  and  after  many  deliberations,  accompanied  with  the  most  solemn 
humilio-tions  and  supplications  before  the  God  of  Heaven,  tfiey  took  up  a 
resolution,  under  the  conduct  of  Heaven,  to  remove  into  America  ;  the 
opened  regions  whereof  had  now  filled  all  Europe  with  reports.  It  was 
resolved,  that  pari  of  the  Church  should  go  before  their  brethren,  to 
prepare  a  place  for  the  rest ;  and  whereas  the  minor  part  of  younger  and 
stronger  men  were  to  go  first,  the  Pastor  was  to  stay  with  the  major,  till 
they  should  see  cause  to  follow.  Nor  was  there  any  occasion  for  this 
resolve,  in  any  weariness  which  the  States  of  Holland  had  of  their  com- 
pany, as  was  basely  whispered  by  their  adversaries  ;  therein  like  those 
who  of  old  assigned  the  same  cause  for  the  departure  of  the  Israelites 
out  of  Egypt :  for  the  Magistrates  of  Leyden  in  their  Court,  reproving 
the  Walloons,  gave  this  testimony  for  our  English;  These  English  have 
lived  now  ten  years  among  ifs,  and  yet  we  never  had  any  accusation  against 
any  one  of  them ;  whereas  your  quarrels  are  continual. 

§  3.  These  good  people  were  now  satisfied,  they  had  as  plain  a  com- 
mand of  Heaven  to  attempt  a  removal,  as  ever  their  fixther  Abraham  had 
for  his  leaving  the  Caldcan  territories  ;  and  it  was  nothing  but  such  a  sat- 
isfaction that  could  have  carried  them  through  such,  otherwise  insupera- 
ble difficulties,  as  they  met  withal.  But  in  this  removal  the  terminus  ad 
Q^uem  was  not  yet  resolved  upon.  The  country  of  Guiana  flattered 
tVx^ni  with  the  promises  o(  a.  perpetual  Spring,  and  a  thousand  other  com- 


Book  I.]       OR,  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  47 

fortable  entertainments.     But  the  probable  disagreement  of  so  torrid  a 
climate  unto  English  bodies ;  and  the  more   dangerous   vicinity  of  the 
Spaniards  to  that  climate  ;  were  considerations  which  made  them  fear 
that  country  would  be  too  hot  for  them.     They  rather  propounded  some 
country  bordering  upon  Virginia;  and  unto  this  purpose,  they  sent  over 
agents  into  England,  who  so  far  treated  not  only  with  the  Virginia  Com- 
pany, but  with  several  great  persons  about  the  Court ;  unto  whom  they 
made  evident  their  agreement  with  the  French  Reformed  Churches  in  all 
things  whatsoever,  except  in  a  few  small  accidental  points ;  that  at  last, 
after  many  tedious  delays,  and  after  the  loss  of  many  friends  and  hopes  ia 
those  delays,  they  obtained  a  Patent  for  a  quiet  settlement  in  those  ter- 
ritories ,  and  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  himself  gave  them  some  ex- 
pectations that  they  should  never  be  disturbed  in  that  exercise  of  Re- 
ligion, at  which  they  aimed  in  their  settlement  ;  yea,  when  Sir  Robert 
JSTanton,  then  principal  Secretary  of  State  unto  King  James,  moved  his. 
Majesty  to  give  way,  that  such  a  people  might  enjoy  their  liberty  of  conscience 
under  his  gracious  protection  in  America,  where  they  would  endeavour  the 
advancement  of  his  Majesty'' s  dominions,  and  the  enlargement  of  the  inter- 
ests of  the  Gospel ;  the  King  said,  it  was  a  good  and  honest  motion.     All 
this  notwithstanding,  they  never  made  use  of  that  Patent :  but  being  in- 
formed of  New-England,  ?/«7/ier  they  diverted  their  design,  thereto  in- 
duced by  sundry  reasons  j  but  particularly  by  this,  that  the  coast  being 
extreamly  well  circumstanced  ior  fishing ,  they  might  therein  have  some 
immediate  assistance  against  the  hardships  of  their  first   encounters. — 
Their  agents  then  again   sent  over  to    England,  concluded   articles  be- 
tween them  and  such   adventurers,  as  would  be  concerned  with  them  in 
their  present  undertakings.     Articles,  that  were  indeed  sufficiently  hard 
for  those  poor  men  that  were  now  to  transplant  themselves  into  an  hor- 
rid wilderness.     The  diversion  of  their  enterprize  from  the  first  state 
and  way  of  it,  caused  an  unhappy  division  among  those  that  should  have 
encouraged  it  ;  and  many  of  them  hereupon  fell  off.     But  the  Removers 
having  already  sold  their  estates,  to  put  the  money  into  a  common  stock, 
for  the  welfare  of  the  whole  ;  and  their  stock  as  well  as  their  time,  spend- 
ing so  fast  as  to  threaten  them  with  an    ai7ny  of  straits,  if  they  delayed 
any  longer  ;  they  nimbly  dispatcht  the  best  agreements  they  could,  and 
came  away  furnished  with  a  Resolution  for  a  large  Tract  of  Land  in  the 
south-west  parts  of  New-England. 

§  4.  All  things  now  being  in  some  readiness,  and  a  couple  of  ships, 
one  called  The  Speedwell,  the  other.  The  May-Flower,  being  hired  for'their 
transportation,  they  solemnly  set  apart  a  A^y  iov  fasting  and  prayer; 
wherein  their  Pastor  preached  unto  them  upon  Ezra  8.  21 ,  /  proclaim- 
ed a  fast  there,  at  the  river  Ahava,  that  we  might  ajfiict  our  selves  before 
our  God,  to  seek  of  him  a  right  way  for  us,  and  for  our  little  ones,  and  for 
all  our  substance. 

After  the  fervent  supplications  of  this  day,  accompanied  by  their 
affectionate  friends,  they  took  their  leave  of  the  pleasant  city,  where 
they  had  heen  pilgrims  and  strangers  now  for  eleven  years.  Delft-Ha- 
ven was  the  town,  where  they  went  on  board  one  of  their  ships>  and 
there  they  had  such  a  mournful  parting  from  their  brethren,  as  even 
drowned  the  Dutch  spectators  themselves,  then  standing  on  the  shore,  in 
tears.  Their  excellent  pastor,  on  his  knees,  hy  the  sea-side,  poured  out 
their  mutual  petitions  unto  God  ;  and  having  wept  in  one  another's 
arms,  as  long  as  the  wind  and  the  tide  would  permit  them,  they  bad  adieu. 
So    sailing   to  Southampton  in  England,  they  there   found  the  other  of 


48  MAGNALIA  CHRISTI  AMERICANA :  [Book  L 

their  ships  come  from  London,  with  the  rest  of  their  friends  that  were 
to  be  the  companions  of  the  voyage.  Let  my  reader  place  the  chronolo- 
gy of  this  business  on  July  2,  1620.  And  know,  that  the  faihtful  pastor 
of  this  people  immediately  sent  after  them  a  pastoral  letter ;  a  letter 
tilled  with  holy  counsels  unto  them,  to  settle  ti.eir  peace  with  God  in 
their  own  consciences,  by  an  exact  repentance  of  all  sin  whatsoever, 
that  so  they  might  more  easily  bear  all  the  dithculties  that  were  now  be- 
fore them  ;  and  then  to  maintain  a  good  peace  with  one  another,  and  be- 
ware of  giving  or  taking  rffences ;  and  avoid  all  discoveries  of  a  touchy 
humour ;  but  use  much  brotherly  forbearance,  [whereby  the  v/ay  he  had 
this  remarkable  observation  ;  In  my  o-wn  exj/erience  few  or  n>ne  have 
been  found  that  sooner  give  offence,  than  those  that  easily  take  it ;  neither 
have  they  ever  proved  sound  and  jtrq/iiable  ineinbei  s  oj  societies  who  have 
nourished  this  touchy  humour  ;]  as  also  to  take  heed  of  a  private  spirit, 
and  all  retiredness  of  mind  in  each  man,  for  his  own  proper  advantage  ; 
and  likewise  to  be  careful,  that  the  house  of  God  which  tkey  were,  might 
not  be  shaken  with  unnecessary  novelties  or  oppositions  :  which  Letter 
afterwards  produced  most  happy  fruits  among  them. 

§  5.  On  August  5th,  1620,  they  set  sail  from  Southampton  ;  but  if  it 
shall,  as  I  believe  it  will,  afflict  my  reader  to  be  told  what  heart-breaking 
disasters  befel  them,  in  the  very  beginning  of  their  undertaking,  let  him 
gloritie  God,  who  carried  them  so  well  through  their  greater  aflliction. 

They  were  by  bad  weather  twice  beaten  back,  before  they  came  to  the 
Land''s  End :  But  it  was  judged,  that  the  badness  of  the  weather  did  not 
retard  them  so  much  as  the  deceit  of  a  master,  who  grown  sick  of  the 
voyage,  made  such  pretences  about  the  leakiness  of  his  vessel,  that  they 
were  forced  at  last  wholly  to  dismiss  that  lesser  ship  from  the  service. 
Being  now  all  stowed  into  one  ship,  on  the  sixth  of  September  they  put 
to  sea  ;  but  they  met  with  such  terrible  storms,  that  the  principal  per- 
sons on  board  had  serious  deliberations  upon  returning  home  again  ; 
however,  after  long  beating  upon  the  Atlantick  ocean,  they  fell  in  with 
the  land  at  Cape  Cod,  about  the  ninth  of  November  following,  where  go- 
ing on  shore  they  fell  upon  their  knees,  with  many  and  hearty  praises 
unto  God,  who  had  been  tiieir  assurance,  when  they  were  afar  off"  upon 
the  sea,  and  was  to  be  further  so^  now  that  they  were  come  to  the  ends  of 
the  earth. 

But  why  at  this  Cape  ?  Here  was  not  the  port  v.'hich  they  intended  ; 
this  was  not  the  land  for  which  they  had  provided.  There  was  indeed  a 
most  wonderful  providence  of  God,  over  a  pious  and  a  praying  people,  in 
\\\i^  disappointment !  The  nxosi  crooked  tt'ci'?/ that  ever  was  gone,  even 
that  oflsraeVs  peregrination  through  the  wilderness,  may  be  called  a  right 
way,  such  was  the  way  of  this  little  Israel,  now  going  into  a  zvilderncss. 

§  6.  Their  design  was  to  have  sat  down  some  where  about  Hiidson''s 
River  ;  but  some  of  their  neighbours  in  Holland  having  a  mind  them- 
selves to  settle  a  plantation  there,  secretly  and  sinfully  contracted  with 
the  master  of  the  ship,  employed  for  the  transportation  of  these  our  Eng- 
lish exi7<'s,  by  a  more  northerly  course,  to  put  a  trick  upon  them.  'Twas 
in  the  pursuance  of  this  plot,  that  not  only  the  goods,  but  also  the  lives  of 
all  on  board  were  now  hazarded,  by  the  ships  falling  among  the  shoals  of 
Cape-Cod  :  where  thoy  were  so  entangled  among  di\i:ge\  oms  b>  eakers ,  thus 
late  in  the  year,  that  the  company  got  at  last  into  the  Cape-Hnrhour,  brou'e 
off  their  intentions  of  going  any  further.  And  yet  behold  the  watchful 
providence  of  God  over  them  that  seek  him  !  ih'ii  J dse-de  •iling  \)VoyeA  a 
safe-dealing  for  the  good  people  against  whom  it  was  used.  Had  they  been 


B-ooK  I.]       OR,  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  49 

carried  according  to  their  desire  unto  Hudson'^  Ricer,  the  Indians  in  those 
parts  were  at  this  time  so  many 7 and  so  mighty,  and  so  sturdy,  that  in  pro- 
bability all  this  little  feeble  number  of  Christians  had  been  massacred  by 
these  bloody  salvages,  as  not  long  alter  some  others  were  :  whereas  the 
good  hand  of  God  now  brouglit  them  to  a  country  wonderfully  prepared 
for  their  entertainment,  by  a  sweeping  mortoluy  that  had  lately  been 
among  the  natives  We  h.iie  lieuid  with  uui  ears,  O  God,  our  fa/hers  hav& 
told  us,  what  woik  thou  didst  in  ihtir  days,  in  the  times  of  old  ;  how  thou 
dravest  out  the  heathen  with  thy  hand,  and  plants  dst  them  ;  how  thou  did^st 
afflict  th/,  people,  and  cast  them  out/  The  In dia?is  in  these  parts  had 
newly,  even  about  a  year  or  two  before,  been  visited  with  such  a  prodi- 
gious pestilence  ;  as  carried  away  not  a  ienth,hut  nine  parts  o(  ^pn,(yea, 
'tis  said,  nineteen  of  twenty)  among  them ;  so  that  the  woods  were 
almost  cleared  of  those  pernicious  creatures,  to  make  room  for  a  better 
growth.  It  is  remarkable,  that  a  Frenchman  who  not  long  before  these 
transactions,  had  by  a  shipwreck  been  made  a  captive  among  the  Indians 
of  this  country,  did,  as  the  survivers  reported,  just  before  he  dyed  ia 
their  hands,  tell  those  tawny  pagans,  that  God  being  angry  with  them  for 
their  wickedness,  loould  not  only  destroy  them  all,  but  also  people  the  placz 
with  another  nation,  tohidi  ivould  not  live  after  their  brutish  manners. 
Those  infidels  then  blasphemously  replyed,  God  could  not  kill  them; 
which  blasphemous  mistake  was  confuted  by  an  horrible  and  unusual 
plague,  whereby  they  were  consumed  in  such  vast  multitudes,  that  our 
first  planters  found  the  land  almost  covered  with  their  unburied  carcases  : 
and  they  that  were  left  alive,  were  smitten  into  awful  and  humble  re- 
gards of  the  English,  by  the  terrors  which  the  remembrance  of  the 
Frenchman's  prophesie  had  imprinted  on  them, 

§  7.  Inexpressible  the  hardships  to  which  this  chosen  generation  was 
now  exposed  !  Our  Saviour  once  directed  his  disciples  to  deprecate  a 
jiight  in  the  winter  ;  but  these  disciples  of  our  Lord  were  now  arrived  at 
a  very  cold  country,  in  the  beginning  of  a  rough  and  bleak  winter;  the 
sun  was  withdrawn  into  Sagittarius,  whence  he  shot  the  penetrating  a/- 
rows  oi  old  ;  feathered  with  nothing  but  6?i')2(;,  and  pointed  with /iaz7  ; 
and  the  daijs  left  them  to  behold  the  yros^bitten  and  i<;ea//ier-beaten  face 
of  the  earth,  were  grown  shorter  than  the  nights,  wherein  they  had  yet 
more  trouble  to  get  shelter  from  the  increasing  injuries  of  the  frost  and 
weather.  It  was  a  relief  to  those  primitive  believers,  who  were  cast  oa 
shore  at  Malta,  That  the  barbarous  people  showed  them  no  little  kindness, 
because  of  the  presetit  rain,  and  because  of  the  cold.  But  these  believers  in 
our  primitive  times,  were  moie  afraid  of  the  barbarous  people  among  whom 
they  were  now  cast,  than  they  were  of  the  rain,  or  cold:  these  barbari- 
ans were  at  the  first  so  far  from  accommodating  them  with  bundles  of 
sticks  to  warm  them,  that  they  let  fly  other  sorts  of  sficka  (that  is  to  say, 
arrows)  to  wound  them  :  and  the  very  looks  and  shouts  of  those  grim  sal- 
vages, had  not  much  less  of  terrour  in  them,  than  if  they  had  been  so  many 
devils.  It  is  not  long  since  I  compared  this  remove  of  our  fathers,  to 
that  of  Ab'ttham,  whereas  I  must  now  add,  that  if  our  father  Abraham, 
called  out  of  Ur,  had  been  directed  unto  the  Desarts  ofAntbia,  instead  of 
the  land  f  awing  with  milk  and  honey,  the  trial  of  his  faith  had  been 
greater  than  it  was  ;  but  such  was  the  trial  of  the  faith  in  these  holy 
men,  who  followed  the  call  of  God  into  desartsi^iW  of  dismal  circumstan- 
ces. All  this  they  chearfully  underwent,  in  hope,  that  they  should  set- 
tle the  worship  and  order  of  the  gospel,  and  the  Kingdom  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  in  these  regions,  and  that  thus  enlarging  the  dominion,  they 

Vol.  I.  7 


50  MAGNALIA  CHRISTI  AMERICANA  ;  [Book  I. 

should  thereby  so  merit  the  ■protection  of  the  crown  of  England,  as  to  be    i 
never  abandoned  unto  an\  furiher  j^ersecuiiims,  iiom  any  party  oftheiryeZ-     \ 
low  subjects,  for  the  irconsciencious  regards  uato  the  rejurmotion.    Their 
proposal  was, 

Exiguam  sedem  Sacris,  Liifusque  rngamus, 
hmuLiium,  ^-  cinidis  iindumq ;  auramq;  Paientem. 

§  8.  Finding  at  their  first  arrival,  that  what  other  powers  they  had. 
were  made  useless  by  the  undesigned  place  of  their  arrival  ;  they  did, 
as  the  light  of  nature  it  self  directed  them,  immediately  in  the  harbour, 
sign  an  instrument,  as  a  foundation  of  their  future  and  needful  govern- 
inent ;  wherein  declaring  themselves  the  loyal  subjects  of  the  Crown  of 
England,  they  did  combine  into  a  body  politick,  and  solemnly  engage  sub- 
mission and  obedience  to  the  la-a-s,  ordinances,  acts,  constitutions  and  offi- 
cers, that  from  time  to  time  should  be  thought  most  convenient  for  the 
general  good  of  the  Co/ohj/.  This  w^as  done  on  .Vor.  11th,  1G20,  and 
they  chose  one  Mr.  John  Carzer,  a  pious  and  prudent  man,  their  Gov- 
ernour. 

Hereupon  they  sent  ashore  to  look  a  convenient  seat  for  their  intended 
habitation  :  and  while  the  carpenter  was  fitting  of  their  shallop,  sixteen 
men  tei  dered  themselves,  to  go,  by  land,  on  the  discovery.  Accordingly 
on  JVar.  16th,  1620,  they  made  a  dangerous  adventure  ;  following  five 
Indians,  whom  they  spied  dying  before  them,  into  the  woods  for  many 
miles  ;  from  whence,  after  two  or  three  days  ramble,  they  returned  with 
some  ears  of  Indian  Corn,  which  were  an  eshcol  for  their  company  ;  but 
with  a  poor  and  small  encouragement,  as  unto  any  scituation.  When  the 
shallop  was  fitted,  about  thirty  more  went  in  it  upon  a  further  discovery  ; 
who  prospered  little  more,  than  only  to  find  a  little  Indian  Corn,  and 
bring  to  the  company  some  occasions  of  doubtful  debate,  whether  they 
should  here  fix  their  stakes.  Yet  these  expeditions  on  discovery  had 
this  one  remarkable  smile  of  Heaven  upon  them ;  that  being  made  be- 
fore the  snoiD  covered  the  ground,  they  met  v.ith  some  Indian  Corn  ;  for 
which,  'twas  their  purpose  honestly  to  pay  the  natives  on  demand  ;  and 
this  Corn  served  them  for  seed  in  the  Spring  following,  which  else  they 
had  not  been  seasonably  fiirnished  withal.  So  that  it  proved,  in  effect, 
their  deliverance  from  the  terrible  famine. 

§  9.  The  month  of  November  being  spent  in  many  supplications  to  Al- 
mighty God,  and  consultations  one  with  another,  about  the  direction  of 
their  course;  at  last,  on  Dec.  6,  1620,  they  manned  the  shallop  with 
about  eighteen  or  twenty  hands,  and  went  out  upon  a  third  discovery. 
So  bitterly  cold  was  the  season,  that  the  spray  of  the  sea  lighting  on 
their  cloaths,  glazed  them  with  an  immediate  congelation  ;  yet  they  kept 
cruising  about  the  bay  of  Cape-Cod,  and  that  night  they  got  safe  down 
the  bottom  of  the  bay.  There  they  landed,  and  there  they  tarried  that 
night ;  and  imsuccessfully  ranging  about  all  the  nest  day,  at  night  they 
made  a  little  barricado  of  boughs  and  logs,  wherein  the  most  weary 
slept.  The  next  morning  after  prayers,  tiiey  suddenly  were  surrounded 
with  a  erne  of  Indians,  who  let  lly  a  shower  of  arrozi's  among  them  ■, 
v.hereat  our  distressed  handtul  of  English  happily  recovering  their  afms, 
which  they  had  laid  by  from  the  moisture  of  the  weather,  they  vigo- 
rously dis.  barged  their  7nuskets  upon  the  Salvages,  who  astonished  at  the 
strange  eTects  of  such  dead-doing  things,  asi  powder  and  shot,  fled  apace 
into  the  woods  ;  but  not  one  of  ours  was  wounded  by  the  Indian  arrows 
that  fle^v  like  hail  about  their  ears,  and  pierced  through  sundry  of  their 


Book  I.]       OR,  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  51 

coats:  for  which  they  returned  their  solemn  thanks  unto  God  their  Sa- 
viour ;  and  they  called  the  place  by  the  name  of,  The  First  Eacountrr. 
From  hence  they  coasted  along,  till  an  horrible  storm  afose,  which  tyre 
their  vessel  at  such  a  rate,  and  threw  them  into  the  midst  of  sucii  danijer- 
ous  breakers,  it  was  reckoned  little  short  of  nu'racte  that  they  escaped 
alive.  In  the  end  they  got  under  the  lee  of  a  small  Island,  u'herc  going 
ashore,  they  kindled  tires  for  their  succouragainst  the  wet  and  cold  ;  it 
was  the  morning  before  they  found  it  was  an  /s7fl7ic^,  whereupon  they  ren- 
dred  their  praises  to  Him,  th^i  hitherto  had  helped  them;  and  the  day  fol- 
lowing, which  was,  the  Lord's  Day,  the  difficulties  now  upon  them,  did  not 
hinder  them  from  spending  it  in  the  devout  and  pious  exercises  of  a  sa- 
cred rest.  On  the  next  day  they  sounded  the  harbour,  and  found  it  fit  for 
shipping;  they  visited  the  main  land  also,  and  found  it  accommodated 
with  pleasant  fields  and  brooks  ;  whereof  they  carried  an  encouraging 
report  unto  tlieir  friends  on  board.  So  they  resolved  that  ihey  would 
here  pitch  their  tents  ;  and  sailing  up  to  the  toiaui  of  Plymouth,  [as  with 
an  hopeful  prolepsis,  my  reader  shall  now  call  it  j  for  otherwise,  by  the 
Indians  'twas  called  Patuxet ;]  on  the  twenty-tifth  day  of  December  they 
began  to  erect  the Ji>st  House  that  ever  was  in  that  memorable  toAvn  j  an 
house  for  the  general  entertainment  of  their  persons  and  estates  :  and 
yet  it  was  not  long  before  an  unhappy  accident  burnt  unto  the  ground 
their  house,  wherein  some  of  their  principal  persons  then  lay  sick  ;  who 
were  forced  nimbly  to  fly  out  of  the  fired  house,  or  else  they  had  been 
blown  up  with  the  powdtr  then  lodged  there.  After  this,  they  soon  went 
upon  the  building  of  more  little  cottages ;  and  upon  the  settling  of  good 
hrj^s,  for  the  better  governing  of  such  as  were  to  inhabit  those  cottages. 
They  then  resolved,  that  until  they  could  be  further  strengthened  in 
their  settlement,  by  the  authority  of  England,  they  would  be  governed 
by  rulers  chosen  from  among  themselves,  who  were  to  proceed  accord- 
ing to  the  laws  of  England,  as  near  as  they  could,  in  the  administration 
of  their  government ;  and  such  other  by  la'Ji's,  as  by  common  consent 
should  be  judged  necessary  for  the  circumstances  of  the  Plantation. 

§  10.  If  the  reader  would  know,  how  these  good  people  fared  the 
rest  of  the  melancholy  -winter  ;  let  him  know,  that  besides  the  exercises 
of  Religion,  with  other  work  enough,  there  was  the  care  of  the  sick  to 
take  up  no  little  part  of  their  time.  'Twas  a  most  heavy  trial  of  their 
patience,  whereto  they  were  called  the  first  winter  of  this  their  pilgrim- 
age, and  enough  to  convince  them,  and  remind  them,  that  they  were 
but  Pilgrims.  The  hardships  which  they  encountered,  were  attended 
with,  and  productive  of  deadly  sicknesses;  which  in  two  or  three  months 
carried  off  more  than  half  their  compan5\  They  were  but  meanly  pro- 
vided against  these  unhappy  sicknesses ;  but  there  died  sometimes  tn'o. 
sometimes  three  in  a  day,  till  scarce  Jifty  of  them  were  left  alive  ;  and 
of  those  Jifty,  sometimes  there  were  scarce  Jive  well  at  a  time  to  look 
after  the  sick.  Yet  their  profound  submission  to  the  will  of  God,  their 
Christian  readiness  to  help  one  another,  accompanied  with  a  joyful  as- 
surance of  another  and  better  world,  carried  them  chearfully  through 
the  sorrows  of  this  mort(dity :  nor  was  there  heard  among  them  a  con- 
tinual murmur  against  those  who  had  by  unreasonable  impositions  driven 
them  into  all  these  distresses.  And  there  was  this  remarkable  providence 
further  in  the  circumstances  of  this  mortality,  that  if  a  disease  had  not 
more  easily  fetcht  so  many  of  this  number  away  to  Heaven,  a  famine 
would  probably  have  destroyed  them  all,  before  their  expected  supplies 
from  England  were  arrived.     But  what  a  wonder  was  it  that  all  the 


oS  MAGNALIA  CHRISTI  AMERICANA :  [Book  f. 

blood)'  salvages  far  and  near  did  not  cut  off  this  little  remnant .'  If  he  that 
once  muzzled  the  lions  ready  to  devour  the  man  of  desires,  had  not  ad- 
mirably,  I  had  almost  said,  miraculously  restrained  them,  these  had  been 
all  devoured  !  but  this  people  of  God  were  come  into  a  ■wilderness  to 
worship  Him  ;  and  so  He  kept  their  enemies  from  such  attempts,  as  would 
otherwise  have  soon  annihilated  this  poor  handful  of  men,  thus  far  already 
diminished.  They  saw  no  i/u/m/is  all  the  winter  long,  but  such  as  at  the  first 
sight  always  ran  away  ;  yea,  they  quickly  found,  that  God  had  so  turned 
the  hearts  of  these  babarians,  as  more  to  fear,  than  to  hate  his  people 
thus  cast  among  them.  This  blessed  people  was  as  a  little  Jlock  of  kidsy 
while  there  were  many  nations  of  Indiayis  left  still  as  kennels  of  ao/res 
in  every  corner  of  the  country.  And  yet  the  little  flock  suffered  no  dam- 
age by  those  rapid  xcohes  !  VVe  may  and  should  say,  This  is  the  Lord^s 
doing,  'tis  marvellous  in  our  eyes. 

But  among  the  many  causes  to  be  assigned  for  it,  one  was  this.  It  was 
afterwards  by  them  confessed,  thai  upon  the  arrival  of  the  English  in 
these  parts,  the  Indians  employed  their  sorcerers,  whom  they  call  jjozv' 
a«'s.  like  Balaam,  to  curse  them,  and  let  loose  their  demons  upon  them, 
to  shipwreck  them,  to  distract  them,  to  poison  them,  or  any  way  to  ruin 
them.  All  the  noted  porsan's  in  the  country  spent  three  days  together 
in  diabolical  conjurations,  to  obtain  the  assistance  of  the  devils  against 
the  settlement  of  these  our  English;  but  the  devils  at  length  acknowl- 
edged unto  them,  that  they  could  not  hinder  those  people  from  their  be- 
coming the  oti:ners  and  masters  of  the  country'  ;  whereupon  the  Indians 
resolved  upon  a  t^ood  correspondence  with  our  nrxc-coviers ;  and  God 
convinced  them,  that  there  was  no  enchantment  or  divination  against  such 
a  people. 

§  11.  The  doleful  ziinter  broke  up  sooner  than  was  usual.  But  our 
crippled  planters  were  not  more  comforted  with  the  early  advance  of  the 
Spring,  than  they  were  surprized  with  the  appearance  of  two  Indians, 
who  in  broken  English  bade  them,  t^elcome  Englishmen  !  It  seems  that 
one  of  these  Indians  had  been  in  the  eastern  parts  of  JVev}-E7iglaiid,  ac- 
quainted with  some  of  the  English  vessels  th.at  had  been  formerly ^/t*/n'ng' 
there  ;  but  the  other  of  the  India7:s,  and  he  from  whom  they  had  most  of 
service,  w'as  a  person  provided  by  the  very  singular  providence  of  God 
for  that  service.  A  most  wicked  shipmaster  being  on  this  coast  a  few 
years  before,  bad  wickedly  spirited  away  more  than  twenty  Indians ; 
whom  having  enticed  them  aboard,  he  presently  stowed  them  under 
hatches,  and  carried  them  away  to  the  Streights,  where  be  sold  as  many 
of  them  as  he  could  for  Slaves.  This  avaritious  and  pernicious  felony 
laid  the  foundation  of  grievous  annoyances  to  all  the  English  endeavours 
of  settlements,  especially  in  the  northern  parts  of  the  land  for  several 
years  ensuing.  The  Indians  would  never  forget  ov  forgive  this  injury  ; 
but  when  the  English  afterwards  came  upon  this  coast,  in  their  fishing - 
voyages,  they  were  still  assaulted  in  an  hostile  manner,  to  the  killing  and 
wounding  of  many  poor  men  by  the  angry  natives,  in  revenge  of  the 
wrong  that  had  been  done  them  ;  and  some  intended  Plantations  here 
were  hereby  utterly  nipt  in  the  bud.  But  our  good  God  so  ordered  it, 
that  one  of  the  stoln  Indians,  called  Squanto,  had  escaped  out  of  Spain 
into  England;  where  he  lived  with  one  Mr.  Slany,  from  whom  he  had 
found  away  to  return  into  his  own  country,  being  brought  back  by  one 
Mr.  De.  m:r,  about  half  a  year  before  our  honest  Plymotheans  were  cast 
upon  this  continent,  'f  his  Indian  (with  the  other)  having  received  much 
kindness  from  the  English ^  who  he  saw  generally  condemned  the  man 


Book  I.]       OR,  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  53 

that  first  betrayed  him,  now  made  unto  the  English  a  return  of  that 
kindness  :  and  being  by  his  acquaintance  with  the  English  language,  fit- 
ted for  a  conversation  with  them,  he  very  liindly  informed  them  what 
was  the  present  condition  of  the  Indians  ;  instructed  them  in  the  way  of 
ordering  their  Corn;  and  acquainted  them  with  many  other  things, 
which  it  was  necessary  for  them  to  understand.  But  Squanto  did  for 
them  a  yet  greater  benefit  than  all  this:  for  he  brought  Alassasoil,  the 
chief  Sachiin  or  Prince  of  the  Indians  within  many  miles,  with  some 
scores  of  his  attenders,  to  make  our  people  a  kind  visit  ;  the  issue  of 
which  visit  was  that  Massasoit  not  only  entred  into  a  firm  agreement  of 
peace  with  the  English,  but  also  they  declared  and  submitted  themselves 
to  be  subjects  of  the  King  of  England  ;  into  which  peace  and  subjer.tion 
many  other  Sachims  quickly  after  came,  in  the  most  voluntary  manner 
that  could  be  expressed.  It  seems  this  unlucky  Squanto  having  told  hi? 
countrymen  how  easie  it  was  for  so  great  a  monarch  as  K.  James  to  de- 
stroy them  all,  if  they  should  hurt  any  of  his  people,  he  went  on  to  ter- 
I'ifie  them  with  a  ridiculous  rhodomantado,  which  they  believed,  that 
this  people  kept  the  plague  in  a  cellar  (where  they  kept  their  pounder) 
and  could  at  their  pleasure  let  it  loose  to  make  such  havock  among  them, 
as  the  distemper  had  already  made  among  them  a  few  years  before. 
Thus  was  the  tongue  of  a  dog  made  useful  to  a  feeble  and  sickly  Laza- 
rus!  Moreover,  our  English  gjtns,  especially  tne  great  ones,  made  a 
formidable  report  among  these  ignorant  Indians  ;  and  the  hopes  of  enjoy- 
ing some  defence  by  the  English,  against  the  potent  nation  oi Narragan- 
set  Indians,  now  at  war  \vith  these,  made  them  3'et  more  to  court  our 
friendship.  This  very  strange  disposition  of  things,  was  extrearaly  advan- 
tageous to  our  distressed /)/a??iers  :  and  who  sees  not  herein  the  special 
providence  of  the  God  who  disposeth  all  ? 


CHAPTER  HI. 


Conaraur  Tenues  Grandia  :  or,  a  brief  account  of  the  difficulties,  the  de- 
liverances, and  other  occurrences,  through  rvhich  the  Plantation  of  New- 
Plymouth  arrived  unto  the  consistency/  of  a  Colony. 

§  1.  Setting  aside  the  just  and  great  grief  of  our  new  planters  for 
the  immature  death  of  their  excellent  governour,  succeeded  b}^  the  wor- 
thy Mr.  Bradford,  early  in  the  Spring  after  their  first  arrival,  they  spent 
their  summer  somewhat  comfortably,  trading  with  the  Indians  to  the 
northward  of  their  Plantation  ;  in  which  trade  they  were  not  a  little  a?- 
sisted  by  Squanto,  who  within  a  year  or  two  dyed  among  the  English  ;  but 
before  his  death,  desired  them  to  pray  for  him.  That  he  might  go  to  the 
Englishman^ s  God  in  Heaven.  And  besides  the  assistance  of  Squanto, 
they  had  also  the  help  of  another  Indian  called  Hobhamok,  who  con- 
tinued faithful  unto  the  English  interests  as  long  as  he  lived  ;  though  he 
sometimes  went  in  danger  of  his  life  among  his  countrymen  for  that  fi- 
delity. So  they  jogged  on  till  the  day  twelvemonth  after  their  first  arri- 
val ;  when  there  now  arrived  unto  them  a  good  number  more  of  theii 
old  friends  from  Holland,  for  the  strengthening  of  their  new  Plantation  ; 
but  inasmuch  as  they  brought  not  a  sufficient  stock  of  provisions  with 
them,  they  rather  weakened  it,  than  strengthened  it. 


6i  MAGNALIA  CHRISTI  AMERICANA :  [Book  I. 

If  Peter  Martyr  could  m;ignifie  tlie  Spaniards,  of  whom  he  reports, 
They  led  a  miserable  life  for  three  days  together  with  parched  grain  of 
maize  only,  and  titat  not  unto  satiety  ;  what  shall  I  say  of  our  Englishmen, 
who  would  have  thought  aViiile  parched  Indian  Corn  a  mighty  feast  ?  But 
they  wanted  it,  not  only  three  days  together  ;  no,  for  two  or  three 
months  together,  they  had  no  kind  of  Corn  among  them  :  such  was  the 
scarcity,  accompanied  with  the  disproportion  of  the  inhabitants  to  the 
provisions.  However,  Feter  Martyr''s  conclusion  may  be  ours,  With 
their  miseries  this  people  opened  a  way  to  those  new  lands,  and  afterwards 
other  men  came  to  inhabit  them  with  ease,  in  respect  of  the  calamities  which 
those  men  have  suffered.  They  were  indeed  very  often  upon  the  very 
point  of  starving  ;  but  in  their  extremity  the  God  of  Heaven  always  fur- 
nished them  with  some  sudden  reliefs ;  either  by  causing  some  vessels  of 
strangers  occasionally  to  look  in  upon  them,  or  by  putting  them  into  a 
way  to  catch  ^fs^  in  some  convenient  quantities,  or  by  some  other  sur- 
prising accidents  ;  for  which  they  rendered  unto  Heaven  the  solemn 
thanks  of  their  souls.  They  kept  in  such  good  working  case,  that  be- 
sides their  progress  in  building,  and  planting,  and  fishing,  they  formed 
a  sort  of  a  fort,  wherein  they  kept  a  nightly  watch  for  their  security 
against  any  treachery  of  the  Indians,  being  thereunto  awakened  by  an 
horrible  massacre,  which  the  Indians  lately  made  upon  several  hundreds 
of  the  English  in  Virginia. 

§  2.  In  one  of  the  first  Summers  after  their  sitting  down  at  Plymouth, 
a  terrible  drought  threatened  the  ruin  of  all  their  summer's  husbandry. 
From  about  the  middle  of  May  to  the  middle  of  July,  an  extream  hot 
sun  beat  upon  their  iields,  without  any  rainf  so  that  all  their  corn  began  to 
wither  and  languish,  and  some  of  it  was  irrecoverably  parched  up.  In 
this  distress  they  set  apart  a  day  for  fasting  and  jjrayer,  to  deprecate  the 
calamity  that  might  bring  tliem  to  fasting  through  famine  ;  in  the  morn- 
ing of  which  day  there  was  no  sign  of  any  rain  ;  but  before  the  evening 
the  sky  was  overcast  with  clouds,  which  went  not  away  without  such 
casie,  gentle,  and  yet  plentiful  showers,  as  revived  a  great  part  of  their 
decayed  corn,  for  a  comfortable  harvest.  The  Indians  themselves  took 
notice  of  this  answer  given  from  heaven  to  the  supplications  of  this  de- 
vout people  ;  and  one  of  them  said,  now  I  sec  that  the  Englishman's  God 
is  a  good  God  ;  for  he  hath  heard  you,  and  sent  you  rain,  and  that  without 
^uch  tempest  and  thunder  as  we  use  to  have  with  our  rain ;  zchich  after  our 
Powawingybr  it,  breaks  down  the  corn  ;  whereas  your  corn  stands  whole, 
find  good  still ;  surely,  your  God  is  a  good  God.  The  harvest  which  God 
thus  gave  to  this  pious  people,  caused  them  to  set  apart  another  day  for 
aolemn  Thanksgiving  to  the  glorious  Hearer  of  Prayrs .' 

§  3.  There  was  another  most  wonderful  preservation,  vouchsafed  by 
God  unto  this  little  knot  of  Christians.  One  Mr.  Weston,  a  merchant  of 
good  note,  interested  at  tirst  in  the  Plymouth  design,  afterwards  desert- 
ed it  ;  and  in  the  year  1G22,  sent  over  two  ships  witli  about  sixty  men,  to 
begin  a  plantation  in  the  Massachuset-Bay.  These  beginners  being  well  re- 
freshed at  Plymouth,  travelled  more  northward  unto  a  place  known  since 
by  the  name  of  Weymouth ;  where  these  Westotiians,  who  were  Church 
of  England-men,  did  not  approve  themselves  like  the  Plymotheans,  a  pious, 
honest,  industrious  people  ;  but  followed  such  bad  courses,  as  had  like 
to  have  brought  a  ruin  upon  their  neighbours,  as  well  as  themselves. 
Having  by  their  uZ/e?!ess  brought  themselves  to  penury,  they  stole  corn 
from  the  Indians,  and  many  other  ways  provoked  them  ;  although  the 


Book  I.J         OR,  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  5o. 

Governor  of  Plymouth   writ  them  his  very  sharp  disapprobation  of  their 
proceedings.     'lo  satisfie  the  exasperated  Salvao-es,  divers  of  the  thieves 
were  stockt  and  whipt,  and  one  of  them  at  last  put  to  death  by  this  miserable 
company  ;  which  did  no  other  service  than  to  affoid  an  occasion  for  a 
fable  to  the  roguish  Hudibras,  for  all  accommodation   was   now  too  late. 
The  Indians  far  and  near  entred  into  a  cospiracy  to  cut  olT  these  abusive 
Eno-lish  ;  and  least  the  inhabitants   of  Plymouth  should  revenge  that  ex- 
cision of  their  countrymen,  they  resolved  upon  the  murther  of  </icj7i  also. 
In  pursuance  of  this /^/oi,  Captain  Standish,  the  commander  of  the  militia 
of  Piymoulh,  lodging  on  a  night,  with  two  or  three  men  in  an  Indian  house, 
the  Indians  proposed  that  they  might  begin  the  execution  of  their  malice 
by  the  assassination  of  the  Captain,  as  soon  as  he  should  be  fallen  asleep. 
However,   the   -watchful    Providence    of  God   so    ordered  it,    that   the 
Captain  could  not  sleep  all  that  night ;  and  so  they  durst  not  meddle  with 
him.     Thus  was  the  beginning  of  the  plot  put  by  :  but  the  whole  plot 
came  another  way  to  be  discovered   and  prevented.     Massasoit,  the  sou- 
thern Sachirii  falling  sick,  the  Governour  of  Plymouth  desired  a  couple 
of  gentlemen,  whereof  one  was  that  good  man,  Mr.  JVi7islow,  to  visit  this 
poor  Snchim  :  whom  after  their  long  journey  they  found  lying  at  the  point 
of  death  with  a  crue  of  hellish  Porvaws,  using  their  inefll'ectual  spells  and 
howls  about  him  to  recover  him.     Upon  the  taking  of  some  English  phy- 
sick,  he  presently  revived  ;  and  thus  regaining  his  lost  health,  the  fees 
he  paid    his   English  doctor  were,  a  confession  of  the  plot  among  several 
nations  of  the  Indians,  to  destroy  the  English.      He  said,  that  they  had  in 
vain  sollicited  him  to  enter  into  that  bloody  combination  ;  but  his  advice 
was,   that  the  Governour  of  Plymouth  should  immediately  take  off  the 
principal  actors  in   this  business,  whereupon  the  rest  being  terrifyed, 
would  soon  desist.     There  was  a  concurrence  of  many  things  to  contirm 
the  truth  of  this  information  ;  wherefjre  Captain  Standish  took  eight  re- 
.solute   men  with  him  to  the   Westonian  WdniAivon  ;  where  pretending  to 
trade  with  the  Indians,  divers  of  the  conspirators  began  to  treat  him  in  a 
manner  very  insolent.     The  Captain,  and  his  little  army  of  eight  men, 
(reader,  allow  them  for  their  courage  to  be  called  so)  with  a  prodigious 
resolution,  presently  killed  some  of  the  chief  among  these  Indians,  while 
the  rest,  after  a  short  combate,  ran  before  him  as  ftxst  as  their  legs  could 
carry  them  ;  nevertheless,  in   the   midst  of  the  skirmishes,   an  Indian 
youth  ran  to  the  English,  desiring  to  be  with  them  ;  and  declaring  that 
the  Indians  waited  hut  for  their  finishing  two  canoos,  to  have  surprized 
the  ship  in  the  harbour,  and  have  massacred  all  the  people  ;  which  had 
been  finished,   if  the   Captain  had  not  arrived  among  them  just  in  the 
nick  of  time  when  he  did  :  and  an  Indian  s^py  detained  at  Plymouth,  when 
he   saw  the   Captain    return  from  this   expedition,  with   the  head  of  a 
famous   Indian   in  his  hand,  then  with  a   fain  and    frighted  countenance, 
acknowledged  the  whole   mischief  intended  by  the  Indians  against  the 
English.     Releasing  this  fellow,  they  sent  him  to  the  Sachim  of  the  Mas- 
sachiisets,  with  advice  of  what  he  must  look   for,   in   case  he  committed 
any  hostility  upon  the  subjects  of  the  King  of  England  ;  whereof  there 
was  this  effect,  that  not  only  that  Sachim   hereby  terrified,  most  humbly 
begged  for  peace,  and  pleaded  his  ignorance  of  his  men's  intentions  ;  but 
^he  rest  of  the  Indians,  under  the  same  terror,  withdrew  themselves  to 
Uve  in  the  unhealthful  swamps,  which  proved  mortal  to  many  of  them. 
One  of  the  Westonians  was  endeavouring  to  carry  unto  Plymouth  a  report 
of  the  straits  and  fears  which  were  come  upon  them,  and  this  man  losing 
his  rt'cy,  saved  his  life  ;  taking  a  wrong  track,  he  escaped  the  hands  of 


"56  MAGNALIA  CHRISTI  AMERICANA;  [Book  I. 

the  two  Indians,  who  went  on  hunting  after  him  ;  however  e're  he  reach- 
ed Plymouth,  care  had  been  already  taken  for  these  wretched  Westonians 
by  the  earlier  and  fuller  communications  of  Massasoit.  So  was  the  peace 
of  Plymouth  preserved,  and  so  the  Westonian  plantation  bn^ke  up,  went 
off,  and  came  to  nothing  ;  although  'twas  mucii  wished  by  the  holy  Rob- 
inson, that  some  of  the  poor  heathen  had  been  converted  before  any  of 
them  had  been  slaughtered. 

§  4,  A  certain  gentleman  [if  nothing  in  the  following  story  contradict 
f.liat  7iame]  was  employed  in  obtaining  from  the  Grand  Council  of  Ply- 
mouth and  England,  a  Patent  in  the  name  of  these  planters  for  a  conve- 
nient quantity  of  the  country,  where  the  providence  of  Cod  had  now 
disposed  them.  This  man  speaking  one  word  for  thetn,  spake  two  for 
himself:  and  surreptitiously  procured  the  patent  in  his  own  name,  re- 
serving for  himself  and  his  heirs  an  huge  tract  of  the  land  ;  and  intendi:  g 
the  Plymotheans  to  hold  the  rest  as  tenants  under  him.  Hereupon  he  took 
on  board  many  passengers  with  their  goods  ;  but  having  sailed  no  further 
than  the  Do-wns,  the  ship  sprang  a  leak  ;  and  besides  this  disaster,  which 
alone  was  enough  to  have  stopt  the  voyage,  one  strand  ot  their  cable  was 
accidentally  cut  ;  by  which  means  it  broke  in  a  stress  of  wind  ;  and  they 
were  in  extream  danger  of  being  wrecked  upon  the  sands.  Having 
with  much  cost  recruited  their  loss,  and  encreased  the  number  of  their 
passengers,  they  put  out  again  to  sea  ;  but  after  they  had  got  halfway, 
one  of  the  saddest  and  longest  storms  that  had  been  known  since  the 
days  of  the  apostle  Paul,  drove  them  home  to  England  again,  with 
a  vessel  well  nigh  torn  to  pieces,  though  the  lives  of  the  people, 
which  were  above  an  hundred,  mercifully  preserved.  This  man,  by  all 
his  tumbling  backward  and  forward,  was  by  this  time  grown  so  sick  of  )\s 
patent,  that  he  vomited  it  up  ;  he  assigned  it  over  to  the  company,  but 
they  afterwards  obtained  another,  under  the  umbrage  whereof  they 
could  now  more  efi'ectually  carry  on  the  aflairs  of  their  new  colony.  The 
passengers  went  over  afterwards  in  anotiier  vessel  ;  and  quickly  after 
that  another  vessel  of  passengers  also  arrived  in  the  country  :  namely, 
in  the  year  1623.  Among  these  passengers  were  divers  worthy  and 
useful  men,  who  were  come  to  seek  the  welfare  of  this  little  Israel ; 
though  at  theiPjComing  they  were  as  diversly  affected,  as  the  rebuilders 
of  the  Temple  ai  Jerusalem:  some  weve.  grieved  when  t  !.ey  saw  Aoto  had 
the  circumstances  of  their  friends  were,  and  others  were  glad  that  they 
were  no  zvorse. 

§  5.  The  immature  death  of  Mr.  Robinson  in  IlaUand,  with  many  en- 
suing disasters,  hindred  a  great  part  of  the  £«a|'Zis/t  congregation  at  Ley- 
den,  from  coming  over  to  the  reinna7it  here  sepatated  from  their  brethren. 
Hence  it  was,  that  although  this  remnani  of  that  church  were  blessed  with 
an  elder  so  apt  to  teach,  that  he  attended  all  the  other  works  of  a  minister  ; 
yet  they  had  not  apastor  to  dispense  the  sacraments  among  them,  till  the 
year  1629.  when  one  Mr.  Ralph  Smith  undertook  the  pastoral  charge  of 
this  holy  flock.  But  long  before  that,  namely  in  the  year  1624,  the  ad- 
venturers in  England,  with  whom  this  company  held  a  correspondence, 
did  send  over  unto  them  a  minister,  who  did  them  no  manner  of  good  ; 
but  by  his  treacherous  and  mischievous  tricks,  at  last  utterly  destroyed 
that  correspondence.  The  tirst  neat-cattle,  mamely,  three  heifers  and  a  bull, 
that  ever  were  brought  into  this  land,  now  coming  with  him,  did  the  land 
certainly  better  service  than  was  ever  done  by  him,  who  sufficiently  forgot 
that  scriptural  emblem  of  a  minister,  the  ox  treading  out  the  corn.  Tiis 
minister  at  his  first  arrival  did  caress  them  with  such  extream  showers 


1 


Book  I.]        OR,  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW=ENGLAND.  57 

of  affection  and  humility,  that  they  were  very  much  taken  with  him  ; 
nevertheless,  within  a  httle  while,  he  used  most  malignant  endeavours 
to  m-dke factions  among  them,  and  confound  all  their  civil  and  sacred  or- 
der. At  last  there  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  governour  his  letters  home 
to  England,  filled  witli  wicked  and  lying  accus-itions  against  the  people  ; 
of  which  things  being  shametully  convicted,  the  authority  sentenced  him 
to  be  expelled  the  Plantation,  only  they  allowed  him  to  stay  six  months, 
with  secret  reservations  and  expectations  to  release  him  from  that  sen- 
tence, if  he  approved  himself  sound  in  the  repentance  which  he  now  ex- 
pressed. Repentance,  I  say  ;  for  he  did  now  publickly  in  the  Church 
confess  with  tears,  that  the  ceitsurc  of  the  Church  was  less  than  he  deserv- 
ed;  he  acknowledged,  That  he  had  slanderously  abused  the  good  people, 
and  that  God  might  justlij  lay  innocent  bl  >od  to  his  charge  ;  for  he  knew  not 
xvhat  hurt  might  have  come  through  his  writings  ;  for  the  interception 
whereof  he  now  blessed  God;  and  t'lat  it  .'lad  been  Jiis  manner  to  pick  up 
all  the  evil  that  was  ever  spoken  against  the  people  ;  but  he  shut  his  ears  and 
eyes  against  all  the  good  ;  and  that  if  God  should  make  him  a  vagabond  in 
the  earth,  he  were  just  in  doing  so  ;  and  that  those  three  things,  pride,  vain- 
glory, and  self-love,  had  been  the  causes  of  his  miscarriages.  These 
things  he  uttered  so  pathetically,  that  they  again  permitted  him  to  preach 
among  them  ;  and  some  were  so  perswaded  of  his  repentance,  that  they 
professed  they  would  fall  down  on  their  knees,  that  the  censure  passed 
on  him  should  be  remitted.  But.  Oh  the  deceitful  heart  of  man!  After 
two  months  time,  he  so  notoriously  renewed  tbe  miscarriages  which  he 
had  thus  bewailed,  that  his  own  wife,  through  her  affliction  of  mind  at 
his  hypocriste,  could  not  forbear  declaring  her  fears,  that  God  would 
bring  some  heavy  judgment  upon  their  family,  not  only  for  these,  but 
some  former  rvickednesses  by  him  committed,  especially  as  to  fearful 
breaches  of  the  Seventh  Commandment,  which  he  had  with  an  oath  de- 
nied, though  they  were  afterwards  evinced.  Wherefore  upon  the  whole. 
being  banished  from  hence,  because  his  residence  here  was  utterly  in- 
consistent with  the  life  of  this  infant-plantation  ;  he  went  into  Virginia, 
where  he  shortly  after  ended  his  own  life,  (^.uickly  after  these  dithcul- 
ties,  the  company  of  adventurers  for  the  support  of  this  Plantation,  be- 
came rather  adversarii'.s  to  it  ;  or  at  least,  a,  Be  you  warmed  and  filled ; 
a  few  good  words  were  all  the  help  they  afforded  it ;  they  broke  to  pie- 
ces, but  the  God  of  Heaven  still  supported  it. 

§  6.  After  these  many  difficulties  were  thus  a  little  surmounted,  the 
inhabitants  of  this  Colony  prosecuted  their  affairs  at  so  vigorous  and  suc- 
cessful a  rate,  that  they  not  only  fell  into  a  comfortable  wa}',   both  of 
planting  and   of  trading ;  but  also   in   a  kw  years  there  was  a  notable 
number  of  towns  to  be  seen  settled  among  them,   and  very  considerable 
Churches  walking,  so  far  as  they  had  attained,  in  the  faith  and   order  of 
ihe  Gospel.     Their  Churches  flourished  so  considerably,  that  in  the  year 
16  12,  there  were  above  a  dozen  ministers,  and  some  of  those  ministers 
were  stars  of  the  first  magnitude,    shining  in   their  several  orbs  among 
them.     And  as  they  proceeded  in  the  evangelical  service  and  worship  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  so  they  prospered  in  their  secular  concernments. 
.When  they  first  began  to  divide  their  lands,  the}''  wisely  contrived  the 
division   so,   that   they  might  keep  close  together  for  their  mutual  de- 
I  fence  ;  and  then  their  condition  was  very  like  that  of  the  Romans  in  the 
[time  of  Romulus,  when   every  man  contented  himself  with  two  acres  of 
I  land  ;   and  as  Pliny  tells  us.  It  was  thought  a  great  reward  for  one  to  re- 
-zpive  a  pint   of  corn  from    the  people   of  Rome,  which   corn   ihty    lUsfs 

Vol.  I.  8 


58  MAtJNALIA  CHRISTl  AMERICANA :  [Book  1. 

poimded  in  rnorlars.  But  since  then  their  condition  is  marvellously  al- 
tered and  amended  :  great  farms  are  now  seenamoDg  tlie  efiects  of  this 
good  [jcople's  planting  ;  and  in  their  Jishiiig^  from  the  catching  of  cod, 
and  other  hsh  of  less  dimensions,  they  are  since  passed  on  to  the  catch- 
ing of  K-haUs,  whose  oil  is  become  a  staple-commodity  of  the  country  : 
whales,  I  say,  which  living  and  moving  islands,  do  now  tind  a  way  to  this 
coast,  where,  notwithstanding  the  desperate  hazards  run  hy  the  ■whale- 
catchers  in  their  tliin  xi-hale-boats,  often  torn  to  pieces  by  the  stroaks  of 
those  enraged  monsters  ;  yet  it  has  been  rarely  known  that  any  of  them 
have  miscarried.  And  within  a  few  dd}s  of  my  writing  this  paragraph, 
a  coti!  and  a  calf  were  caught  at  Yarmoulh  in  this  Colony  ;  the  corv  was 
hfty  the  foot  long,  the  bone  was  nine  or  ten  foot  wide;  a  cart  upon 
wheels  might  have  gone  in  at  the  mouth  of  it ;  the  calf  was  twenty  foot 
long,  for  unto  such  vast  calves,  the  sea-monsters  draw  forth  their  breasts. 
But  so  does  the  good  God  here  give  his  people  to  suck  the  abundunce  of 
th e  seas  ! 

§  7.  If  my  reader  would  have  the  Religion  of  these  planters  more 
exactly  described  unto  him  ;  after  I  have  told  him  that  many  hundreds  of 
holy  souls,  having  been  ripened  for  Heaven  under  the  ordinances  of 
God  in  this  Colony  ;  and  having  left  an  example  of  wonderful  prayerful- 
ness,  watchfulness,  thankfulness,  usefulness,  exact  conscientiousness, 
piety,  charity,  weanedness  from  the  things  of  this  world,  and  affection  to 
the  things  that  are  above,  are  now  at  rest  with  the  blessed  Jesus,  whose 
names,  though  not  recorded  in  this  book,  are  yet  entred  in  the  Book  of 
Life  ;  fuid  1  hope  there  are  still  many  hundreds  of  their  children,  even 
of  the  third  and  fourth  generation,  resolving  to  follow  them  as  they  fol- 
lowed Christ.  I  must  refer  him  to  an  account  given  thereof  by  the  right 
worshipful  Edward  JVinslow,  Esq  ;  who  was  lor  some  time  the  Govern- 
onr  of  the  Colony.  He  gives  us  to  understand,  that  they  are  entirely 
of  the  same  faith  with  the  reformed  Churches  in  Europe,  only  in  their 
Church-government  they  are  endeavourous  after  a  reformation  more  thor- 
ough than  what  is  in  many  of  them  ;  yet  without  any  uncharitable  sepa- 
ration from  them.  He  gives  instances  of  their  admitting  to  communion 
among  them  the  communicants  of  the  French,  the  Dutch,  the  Scotch 
Churches,  meerly  by  virtue  of  their  being  so  ;  and  says,  We  ever  placed 
a  large  diff'erence  between  those  that  grounded  their  practice  on  the  Word 
of  God,  though  differing  from  us  in  the  exposition  and  understanding  ofity 
and  those  that  hated  such  reformers  and  reformation,  and  went  on  in  anti- 
christiun  opposition  to  it,  and  persecution  of  it  :  after  which,  he  adds, 
'Tis  true,  we  profess  and  desire  to  practice  a  separation  from  the  world, 
and  the  works  of  the  world ;  and  as  the  Churches  of  Christ  are  all  saints 
by  calling,  so  zee  desire  to  see  the  Grace  of  God  shining  forth  (a<  least 
seemingly,  leaving  secret  things  to  God)  in  all  we  admit  into  Church-fel- 
lowship zvith  Its,  and  to  keep  nff^  such  as  openly  wallow  in  the  mire  of  their 
sins,  that  neither  tlie  holy  things  of  God,  nor  the  communion  of  saints,  may 
be  leavened  or  polluted  thereby.  And  if  any  joining  tovsformerly,  cither 
zchcn  tee  lived  at  Leyden  in  Holland,  or  since  we  came  to  New-England, 
have  W'ith  the  manifestation  of  their  faith,  and  profession  of  holiness,  held 
forth  therewith  separation  from  the  Church  of  England  ;  I  have  divers  times, 
both  in  the  one  place,  and  in  the  other,  heard  either  Mr.  Robinson  ovr  pas- 
tor, or  Mr.  Brewster  oiir  elder,  stop  them  forthwith,  shewing  them  that  wc 
required  no  such  thing  at  their  hands  ;  but  only  to  hold  forth  faith  in 
Christ  Jesus,  holiness  in  the  fear  of  God,  and  submission  to  every  ordinance 
and  appointment  of  God.     Thus  he.     It  is  true  thei'e  have  been  some 


Book  I.]       OR,  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  j» 

varieties  among  this  people,  but  still  1  suppose  the  body  of  them  do  with 
integrity  espouse  and  maintain  the  principles  upon  which  they  were  first 
established  :  however,  1  must  r(:z7/ifn/</ear  of  offending  express  my  fear, 
that  the  leaven  of  that  rigid  thing,  they  call  Brozjiiism,  has  prevailed 
sometimes  a  little  of  the  furthest  in  the  administrations  of  thid  pious 
people.  Yea.  there  was  an  hour  of  temptation,  whyrein  the  fondness  of 
the  people  for  the  prophecijings  of  the  brethren,  as  they  called  those  ex- 
ercises ;  that  is  to  say,  the  preachments  of  those  whom  they  called  ^(Z^- 
ed  brethren,  produced  those  discouragements  unto  their  ministers,  that 
almost  all  the  ministers  left  the  Colony  ;  apprehending  themselves  driven 
away  by  the  insupportable  neglect  and  contempt,  with  which  the  people 
on  this  occasion  treated  them.  And  this  dark  hour  of  eclipse,  upon  the 
light  of  the  Gospel,  in  the  Churches  of  the  Colony,  continued  until 
their  humiliation  and  reformation  before  the  great  Shepherd  of  the  sheep, 
who  hath  since  then  blessed  them  with  a  succession  of  as  worthy  minis- 
ters as  most  in  the  land.  Moreover,  there  has  been  among  them  one 
Church,  that  have  questioned  and  omitted  the  use  of  infant-baptism  ;  nev- 
ertheless, there  being  many  good  men  among  those  that  have  been  of 
this  perswasion,  I  do  not  know  that  they  have  been  persecuted  with  any 
harder  means,  than  those  of  kind  conferences  to  reclaim  them.  There 
have  been  also  some  unhappy  sectaries,  namely,  Quakers  and  Seekers, 
and  other  such  Energumens,  [pardon  me,  reader,  that  I  have  thought 
them  so]  \vhich  have  given  uggly  disturbances  to  these  good-spirited 
men  in  their  temple-zcork ;  but  they  have  not  prevailed  unto  the  subver- 
sion of  the  first  interest. 

Some  little  controversies  likewise  have  now  and  then  arisen  among  them 
in  the  administration  of  their  discipline ;  but  Synods  then  regularly  call- 
ed, have  usually  and  presently   put  into  joint  all  that  was  apprehended 
out.     Their  chief  hazard  and  symptom  of  degeneracy,  is  in  the  verifica- 
tion of  that  old    observation,  Religio  peperit  Divitias,  Sr  Filia  devoravit 
Mat' em:  i?c/jo^i07i  brought  forth  prosperity,  and  the  rfawo-ri/er  destroyed 
the  mother.     The  one  would  expect,   that  as  they  grew  in  their  estates, 
they  would  grow  in  the  payment  of  their  quit-rents  unto  the  God  who 
gives  them  poxa-er  to  get  n:ealth,  by  more  liberally  supporting  his  ministers 
and  ordinances  among  them  ;  the  most  likely  way  to  save  them  from  the 
most  miserable  «/;osJacj/;  the  neglect  whereof  in  some  former  years,  began 
;  for  a  while  to  be  punished  with  a  sore  famine  of  the  Word  ;  nevertheless, 
I  there  is  danger  lest  the  enchantments  of  this  world  make  them   to  forget 
their  errand  into  the  zcilderness  :   and  some  woful  villages  in  the  skirts  of 
I  the  Colony,  beginning  to  live  without  the  means  of  grace  among  them, 
i  are  still  more  ominous  intimations  of  the  danger.     May  the  God  of  A'ew- 
j  England  preserve  them  from  so  great  a  death  ! 

1  §  8.  Going  now  to  take  my  leave  of  this  little  Colony,  that  1  may  con- 
I  verse  for  a  while  with  her  younger  sisters,  which  j^et  have  outstript  her 
in  growth  exceedingly,  and  so  will  now  draw  all  the  streams  of  her  af- 
I  fairs  into  their  channels,  I  shall  repeat  the  counsel  which  their  faithful 
i  Robinsongave  the  first  planters  of  the  Colony,  at  their  parting  from  him 
I  in  Holland.     Said  he,  [to  this  purpose.] 

'  Brethren,  we  are  now  quickly  to  part  from  one  another  ;  and  wheth- 
'  er  I  may  ever  live  to  see  your  faces  on  earth  any  more,  the  God  of 
'  Heaven  only  knows.  But  whether  the  Lord  have  appointed  that  or 
'  no,  I  charge  you  before  God,  and  before  his  blessed  angels,  that  you 
^follozi}  me  no  further  than  you  have  seen  me  follorv  the  Lord  Jesm 
'  Christ. 


60  MAGNALIA  CHRISTI  AMERICANA  :  [Book  I. 

'  If  God  reveal  any  thing  to  yon  by  any  other  instrument  of  his,  be  as 
'  ready  to  receive  it,  as  ever  you  were  to  receive  any  truth  by  7ny  min- 
'  istry  ;  for  I  am  verily  persvvaded,  I  am  very  confident  the  Lora  hath 
'  more  truth  yet  to  break  forth  out  of  his  holy  Word.  For  my  part,  I 
'  cannot  sufficiently  bewail  the  condition  of  the  reformed  Churches,  who 
'  are  come  to  a  period  in  rehgion  ;  and  will  go  at  present  no  further 
'  than  the  instruments  of  their  first  Beformation.  The  Lutherans 
'  cannot  be  drawn  to  go  beyond  what  Luther  saw  :  whatever  part  of 
'  his  will  our  good  God  has  imparted  and  revealed  unto  i'alvin,  they  will 
'  rather  die  than  embrace  it.  And  the  Calvinists,  you  see,  stick  fast 
'  where  they  were  left  by  that  great  man  of  God,  who  yet  saw  not  all 
'  things. 

'  This  is  a  misery  much  to  be  lamented ;  for  though  they  were  burn- 
'  ing  and  shining  lights  in  their  times,  yet  they  penetrated  not  into  the 
'  whole  counsel  of  God ;  but  were  they  now  living,  they  would  be  as 
^  willing  to  embrace  further  light,  as  that  which  they  first  received.  I 
'  beseech  you  to  remember  it ;  it  is  an  article  of  your  Chtirch- covenant, 
'  That  you  will  be  ready  to  receive  whatever  truth  shall  be  made  known  unto 
^  you  from  the  written  Word  of  God.  Remember  that,  and  every  other 
'  article  of  your  most  sacred  covenant.  But  I  must  herewithal  exhort 
'you  to  take  heed  what  you  receive  as  truth;  examine  it,  consider  it, 
'  compare  it  with  the  other  Scriptures  of  truth,  before  you  do  receive  it. 
'  For  it  is  not  possible  the  Christian  world  should  come  so  lately  out  of 
'  such  thick  antichristian  darkness,  and  that  perfection  of  knowledge 
■^  should  break  forth  at  once.  I  must  also  advise  you  to  abandon,  avoid 
'  and  shake  off  the  name  of  Brownist :  it  is  a  mere  nick-name,  and  a 
'  brand  for  the  making  of  Religion,  and  the  professors  of  religion,  odi- 
'  ous  unto  the  Christian  world.  Unto  this  end,  I  should  be  extreamly 
"  glad,  if  some  godly  minister  would  go  with  you,  or  come  to  you,  before 
'  you  can  have  any  company.  For  there  will  be  no  difference  between 
*  the  tmconf or m.able  ministers  o{  England  and  you,  when  you  come  to  the 
'  practice  of  evangelical  ordinances  out  of  the  kingdom.  And  I  would 
'  wish  you  by  all  means  to  close  with  the  godly  people  of  England ; 
'  study  union  with  them  in  all  things,  wherein  you  can  have  it  without 
'  sin,  rather  than  in  the  least  measure  to  aflect  a  division  or  sepjaration 
'  from  them.  Neither  would  I  have  you  loth  to  take  another  pastur  be- 
'  sides  my  self;  in  as  much  as  a  flock  that  hath  two  shepherds  is  not 
'  therebj'  endangered,  but  secured.' 

So  adding  some  other  things  of  great  consequence,  be  concluded  most 
affectionately,  commending  his  departing  flock  unto  the  grace  of  God, 
which  now  I  also  do  the  oflspring  of  that  holy ^oc^*. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


Paulo  Majora  !  Or,  The  Essays  and  Causes  which  produced  the  Second,  but 
largest  Colony  q/ NEW-ENGLAND  ;  and  the  manner  wherein  the  First 
Church  of  this  New-Colony  was  gathered. 

§  ] .  Words  full  of  emphasis,  are  those  which  my  reader  may  find  written 
by  a  learned  and  pious  minister  of  the  Church  of  England  ;  and  I  hope  I 
aiay  without  oftence  tender  to  the  reader  the  words  of  such  an  author. 


Book  I.]       OR,  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  61 

'  Some  among  us  (writes  he  )  are  angry  willi  ^Calvin  for  calling  humane 
'  rites,  iolerctbiles  Ineptias ;  they  will  not  at  the  great  day  be  such  unco  tue 
'  rigorous  imposers,  who  made  them  the  terms  of  communion.  How  will  you 
*  at  that  day  lift  up  your  faces  befor?  your  Master  and  your  Judge,  when 
'  he  shall  demand  of  you,  what  is  become  of  those  his  lambs  which  you  drove 
'  into  the  wilderness  by  needless  impositions  ? 

The  story  of  the  folks  thus  driven  into  the  wilderness  has  begun  to  be  re- 
lated :  and  we  would  relate  it  without  all  intemperate  expressions  of 
our  anger  against  our  drivers,  before  whom  the  people  must  needs  go,  as 
they  did  :  it  becomes  not  an  historian,  and  it  less  becomes  a  Christian,  to  be 
passionate.  Nevertheless,  poetry  may  dare  to  do  something  at  the  des- 
cription of  that  which  drove  those  drives  ;  and  with  a  few  lines  fetched 
from  the  most  famous  epic  poem  of  Dr.  Blackmore,  we  will  describe  the 
fury. 

A  Fury  crazoPd  from  out  her  cell. 

The  bloodiest  Minister  of  Death  and  Hell. 

A  monstrous  shape,  afoul  and  hideous  sight, 

Which  did  all  hell  with  her  dire  looks  affright. 

Huge  full-gorged  snakes  on  her  lean  shoidders  hung. 

And  Death's  dark  Courts  with  their  loud  hissing  rung. 

Her  teeth  a/i<?  claws  were  iron,  and  her  breath 

Like  subterranean  damps,  gave  present  death. 

Flames  worse  thanheWs,  shot  from  her  bloody  eyes, 

And  fire  !  antZ  sword  !  eternally  she  cries, 

J^o  certain  shape,  iio  feature  regular, 

No  limbs  distinct  in  tli'  odious  fiend  appear. 

Her  squalid,  bloated  belly  did  arise, 

SwolPnzvith  black  gore  to  a  prodigioits  size  : 

Distended  vastly  by  a  mighty  flood 

Of  slaughter''d  Saints,  and  constant  Martyr's  blood. 

A  monster  so  deform'^d,  so  fierce  as  this, 

It  self  a  hell,  72c're  sazo  the  dark  abyss ! 

Horrow  till  now,  the  uggliest  shape  esteemed, 

So  much  out-done,  an  harmless  figure  seem'^d. 

Envy,  and  Hate,  and  Malice  hlusJvd  to  see 

TAemie/res  eclips'd  by  such  deformity. 

Her  feav^rish  hea-t  drinks  dozun  a  sea  of  blood, 

Not  of  the  impious,  but  the  just  and  good : 

''Gainst  whom  she  burns  with  tmextinguish^d  rage, 

Nor  can  tli'  exhausted  world  her  wrath  asswage. 

It  was  Persecution  ;  a  fury  which  we  consider  not  as  possessing  the 
Church  o/England,but  as  inspiring  a  party  which  have  unjustly  challenged 
the  name  of  the  Church  o/England,and  which,  whenever  the  Cliurch  of  En- 
gland shall  any  more  encourage  her  fall,  will  become  like  that  of  the 
house  which  our  Saviour  saw  built  upon  the  sand. 

§  2.  There  were  more  than  a  few  attempts  of  the  English,  to  people 
and  improve  the  parts  of  New- England,  which  were  to  the  northward  of 
New-Plymouth  ;  but  the  designs  of  those  attempts  being  aimed  no  higher 
than  the  advancement  of  some  worldly  interests,  a  constant  series  of  dias- 
ters  has  confounded  them,  until  there  was  a  plantation  erected  upon  the 
nobler  designs  of  Christianity ;  and  that  plantation,  though  it  has  had  more 


62  MAGNALIA  CHRISTI  AMERICANA :  [Book  I. 

adversaries  than  perhaps  any  one  upon  earth  ;  yet,  having  obtained  help 
from  God,  it  continues  to  this  day.  There  have  heen  very  fine  settlements 
in  the  north-east  regions  ;  but  what  is  become  of  them  ?  I  have  heard 
that  one  of  our  ministers  once  preaching  to  a  congregation  there,  urged 
them  to  approve  themselves  a  religious  people  from  this  consideration, 
that  otherwise  they  would  contradict  the  main  end  of  planting  this  wilder- 
ness ;  whereupon  a  well-known  person,  then  in  the  assembly,  crved 
out,  Sir,  you  are  mistaken,  you  think  you  are  preaching  to  the  people  at  the 
Bay  ;  our  main  end  was  to  catch  fish.  Truly  'twere  to  have  been  wished, 
that  something  more  excellent  had  been  tlie  main  end  of  the  settlements  in. 
that  brave  country  which  we  have,  even  long  since  the  arrival  of  that 
more  pious  colony  at  the  Bay,  now  seen  dreadfully  unsettled,  no  less  than 
twice  at  least, by  the  sword  of  the  heathen,  after  they  had  been  replenisned 
with  many  hundreds  of  people,  who  had  tiiriven  to  many  thousands  of 
pounds  ;  and  had  all  the  force  of  the  Bay  too,  to  assist  them  in  the  main- 
taining of  their  settlements.  But  the  same  or  the  like  inauspicious  things 
attended  many  other  endeavours,  to  make  plantations  upon  such  a  main  end 
in  several  other  parts  of  our  country,  before  the  arrival  of  those  by  whom 
the  Massachusct  colony  was  at  last  formed  upon  more  glorious  aims  :  all 
proving  like  the  habitations  of  the  ybo/js/i,  cursed  before  they  had  taken 
root.  Of  all  which  catastrophe's,  I  suppose  none  was  more  sudden  than 
that  of  Monsieur  Finch,  whom  in  a  ship  from  France,  trucking  with  the 
Ma ssachuset-J\''atives  ;  those  bloody  Salvages,  coming  on  board  without 
any  other  arms,  but  knives  concealed  under^aps,  immediately  butchered 
with  all  his  men,  and  set  the  ship  on  fire.  Yea,  so  many  fatalities  at- 
tended the  adventurers  in  their  essays,  that  they  began  to  suspect  that  the 
Indian  sorcerers  had  laid  the  place  under  some  fascination  ;  and  that  the 
English  could  not  prosper  upon  such  enchanted  ground,  so  that  they  were 
almost  afraid  of  advenltiring  any  more, 

§  3.  Several  persons  in  the  west  of  England,  having  by  fishing-voy- 
ages to  Cape  Ann,  The  northern  promontory  of  the  Massachuset-Bay, 
obtained  some  acquaintance  with  those  parts  ;  the  news  of  the  good 
progress  made  in  the  new  plantation  of  Plymouth,  inspired  the  renowned 
Mr.  White,  minister  of  Dorchester,  to  prosecute  the  settlement  of  such 
another  plantation  here  for  the  propagation  of  religion.  This  good  man 
engaged  several  gentlemen  about  the  year  1624,  in  this  noble  design  ; 
and  they  employed  a  most  religious,  prudent,  worthy  gentleman,  one 
Mr.  Roger  Cmant,  in  the  government  of  the  place,  and  of  their  affairs 
upon  the  place  ;  but  through  many  discouragements,  the  design  for  a 
while  almost  fell  unto  the  ground.  That  great  man  greatly  grieved 
hereat,  wrote  over  to  this  Mr.  Roger  Cnnant,  that  if  he  and  three  hon- 
est men  more  would  yet  stay  upon  the  spot,  he  would  procure  a  patent 
for  them,  and  send  them  over  friends,  goods,  provisions,  and  what  was 
necessary  to  assist  their  undertakings.  Mr.Conant,  then  looking  out  a  scit- 
uation  more  commodious  for  a  tnion,  gave  his  three  disheartened  com- 
panions to  understand,  that  he  did  believe  God  would  make  this  land  a 
receptacle  for  his  people  ;  and  that  if  they  should  leave  him,  yet  he 
would  not  stir  ;  for  he  was  confident  he  should  not  long  want  company  ; 
which  confidence  of  his  caused  them  to  abandon  the  thoughts  of  leaving 
him.  Well,  it  was  not  long  before  the  Council  of  Plymouthin  England, 
had  by  a  deed  bearing  date,  March  19,  1627,  sold  unto  some  knights 
and  gentlemen  about  Dorchester,  viz.  Sir  Henry  Rowsel,  Sir  JoJm  Young, 
Thomas  Southcolt,  John  Humphrey,  John  Endicott,  and  Simon  Whetcomb, 
and  their  heirs  and  assigns,  and  their  associates  for  ever,  that  part  of 


il 


Book  I.]       OR,  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  63 

New-England  which  lyes  betwecD  a  great  river  called  Merimack,  and  a 
certain  other  river  there  called  Chatles'  River,  in  the  bottom  of  the 
Massachuset-Bay.  But  shortly  after  this,  Mr.  Ji  kite  brought  the  afore- 
said honourable  persons  into  an  acquaintance  uith  several  other  persons 
of  quality  about  London  ;  as,  namely,  tJir  Richard  Saltonstall,  Isaac 
Johnson,  Samuel  Adder hj,  John  Fen,  Mxtthew  Craduck,  George  Harwood, 
Increase  Nowel,  Riithard  Perry,  Richaid  Bellingham,  Nathaniel  Wright, 
Samud  Vassal,  Theophilus  Eaton,  Thomas  Gojf,  Thornas  Adams,  Juhrt 
Brown,  Samuel  Brown,  Thomas  Hutchings,  William  Vassal,  William  Pin- 
chon,  and  George  Foxcraft.  These  persons  being  associated  unto  the 
former,  and  having  bought  of  them  all  their  interest  in  New-England 
aforesaid,  now  consulted  about  settling  a  plantation  in  that  country, 
whither  such  as  were  then  CRlled  Non-conformists,  might  with  the  grace 
and  leave  of  the  King  make  a  peaceable  secession,  and  enjoy  the  liberty 
and  the  exercise  of  their  own  perswasions,  about  the  worship  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Whereupon  petitioning  the  King  to  confirm  what 
they  had  thus  purchased  with  a  nevf  patent,  he  granted  them  one,  bear- 
ing date  from  the  year  1628,  which  gave  them  a  right  unto  the  soil,  hold- 
ing their  titles  of  lands,  as  of  the  mannor  of  East  Greenwich  in  Kent, 
and  in  common  soccage.  By  this  Charter  they  were  empowered  yearly 
to  elect  their  own  governour,  deputy-governour  and  magistrates  ;  as  also 
to  make  such  laws  as  they  should  think  suitable  for  the  plantation  :  but 
as  an  acknowledgment  of  their  dependance  upon  England,  they  might 
not  make  any  laws  repugnant  unto  those  of  the  kingdom ;  and  the  fit^th 
part  of  all  thenar  of  gold  or  silver  found  in  the  territory,  belonged  unto 
the  crown.  So,  soon  after  Mr.  Cradock  being  by  the  company  chosen 
governour,  they  sent  over  Mr.  Endicoit  in  the  year  1628,  to  carry  on 
the  plantation,  which  the  /)yrc/i€s/er- agents  had  lookt  out  for  them,  which 
was  at  a  place  called  Nahumkeick.  Of  which  place  I  have  somewhere 
met  with  an  odd  observation,  that  the  name  of  it  was  rather  Hebrew  than 
Indian  ;  for  lZjIFIJ  Nahum,  signifies  comfort,  and  p  >n  Keik,  signifies  an 
haven  ;  and  our  English  not  only  found  it  an  Haven  of  Comfort,  but  hap- 
pened also  to  put  an  Hebrew  name  upon  it  ;  for  they  called  it  Salem,  for 
the  peace  which  they  had  and  hoped  in  it ;  and  so  it  is  culled  unto  this 
day- 

§  4.  An  entrance  being  thus  made  upon  the  design  of  planting  a  coun- 
try of  English  and  Reformed  Churches  ;  they  that  were  concerned  for  the 
plantation,  made  their  application  to  two  non-conformists  ministers,  that 
they  would  go  over  to  serve  the  Cause  of  God  and  of  Rdigion  in  the 
beginning  of  those  Churches.  The  one  of  these  was  Mr.  Higginson,  a 
Tninhterirt Leicestershire,  silenced  for  his  non-conformity  ;  the  other  was 
Mr.  Skeiton,  a  minister  of  Lincolnshire,  suffering  also  for  his  non-confor- 
mity :  both  of  which  were  men  eminent  for  learning  and  virtue,  and 
who  thus  driven  out  of  their  native  country,  sought  their  graves  on  the 
American-Strand,  whereon  the  Epitaph  might  be  inscribed  that  was  on 
Scipio's,  Ingrata  Pafria,  ne  Mortui  quidem  habebis  Ossa.  These  minis- 
ters came  over  to  Salem,  in  the  summer  of  the  year  1629,  and  with  these 
there  came  over  a  considerable  number  of  excellent  christians,  who  no 
sooner  arrived,  but  they  set  themselves  about  the  Church-work,  which 
was  their  enand  hither. 

^  'Tis  true,  there  were  two  other  Clergy-men,  who  came  over  about  the 
same  time  ;  nevertheless,  there  has  been  very  little  account  given 
of  their  circumstances  ;  except  what  a  certain  little  Narrative-Writer  has 
offered  us,  by  saying,  there  ixere  to©  that  began  to  hew  stones  in  the  moun- 


64  MAGNALIA  CHRISTI  AMERICANA.  [Book  I. 

tains,  for  the  building  of  the  temple  here  ;  but  when  they  sam  all  sorts  of 
stones  wov.ld  not  Jit  in  the  building,  the  one  betook  himself  to  the  seas  again , 
and  the  other  to  till  the  land  ;  for  which  cause,  burying  all  further  mention 
of  Ihem  among  the  rubbish,  in  the.  foundation  of  the  colony,  we  will  pro- 
ceed with  our  stor}'  ;  which  is  now  to  tell  us,  that  the  passage  of  these 
OMT  pilgrims  w'd?,  attended  with  many  smiles  of  Heaven  upon  them. 
They  were  blessed  with  a  company  of  honest  seamen  ;  with  whom  the 
ministers  and  passengers  constantly  served  God,  morning  and  evening  ; 
reading,  expumding  and  applying  the  word  of  God,  singing  of  his  praise, 
and  seeking  of  his  peace  ;  to  which  exercises  they  added  on  the  Lord^s 
day  two  sermons,  and  a  catechising  :  and  sometimes  they  set  apart  an 
whole  day  for  fasting  and  prayer,  to  obtain  from  Heaven  a  good  success 
in  their  voyage,  especially  when  the  weather  was  much  against  them, 
whereto  they  had  ver)  remarkable  answers  ;  but  the  seamen  said,  that 
they  believed  these  zcere  the  first  seafasts  that  ever  were  kept  in  the  world. 
At  length,  Per  -carios  Casus,  per  Tot  Discrimina  Rerum,  they  landed  at  the 
Haven  of  rest  provided  for  them. 

§  5  The  persecuted  servants  of  God,  under  the  English  Hierarchy, 
had  been  in  a  sea  of  ice  mingled  with  fire  ;  though  thej^re  scalded  them, 
yet  such  cakes  of  ice  were  over  their  heads,  that  there-was  no  getting 
out  :  but  the  ice  whs  now  broken,  by  the  American  offers  of  a  retreat 
for  the  pure  worshippers  of  the  Lord  into  a  wilderness. 

The  report  of  the  charter  granted  unto  the  governouf  and  company  of  the 
Massachusef- Bay .  and  the  entertainment  and  encouragement,  which  plan- 
ters began  to  find  in  that  Bay,  came  with  a, — Patrias  age,  desere  Sedes, 
and  caused  manj  very  deserving  persons  to  transplant  themselves  and  their 
families  into  New-England.  Gentlemen  of  ancient  and  worshipful  families, 
and  ministers  of  the  gospel,  then  ofgreat  fame  at  home,  and  merchants,  hus-  . 
bandmen,  artificers  to  the  number  of  some  thousands,  did  for  twelve  years  J 
together  carry  on  this  transplantation.  It  was  indeed  ^banishment  rather 
than  a  removal,  which  was  undergone  by  this  glorious  generation,  andj 
you  mny  be  sure  sufficiently  cfflictive  to  men  of  estate,  breeding  and  con- 
versation. As  the  hazard  which  they  ran  in  this  undertaking  was  of  such, 
cxtraordinariness,  that  nothing  less  than  a  strange  and  strong  impression 
from  Heaven  could  have  thereunto  moved  the  hearts  of  such  as  were  ii 
it  ;  so  the  expence  with  which  they  carried  on  the  undertaking  was  truly 
extraordinary .  By  computation,  the  passage  of  the  persons  that  peopled 
.Yew-England,  cost  at  least  ninety  five  thousand  pound  :  the  transporta- 
tion of  their  first  small  stock  of  cattle  great  and  small,  cost  no  less  than 
twelve  thousand  pound,  besides  the  price  of  the  cattle  themselves  :  the 
provisions  laid  in  for  subsistence,  till  tillage  might  produce  more,  cost  for- 
ty five  thousand  pounds  ;  the  materials  for  their  first  cottages  cost  eigh- 
teen thousand  pounds  ;  their  arms,  ammunition  and  great  artillery,  cost 
twenty  two  thousand  pounds  ;  besides  which  hundred  and  ninety  two 
thousand  pounds,  the  adventurers  laid  out  in  England,  what  was  not  in- 
considerable. About  and  hundred  and  ninety-eight  ships  were  employed 
in  passing  the  perils  if  the  seas,  in  the  accomplishment  of  this  renowned 
settlement ;  whereof,  by  the  way,  but  one  miscarried  in  those /?en7s. 

Briefly,  the  God  of  Heaven  served  as  it  were,  a  sum7nons  upon  the 
spirits  of  his  people  in  the  English  nation  ;  stirring  up  the  spirits  of  thou- 
sands which  never  saw  the  faces  of  each  other,  with  a  most  unanimous 
inclination  to  leave  all  the  pleasant  accommodations  of  their  native  coun- 
try, and  go  over  a  terrible  ocean,  into  a  more  terrible  desart,  for  the 
pure  enjoyment  of  all  his  ordinances.     It  is  now  reasonable  that   before 


Book  I.]       OR,, THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  65 

we  pass  any  further,  the  reasons  of  this  undertaking  should  be  more 
exactly  made  known  unto  posterity,  especially  unto  the  posterity  of  those 
1  that  were  the  undertakers,  lest  they  come  at  length  to  forget  and  neglect  the 
}  true  interest  of  New-England.  Wherefore  1  shall  now  transcribe  some 
1  of  them  from  a  manuscript,  wherein  they  were  then  tendred  unto  con- 
I  aideration. 

i  General  Considerations  for  the  Plantation  of  New-England. 

i  '  First,  It  will  be  a  service  unto  the  Oiurch  of  great  consequence, 
{  '  to  carry  the  Gospel  into  those  parts  of  the  world,  and  raise  a  bulwark 
;  *  against  the  kingdom  of  antichrist,  which  the  Jesuites  labour  to  rear  up 
\  '  in  all  parts  of  the  world. 

'  Secondly,  All  other  Churches  of  Europe    have  been  brought  under 

;  *  desolations  ;  and  it  may  be  feared  that  the   like  judgments  are  coming 

'upon  us;  and  who  knows  but  (iod  hath  provided  this  place  to  be  a  rc- 

^  fuge  for  many,  whom  he  means  to  save  out  of  the  General  Destruction. 

'  Thirdly,    The  land  grows  weary  of  her  inhabitants,   insomuch   that 

'  man,  which  is  the  most  precious  of  all  creatures,  is  here  more  vile  and 

' '  base  than  the  earth  he  treads  upon  :  children,  neighbours  andfriends,  es- 

j '  pecially  the  poor,  are  counted  the  greatest  burdens,  which  if  things  were 

I '  right  would  be  the  chiefest  earthly  Missings. 

'  Fourthly,  W^e  are  grown  to  that  intemperance  in  all  excess  of  viol,  as 

*  no  mean  estate  almost  will  suffice  a  man  to  keep  sail  with  his  equals,  and 

*  he  that  fails  in  it,  must  live  in  scorn  and  contempt:  hence  it  comes  to  pass, 
'  that  all  arts  and  trades  are  carried  in  that  deceitful  manner,  and  unright- 

*  eous  course,  as  it  is  almost  impossible  for  a  good  upright  man  to  main- 

*  tain  his  constant  charge,  and  live  comfortably  in  them. 

'  Fifthly,  The  schools  of  learning  and  religion  are  so  corrupted,  as  (be- 

*  sides  the  unsupportable  charge  of  education)  most  children,  even  the 
best,  wittiest,  and  of  the  fairest  hopes,  are  perverted,  corrupted,  and  ut- 
terly overthrown,  by  the  multitude  of  evil  examples  and  licentious  be- 
haviours in  these  seminaries. 

'  Sixthly,  The  wliole  earth  is  the  Lord^s  garden,  and  he  hath  given  it  to 

the  sons  of  Adam,  to  be  tilled  and  improved  by  them  :  why  then  should 

'we  stand  starving  here  for  places  of  habitation,  and  in  the  mean  time 

*  suffer  whole  countries,  as  profitable  for  the  use  of  man,  to  lye  waste 

*  without  any  improvement  ? 
'  Seventhly,  What  can  be  a  better  or  nobler  work,  and  more  worthy  of  a 

*  christian,  than  to  erect  and  support  a  refortmd  particular  Church  in  its 
infanc}',  and  unite  our  forces  with  such  a  company  of  faithful  people,  as 
by  a  timely  assistance  may  grow  stronger  and  prosper  ;  but  for  want  of 
it,  may  be  put  to  great  hazards,  if  not  be  wholly  ruined. 

'  Eighth'y,  If  any  such  as  are  known  to  be  godly,  and  live  in  wealth  and 
I'  prosperity  here,  shall  forsake  all  this  to  join  with  this  reformed  church, 

*  and  with  it  run  the  hazard  of  an  hard  and  mean  condition,  it  will  be  an 
'  example  of  great  use,  both^or  the  removing  of  icandal,  and  to  give  more 
'  life  unto  the  faith  of  God's  people  in  their  prayers  for  the  plantation,  and 
'  also  to  encourage  others  to  join  the  more  willingly  in  it. 

§  6.  Mr.  Higginson,  and  Mr.  Skdton,  and  other  good  people  that  arrived 
'.^iSalem,  in  the  year  1629,  resolved,  like  their  father  Abraham,  to  begin 
itheir  plantation  with  calling  on  the.  name  of  the  Laid.  The  great  Mr.  Hil- 
iersham  had  advised  our  first  planters  to  agree  fully  upon  their  form  of 
"hurch  government,  before  their  coming  into  JVezv- England  ;  but  thev  had 
Vol.  I.  .9 


6Q  BIAGNALIA  CHRISTI  AMERICANA :  [Book  (. 

indeed  agreedl  ittle  further  than  in  this  general  principle,  ihaf.  the  rc/urma- 
tion  of  ike  cliurck  was  to  be  endcavuui  ed  accuiding  to  the,  torvten  ivord  oj  God. 
Accordingly  ours,  now  arrived  at  Salem,  consulted  with  their  bretliren  at 
Plymoulh,  v.'hat  steps  to  take  for  the  more  exact  acquainting  of  them- 
selves -with,  and  conforming  themselves  to,  thdt  ivn/ten  word  :  and  the  Phj- 
mothtans,  to  their  great  satisfaction,  laid  before  them  what  ivurrant,  they 
judged,  that  they  had  in  the  laws  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  for  every  par- 
ticular in  their  Church-order. 

Whereupon  having  the  concurrence  and  countenance  of  their  deputy 
governour,  the  worshipful  John  Endicott,  Esq  ;  and  the  approving  pre- 
sence of  the  messengers  from  the  church  ot  Plymouth,  they  set  apart  the 
sixth  day  of  ^ittgust,  after  their  ai' ival,  for  fasting  and  prayer,  for  the 
settling  of  a  Church  State  among  them,  and  for  their  making  a  Confession 
of  tlteir  Faith,  and  entering  into  an  holy  Covenant,  whereby  that  Church- 
State  was  formed. 

Mr.  Higginson  then  became  the  teacher,  and  Mr.  Sketton  the  pastor, 
of  the  cuurch  thus  constituted  at  Salem ;  and  they  lived  very  peaceably  in 
Salem  together,  till  the  death  of  Mr.  Higginson,  which  was  about  a 
twelvemonth  after,  and  then  of  Mr.  Skelion,  who  did  not  long  survive 
him.  Now  the  Covenant  whereto  these  Christians  engaged  themselves, 
which  was  about  seven  years  after  solemnly  re7iezved  among  them,  I  shall 
here  lay  before  all  the  Churches  of  God,  as  it  was  then  expressed  and  in- 
forced. 

We  Covenant  zsith  our  Lord,  and  one  with  another  ;  and  we  do  bind  our 
selves  in  the  presence  of  God,  to  walk  together  in  all  his  zii;ays,  according  as 
he  is  pleased  to  reveal  himself  unto  its  in  his  blessed  word  of  truth  ;  and  do 
explicitly, in  trie  name  and  fear  of  God,  profess  and  protest  to  walk  asfollow- 
eth,  through  the  power  and  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

We  avouch  the  Lord  to  be  our  God,  and  our  selves  to  be  his  people,  in  the 
truth  and  simplicity  of  our  spirits. 

We  give  our  selves  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  the  word  of  his  grace  fori 
the  teaching,  ruling  and  sanclifying  of  us  in  maiters  of  worship  and  con-^ 
versation,  resolving  to  cleave  unto  him  alone  for  life  and  glory ,  and  to  re- 
ject all  contrary  ways,  canons,  and  constitutions  f  men  in  his  worship. 

We  promise  to  walk  with  our  brethren,  with  all  watchfulness  and  tender- 
ness, avoiding  jealousies  and  suspicions,  back-bitings,  censurings,  provok- 
ings,  secret  risings  of  spirit  against  them  ;  but  in  all  off'ences  to  follow  the 
rule  of  our  Lord  Jesus,  and  to  bear  and  forbear,  give  and  forgive,  as  he 
hath  taught  us. 

In  public  or  private,  we  will  z&illingly  do  nothing  to  the  offnice  of  the 
church  ;  but  will  be  willing  to  take  advice  for  our  selves  and  ours,  as  occa- 
sion shall  be  presented. 

We  will  not  in  the  congregation  beforzvard  either  to  show  our  own  gifts 
and  parts  in  speaking  or  scrupling,  or  there  discover  the  weakness  or  fail- 
ings of  our  brethren  ;  but  attend  an  orderly  call  thereunto,  knowing  how 
tnuch  the  Lord  may  be  dishonoured,  and  his  gospel,  and  the  profession  of  it, 
slighted  by  our  distempers  and  weaknesses  in  public. 

We  bind  our  selves  to  study  the  advancement  of  the  gospel  in  all  truth 
and  peace  ;  both  in  regard  of  those  thai  are  within  or  without ;  no  way 
slighting  our  sister  churches,  but  using  their  counsel,  as  need  shall  be  ;  not 
laying  a  st>nnbling-block  before  any,  no,  not  the  Indians  whose  good  we  de- 
sire to  promote  ;  and  so  to  converse,  as  we  may  avoid  the  very  appearance 
of  evil. 


Book  I.]       OR,  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  67 

Wc  do  hereby  promise  to  carry  our  selves  in  all  lazuful  obedience  to  those 
that  are  over  us,  in  Church  or  CominonweaUh,  knorving  how  well-pleasing 
it  wilt  be  to  the  Lord,  that  they  should  have  encouragement  in  their  places,  by 
our  not  grieving  their  spirits  through  ovr  irregularities. 

We  resolve  to  approve  our  selves  to  the  Lord  in  our  particular  callings ; 
shunning  idleness  as  the  bane  of  any  state  ;  nor  will  we  deal  hardly  or  op. 
pressingly  with  any,  wherein  we  are  the  Lord^s  stewards. 

Promising  also  unto  our  best  ability  to  teach  our  children  and  servants 
the  knowledge  of  God,  and  of  His  Will,  that  they  may  serve  Him  also ;  and 
all  this  not  by  any  strength  of  our  ozvii,  but  by  the  Lord  Christ  :  zvhose 
blood  we  desire  may  sprinkle  this  our  Covenant  made  in  His  name. 

By  this  instrument  Wds  the  Covenant  of  Grace  expl  aned,  received,  and 
recognized,  by  the  first  Church  in  this  Colony,  and  applied  unto  the 
evangelical  designs  of  a  Church-estate  before  the  Lord  :  this  instrument 
they  afterwards  often  read  over,  and  renewed  the  consent  of  their  souls 
unto  every  article  in  it  ;  especially  when  their  days  of  hiuailiation  in- 
vited them  to  lay  hold  on  particular  opportunities  for  doing  so. 

So  you  have  seen  the  nativity  of  the  first  Church  in  the  Massachusct- 
colony. 

§  7.  As  for  the  circumstances  of  admission  into  this  Church,  they  left 
it  very  much  unto  the  discretion  and  fiithfulness  of  their  elders,  togeth- 
er with  the  condition  of  the  persons  to  be  admitted.  Some  were  admit- 
ted by  expressing  their  consent  unto  their  confession  and  covenant ;  some 
were  admitted  after  their  tirst  answering  to  questions  about  Relig-m,  pro- 
pounded unto  them  ;  some  were  admitted,  when  they  had  presented  in 
writing  such  things,  as  might  give  satisfaction  unto  the  people  of  God 
concerning  them  ;  and  some  that  were  admitted,  orally  addressed  the 
people  of  God  in  such  terms,  as  they  thought  proper  to  ask  their  com- 
munion with  ;  Tvhich  diversity  was  perhaps  more  beautiful,  than  would 
have  been  a  more  punctilious  uniformity  :  but  none  were  admitted  with- 
out regard  unto  a  blameless  and  holy  conversation.  They  did  all  agree 
with  their  brethren  of  Plymouth  in  this  point,  That  the  children  of  the 
fait! fnl  were  Church-members,  with  their  parents ;  and  that  their  baptism 
was  a  seal  of  their  being  so ;  only  before  their  admission  to  fellowship  in 
a.  particular  Church,  it  was  judged  necessary,  that  being  free  from  scan- 
dal, they  should  be  examined  by  the  elders  of  the  Church,  upon  whose 
approbation  of  their  ^/?iess,  they  should  publickly  and  personally  own 
the  covenant ;  so  they  were  to  be  received  unto  toe  table  of  the  Lord  : 
aud  accordingly  the  eldest  son  of  Mr.  Higginson,  being  about  fifteen 
years  of  age,  and  laudablj'  answering  all  the  characters  expected  in  a 
communicant,  was  then  so  received. 

§  8.  It  is  to  be  remembered,  that  some  of  the  passengers,  who  came 
over  with  those  of  our  first  Salemites,  observing  that  the  ministers  did 
not  use  the  Book  of  Common-Prayer  in  their  administrations  ;  that  they 
administered  the  baptism  and  the  supper  of  the  Lord,  without  any  un- 
scriptural  ceremonies  ;  that  they  resolved  upon  using  discipline  in  the 
congregation  against  scandalous  offenders,  according  to  the  word  of  God  ; 
and  that  some  scandalous  persons  had  been  denied  admission  into  the 
communion  of  the  Church  ;  they  began  (FranA/orcZ  fashion)  to  raise  a 
deal  of  trouble  hereupon.  Herodiana  Malitia,  nusceniem  peiscqui  Kelt- 
gionemi  Of  these  there  were  especially  <a>o  brothers  ;  the  one  a  lawyer, 
the  other  a  merchant,  both  men  of  parts,  estate  and  figure  in  the  place. 
These  gathered  a  company  together,  separate  from  the  publick  assem- 
bly ;  and  there  the  Common-Prayer-Worship  was   after  a  sort   upheld 


68  MAGNALIA  CHRISTI  AMERICANA :  [Book  I. 

among  such  as  would  resort  unto  them.  The  governour  perceiving  a 
disturaance  to  arise  among  the  people  on  this  occasion,  sent  for  the 
brothers ;  who  accused  the  ministers,  as  departing  from  the  orders  of  the 
Church  of  England  ;  adding,  That  they  were  Separatists,  and  would  be 
shortly  Aiiabuptists ;  but  for  themselves,  They  would  hold  unto  the  orders 
of  the  Church  of  England.  The  answer  of  the  ministers  to  these  accu- 
sations, was.  That  they  were  neither  Separatists  nor  Anabaptists  ;  that  they 
did  not  separate  from  the  Church  of  England,  nor  from  the  ordinances  of 
God  there,  but  only  from  the  corruptions  and  disorders  of  that  Church  : 
that  they  came  away  from  the  Common-Prayer  and  Ceremonies,  and  had 
suffered  muck  for  their  non-conformity  in  their  native  land  ;  and  therefore 
heiug  in  a  place  where  they  might  have  their  liberty,  they  neither  could  nor 
would  use  them  ;  inasmuch  as  they  judged  the  imposition  of  these  things  to 
be  a  sinful  violation  of  the  worship  of  God,  The  governour,  the  coun- 
cil, the  people,  generally  approved  of  the  answer  thus  given  by  the  min- 
isters ;  but  these  persons  returned  into  England  with  very  furious  threat- 
nings  against  the  Church  thus  established  ;  however  the  thrcatned  folks 
have  lived  so  long,  that  the  Church  has  out  lived  the  grand  climacterical 
year  of  humane  age  ;  it  now  flourishing  more  than  sixty-three  years  after 
its  tirst  gathering  under  the  pastoral  care  of  a  most  reverend  and  ancient 
person,  even  Mr.  John  Higginson,  the  son  of  that  excellent  man  who  laid 
the  foundations  of  that  society. 


CHAPTER  V. 

Peregrini  Deo  Curre  :  or,  the  progress  of  the  Nev/-Colony  ;  with  some 
Account  of  the  Persons,  the  Methods,  and  the  Troubles,  by  which  it 
came  to  Something. 

§  1 .  The  Governour  and  Company  of  the  Massachuset-Bay  then  in 
London,  tlid  in  the  year  1629,  after  exact  and  mature  debates,  conclude, 
that  it  was  most  convenient  for  the  government ,  with  the  charter  of  the 
plantation,  to  be  transferred  into  the  plantation  itself;  and  -An  order  of 
court  being  drawn  up  for  that  end,  there  was  then  chosen  a  new  govern- 
our, and  a  neAv  deputy- governor! r ,  that  were  willing  to  remove  themselves 
with  theif  fmiilies  thither  on  the  first  occasion.  The  governour  was 
John  Winthrop,  Esq  ;  a  gentleman  of  that  wisdom  and  ^irtue,  and  those 
manifold  accomplishments,  that  after-generations  must  reckon  him  no 
loss  -A  glory,  than  he  was  a  patriot  of  the  country.  The  deputy-govern- 
ourwas  Thomas  Dudley,  Esq  ;  a  gentleman,  whose  natural  and  acquired 
abilities,  joined  with  his  excellent  moral  qualities,  entitled  him  to  all  the 
great  respects  with  which  his  country  on  all  opportunities  treated  him. 
Several  niost  worthy  assistants  were  at  the  same  time  chosen  to  be  in  this 
transportaiion  ;  moreover,  several  other  gentlemen  of  prime  note,  and 
several  famous  ministers  of  the  gospel,  now  likewise  embarked  them- 
selves with  these  honourable  adventurers :  who  equipped  a  fleet,  con- 
sisting of  ten  or  eleven  ships,  whereof  the  admiral  was.  The  Arabella 
(so  called  in  honour  of  the  right  honourable  the  lady  Arabella  Johnson, 
at  this  lime  on  board)  a  ship  of  three  hundred  and  fifty  tuns  ;  and  in  some 
of  the  said  ships  there  were  two  hundred  passengers ;  all  of  which  ar- 
rived before  the  middle  of  July,  in  the  year  1630,  safe  in  the  harbour^ 
of  New-England.     There  was  a  time  when  the  British  sea  was  by  Clem 


Book  I.]       OR,  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  69 

ents,  and  the  other  ancients,  called  '««*«»Ta5  '«5re/i<«vro;,  the  iinpassabh 
ocean.  What  then  was  to  be  thought  of  the  vast  Atlantick  sea,  on  the  west- 
ward of  Britain  F  but  this  ocean  must  now  be  passed!  An  heart  ot  stone 
must  have  dissolved  into  (ears  at  the  afl'ectionate/areae/  which  the  govera- 
our  and  other  eminent  persons  took  of  their  friends,  at  ii  feast  which  the 
governour  made  for  them,  a  little  before  their  going  off;  however  they 
were  acted  by  principles  that  could  carry  them  through  tears  and  oceans  ; 
yea,  through  ocea?(s  oi  tears:  principles  that  enabled  them  to  leave, 
Dulcia  Limina,  atq  ;  amahilem  Larein,  quern  4*  parentiim  memoria,  atq  ; 
ipsius  (to  use  Stupius''  words)  Injamm  Rudivtenta  Conjirmant .  Some  ve- 
ry late  geographers  do  assure  us,  that  the  breadth  of  the  Ailantick  sea  is 
commonly  over-reckoned  by  six,  by  eight,  by  ten  degrees.  But  let  that 
sea  be  as  narrow  as  they  please,  I  can  assure  tlie  reader  the  passing  ol 
it  was  no  little  triol  unto  those  worthy  people  that  were  now  to  pass  it. 

§  2.  But  the  most  notable  circumstance  in  their  fareKel,  was  their 
composing  and  publishing  of  what  they  called,  The  humble  request  of  his 
Majesties  loyal  subjects,  the  Governour  and  Company  lately  gone  for  New- 
Eiigland,  to  the  rest  of  their  brethren  in  and  of  the  Church  of  England  ; 
for  the  obtaining  of  their  prayers,  and  the  removal  of  siispicions  and  mis- 
constructions of  their  intentions.  In  this  address  of  theirs,  notwithstand- 
ing the  trouble  they  had  undergone  for  desiring  to  see  the  Church  ot 
England  reformed  of  several  things,  which  they  thought  its  deformities, 
yet  they  now  called  the  Church  oi  England  Xhcw  dear  mother ;  acknowl- 
edging that  such  hope  and  part  as  they  had  obtained  in  the  common  sal- 
vation they  had  sucked  from  her  breasts ;  therewithal  entreating  their 
many  rex^erend fathers  arid  brethren  to  recommend  them  unto  the  mercies 
of  God,  in  their  constant  prayers,  as  a  church  now  springing  out  of  their 
own  bowels.  You  are  not  ignorant  (said  they)  that  the  Spirit  of  God  stir- 
red up  the  apostle  Paul,  to  mah  a  continual  mention  of  the  church  at  Phi- 
lippi,w/K'cA  was  a  colony  from  Rome  ;  let  the  same  spirit,  we  beseech  you. 
put  you  in  mind,  that  are  the  Lord'' s  remembrancers,  to  pray  for  us  without 
ceasing,  ivho  are  the  weak  colony  from  your  selves.  And  after  such  pray- 
ers, they  concluded,  What  goodness  you  shall  extend  unto  us,  in  this  or 
any  other  Christian  kindness,  ice  your  brethren  in  Christ  shall  labour  to  re- 
pay, in  ivhat  duty  we  are  or  shall  be  able  to  perform  ;  promising  so  far  as 
God  shall  enable  us,  to  give  him  no  rest  on  your  behalf s  ;  wishing  our  heads 
and  hearts  may  be  fountains  of  tears  for  your  everlasting  welfare,  when  ive 
shall  be  in  our  poor  cottages  in  the  icilderness,  overshadowed  with  the  spirit 
of  supplication,  through  the  manifold  necessities  and  tribulations,  which 
may  not  altogether  unexpectedly,  nor  we  hope  unprofitably ,  befal  us. 

§  3.  Reader,  If  ever  the  charity  of  a  right  christian,  and  enlarged 
soul,  were  examplarily  seen  in  its  proper  expansions,  'twas  in  the  address 
which  thou  hast  now  been  reading  :  but  if  it  now  puzzel  the  reader  to 
reconcile  these  passages  with  the  principles  declared,  the  practices  fol- 
lowed, and  the  persecutions  undergone,  by  these  American  Reformers,  let 
him  know,  that  there  was  more  than  one  distinction,  whereof  these  ex- 
cellent persons  were  not  ignorant.  First,  they  were  able  to  distinguish 
between  the  Church  of  England,  as  it  contained  the  whole  body  of  the  faith- 
ful, scatered  throughout  the  kingdoms,  though  of  different  perswasion? 
about  some  rites  and  modes  in  religion  ;  many  thousands  of  whom  our 
Nor-Angels  knew  could  comply  with  many  things,  to  which  our  con- 
sciences otherwise  enlightened  and  perswaded  could  not  yield  such  a 
•".ompliance  :  and  iheChurch  of  England  us  it  was  con/ined  unto  a  certain 

mstitution  by  canons,  which  pronounced  Ipso  Facto,  excommunicate  all 


70  MAGNALIA  CHRISTI  AMERICANA .  [Book  i. 

those  who  should  affirm  that  the  Tutorship  contained  in  the  book  of  Com- 
mon-Prayer, and  adrainislrations  of  sacraments,  is  unlawful,  or  that  any 
oi  ihe  thirty-nine  articles  are  erroneous,  or  that  any  of  the  ceremonies 
commanded  by  the  authority  of  the  church  might  not  be  approved,  used 
and  subscribed  ;  and  which  will  have  to  be  accursed  all  those,  who  main- 
tain that  there  are  in  the  realm  any  other  meetings,  assemblies  or  congre- 
gations of  the  King's  born  subjects,  than  such  as  by  the  laws  of  the  land 
are  allowed,  which  may  rightly  challenge  to  themselves  the  name  oi  true 
and  luzvful  Churches  :  and  by  which,  all  those  that  refuse  to  kneel  at  the 
reception  of  the  sacrament,  and  to  be  present  at  publick  prayers,  ac- 
cording to  the  orders  of  the  church,  about  which  there  are  prescribed 
many  formalities  of  responses,  with  bowing  at  the  name  of  Jesus,  are  to  be 
denied  the  communion  ;  and  all  who  dare  not  submit  their  children  to  be 
baptized  by  the  undertaking  of  god-fathers,  and  receive  the  cross  as  a 
dedicating  badge  of  Christianity ,  must  not  have  baptism,  for  their  children: 
besides  an  Et-ccetera  of  how  many  more  impositions  !  Again,  they  were 
able  to  distinguish  between  the  Church  of  England,  as  it  kept  the  true 
doctrine  of  the prostestant  religion,  with  a  disposition  to  pursue  the  refor- 
mation begun  in  the  former  century,  among  whom  we  may  reckon  such 
men,  as  the  famous  assembly  of  divines  at  Westminster,  who  all  but  eight 
or  nine,  and  the  Scots,  had  before  then  lived  in  conformity  ;  and  th& 
Church  of  England  i  as  limiting  that  name  unto  a  certain  faction,  who  to- 
gether with  a  discipline  very  much  iinscriptural,  vigorously  prosecuted 
the  tripartite  plot  of  Arminiatiism  and  conciliation  with  Rome,  in  the 
church,  and  unbounded  prerogative  in  the  state  ;  who  set  themselves  to 
cripple  as  fast  as  they  could  the  more  learned,  godly,  painful  ministers 
of  the  land,  and  silence  and  ruin  such  as  could  nofjread  a  book  for  sports  on 
the  Lord^s  days  ;  or  did  but  use  a  prayer  of  their  own  conceiving,  before 
or  after  sermon  ;  or  did  but  [ireach  in  an  afternoon,  as  well  as  in  a  morn- 
ing, or  on  a  lecture,  or  on  a  market,  or  in  aniwise  discountenance  old 
superstitions,  or  new  extravagancies  ;  and  who  at  last  threw  the  nation 
into  the  lamentable  confusions  of  a  civil  war.  By  the  light  of  this  dis- 
tinction, we  may  easily  perceive  whtit  Church  of  England  it  was,  (hat 
onv  New- England  exiles  called,  their  Mother;  though  their  mother  had 
been  so  harsh  to  them,  as  to  turn  them  out  of  doors,  yet  they  highly  hon- 
oured her  :  believing  that  it  was  not  so  much  their  mother,  but  some  of 
their  angry  brethren  ;  abusing  the  name  of  their  mother,  who  so  harshly 
treated  them  ;  and  all  the  harm  they  wished  her,  was  to  see  her  put  off 
those  ill  trimmings,  which  at  her  first  coming  out  of  the  popish  Babylon, 
she  had  not  so  fully  laid  aside.  If  any  of  those  envious  brethren  do  now 
call  these  dissenters,  as  not  very  long  since  a  great  prelate  in  a  sermon 
did,  the  bastards  of  the  Church  of  England,  I  will  not  make  the  return 
which  was  made  upon  it  by  a  person  of  quality  then  present  ;  but  in- 
stead thereof  humbly  demand,  who  are  the  truer  sons  to  the  Church  of 
England  ;  they  that  hold  all  the  fundamentals  of  Christianity  embraced  by 
that  church,  only  questioning  and  forbearing  a  few  disciplinary  points, 
which  are  confessed  indifferent  by  the  greatest  zealots  for  them  ;  or  they 
that  have  made  Britain  more  unhabitable  than  the  Torrid.  Zone  ?  for  the 
poor  non-conformists,  by  their  hot  pressing  of  those  indifferencies,  as  if 
they  had  been  the  only  necessaries,  in  the  mean  time  utterly  subverting 
the  faith  in  the  important  joints  of  predestination,  free-Tvill,  justification, 
perseverance,  and  some  other  things,  which  that  church  requires  all  her 
children  to  give  their  assent  and  consent  unto  ?  If  the /ormer  ;  then,  ?ay 
I, the   first  planters  of  Nexso-England  were   truer  sons  to  the  Church  o! 


Book  I.]         OR,  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  71 

England,  than  that  part  of  the  church,  which,  then  by  their  misem- 
ploying their  heavy  church-keys,  banished  them  into  this  plantation. 
And  indeed,  the  more  genuine  among  tiic  most  conformable  sons  of  the 
church,  did  then  accordingly  wish  all  prosperity  to  their  jyeiv-EngUsk 
brethren  ;  in  the  number  of  whom  I  would  particularly  reckon  that 
faithful  man,  Mr.  Edward  Symons,  minister  of  Rayii  in  Essex ;  who  in  a 
Discourse  printed  Anno  1637,  does  thus  express  himself;  Many  noic 
promise  to  themselves  nothing  but  siu:cesiive  happiness  at  New-England  ; 
uhich  for  a  time  through  God^s  mercy,  they  may  enjuy  ;  and  I  pray  God, 
they  may  a  long  time,  but  in  this  world  there  is  no  happiness  perpetual. 
Nor  would  1  on  this  occasion  leave  unquoted  some  notable  words  of  the 
learned,  witty  and  famous  Dr.  Fuller,  in  his  comment  on  Ruth,  page  16. 
Concerning  i>ur  brethren  which  of  late  left  this  kingd'im  to  advance  a  plan- 
tation in  New-England,  I'hink  tlie  cjumel  best,  that  King  Joash  prescribed 
unto  Amaziah,  Tarry  at  home  ;  yet  as  for  those  that  are  already  gone,  far  be 
it  from  us  to  conceive  them  to  be  such,  to  whom  we  may  not  say,  Gou  speed  : 
but  let  us  pity  them,  and  pray  for  thtm.  I  conclude  if  tlie  two  Englands, 
lohat  our  Saviour  saith  oj  the  two  wines  ;  No  man  having  tasted  of  the  old, 
presently  desireth  the  new  ;  for  he  saith,  the  old  is  better. 

§  4.  Being  happily  arrived  at  New-England,  our  new  planters  found 
the  difficulties  of  a  rough  and  hard  zcilderness  presently  assaulting  them:  of 
which  the  worst  was  the  sickliness  which  many  of  them  had  contracted 
by  their  other  difficulties.  Of  those  who  soon  dyed  after  their  tirst  arri- 
val, not  the  least  considerable  was  the  lady  Arabella,  who  left  an  earthly 
paradise  in  the  family  of  an  Earldom,  to  encounter  the  sorrows  of  a 
u)ilder>'.ess,  for  the  entertainments  of  a  pure  worship  in  the  house  of  God  ; 
and  then  immediately  left  that  wilderness  for  the  Heavenly  paradise, 
whereto  the  compassionate  Jesus,  of  whom  she  was  a  follower,  called  her. 
We  have  read  concerning  a  noble  woman  of  Bohemia,  who  forsook  her 
friends,  her  plate,  her  house  and  all  ;  and  because  the  gates  of  the  city 
were  guarded,  crept  through  the  common-sewer,  that  she  mi^ht  enjoy 
the  institutions  of  our  Lord  at  another  place  where  they  might  be  had. 
The  spirit  which  acted  that  noble  woman,  we  may  suppose  carried  this 
blessed  lady  thus  to  and  through  the  hardships  of  an  American  desart. 
But  as  for  her  virtuous  husband,  Isaac  Johnson,  Esq  ; 

-He  try'd 


To  live  without  her,  lik\l  it  not,  and  dy\l. 

His  mourning  for  the  death  of  his  honourable  consort  was  too  bitter  to  be 
extended  nyear;  about  a  month  after/ier  death /i»s  ensued, unto  the  extream 
loss  of  the  whole  plantation.  But  at  the  erdofth'ispeftct  and  upright  man. 
there  was  not  only  peace  hut  joy  ;  and  his  joy  particularly  expressed  it 
self  that  God  h  id  kept  his  eyes  open  so  long  as  to  see  one  church  of  ttie  Lord  Je- 
stis  Christ  gathered  in  these  endsofthe  earth,  before  hisown  goingawayto  Hea- 
ven. The  mortality  thus  threatning  of  this  new  Plantation  so  enlivened 
the  devotions  of  this  good  people,  that  they  set  themselves  by  fasting 
and  prayer  to  obtain  from  God  the  removal  of  it  ;  and  their  brethren  at  Ply- 
mouth also  attended  the  like  duties  on  their  behalf:  the  issue  whereof 
was,  that  in  a  little  time  they  not  only  had  health  restored,  but  they  like- 
wise enjoyed  the  special  directions  and  assistance  of  God  in  the  further 
prosecution  of  their  undertakings. 

§  5.  But  there  were  two  terrible  distresses  more,  besides  that  of  sick- 
ness, whereto  this  people  were  exposed  in  the  beginning  of  their  settle- 


72  MAGNALIA  CHKISTI  AMERICANA .  [Book  I. 

m  ent  :  tlioiigh  a  most  seasonable  and  almost  unexpected  mercy  from 
Heaven  stiil  rescued  them  out  of  those  distresses.  One  thing  that  some- 
times extreamly  exercised  them,  was  a  scarcity  of  provisions  ;  in  which 
'twas  wonderful  to  see  their  dependance  upon  God,  nm\  God's  mindfuhicss 
of  them.  When  the  parching  droughts  of  the  SM/m/^fer  divers  times  threat- 
ned  them  with  an  utter  and  a  total  consumption  to  the  fruits  of  the 
earth,  it  was  their  manner,  with  heart-melting,  and  I  may  say,  Heaven-melt- 
ing devotions,  to  fast  and  pray  before  God  ;  and  on  the  very  days,  when 
they  poured  out  the  water  of  their  tears  before  him,  he  would  shower 
down  the  water  of  his  rain  upon  their  tields  ;  while  they  were  yet  speaking 
he  would  hear  them  ;  insomuch  that  the  salvages  themselves  would  on  that 
occasion  admire  the  Englishman's  God!  But  the  £//^/2sAmea  themselves 
would  celebrate  their  days  of  Thanksgiving  to  him.  When  their  stock 
was  likewise  wasted  so  far,  which  divers  times  it  was,  that  they  were 
come  to  the  last  meal  in  the  barrel,  just  then,  unlocked  for,  arrived  sev- 
eral ships  from  other  parts  of  the  world  loaden  with  supplies  ;  among 
which,  one  was  by  the  lord  deputy  of  Ireland  sent  hither,  although  he 
did  not  know  the  necessities  of  the  country,  to  which  he  sent  her  ; 
and  if  he  had  known  them,  would  have  been  thought  as  unlikely  as 
any  man  living  to  have  helpt  them  :  in  these  extremities,  'twas 
marvellous  to  see  how  helpful  these  good  people  were  to  one  another, 
following  the  example  of  their  most  liberal  governour  Winthrop,  who 
made  an  equal  distribution  of  what  he  had  in  his  own  stores  among  the 
poor,  taking  no  thought  for  to-morrow !  And  how  content  they  were  ; 
when  an  honest  man,  as  I  have  heard,  inviting  his  friends  to  a  dish  of 
clams,  at  the  table  gave  thanks  to  Heaven,  who  had  given  them  to  suck  the 
abundance  of  the  seas,  and  of  the  treasures  hid  in  the  sands  I 

Another  thing  that  gave  them  no  little  exercise,  was  the  fear  of  the  In- 
dians, by  whom  they  were  sometimes  alarmed.  But  this  fear  was  won- 
derfully prevented,  not  only  by  intestine  ivars  happening  then  to  fall  out 
among  those  barbarians,  but  chiefly  by  the  smalt-pox,  which  proved  a 
great  plague  unto  them,  and  particularly  to  one  of  the  Princes  in  the 
Massackuset-Bay,  who  yet  seemed  hopefully  to  be  christianized  before  he 
dyed.  This  distemper  getting  in,  I  know  not  how,  among  them,  swept 
them  away  with  a  most  prodigious  desolation,  insomuch  that  although 
the  English  gave  them  all  the  assistances  o(  humanity  in  their  calamities, 
yet  there  was,  it  may  be,  not  07te  in  ten  among  them  left  alive  ;  of  those 
few  that  lived,  many  also  Jled  from  the  infection,  leaving  the  country  a 
meer  Golgotha  of  unburied  carcases  ;  and  as  for  the  rest,  the  English 
treated  them  with  all  the  civility  imaginable  ;  among  the  instances  of 
which  civility,  let  this  be  reckoned  for  one,  that  notwithstanding  the  pat- 
ent which  they  had  for  the  country,  they  fairly  purchased  of  the  natives 
the  several  tracts  of  land  which  they  afterwards  possessed. 

§  6.  The  people  in  the  fleet  that  arrived  at  New-England,  in  the  year 
1630,  left  the  fleet  almost,  as  the  family  of  Noah  did  the  ark,  having  a 
whole  world  before  them  to  be  ])eopled.  Salem  was  already  supplied 
with  a  competent  number  of  inhabitants  ;  and  therefore  the  governour, 
with  most  of  the  gentlemen  tliat  accompanied  him  in  his  voyage,  took 
their  first  opportunity  to  prosecute  further  settlements  about  the  bottom 
of  the  Massachuset-Bay :  but  where-ever  they  sat  down,  they  were  so 
mindful  of  their  errand  into  the  wilderness,  that  still  one  of  ihe'iv  first 
works  was  to  gather  a  church  into  the  covenant  and  oider  of  the  gospel. 
First,  there  was  a  church  thus  gathered  at  Charles-town,  on  the  north 
side  of  C'harles''s  river  :  where  keeping  a  solemn/as<  on  August  27, 1630. 


Book  I.]         OR,  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  73 

to  implore  the  conduct  and  blessing  of  Heaven  on  their  ecclesiastical 
proceedings,  they  chose  Mr.  Wilson,  a  most  holy  anJ  zealous  man,  for- 
merly a  minister  of  Sudbury,  in  the  county  of  Suffolk,  to  be  their  teach- 
er j  and  although  he  now  submitted  unto  an  ordination,  with  an  imposi- 
tion of  such  hands  as  were  by  the  church  invited  so  to  pronounce  the 
benediction  of  Heaven  upon  him  ;  yet  it  was  done  with  a  protestation  by 
all,  that  it  should  be  onl}'  as  a  sign  of  his  election  to  the  charge  of  his 
new  flock,  without  any  intention  that  he  should  thereby  renounce  the 
ministry  he  had  received  in  England.  After  the  gathering  of  the  church 
at  Charles-toxvn,  there  quickly  followed  another  at  the  town  of  Dorches- 
ter. 

And  after  Dorchester  there  followed  another  at  the  town  of  Boston, 
which  issued  out  of  Charles-toxan  ;  one  Mr.  James  took  the  care  of  the 
Church  at  Charles-tozijn,  and  Mr.  Wilson  went  over  to  Boston,  where  the^ 
that  formerly  belonged  nnto  Charles-town,  with  universal  approbation 
became  a  distinct  church  of  themselves.  To  Boston  soon  succeeded  a 
church  at  Roxbury  ;  to  Roxbury.  one  at  Lyn ;  to  Lyn  one  at  Watertown  ; 
so  that  in  one  or  two  years'  time  there  were  to  be  seen  sei-eti  churches  in 
this  neighbourhood,  all  of  them  attending  to  what  the  spirit  in  the  scrip- 
ture said  unto  them  ;  all  of  them  golden  candlesticks,  illustrated  with  a 
very  sensible  presence  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  among  them. 

§  7.  It  was  for  a  matter  of  txi:elve  years  together,  that  persons  of  all 
ranks,  well  affected  unto  church- nf or niation.  kept  sometimes  dropping, 
and  sometimes^ocHng  into  jYew-England,  though  some  that  were  coming 
into  Nexv'England  were  not  suffered  so  to  do.  The  persecutors  of  those 
Puritans,  as  they  were  called,  who  were  now  retiring  into  that  cold  coun- 
try from  the  heat  of  their  persecution,  did  all  that  was  possible  to  hinder 
as  many  as  was  possible  from  enjoying  of  that  retirement.  There  were 
many  countermands  given  to  the  passage  of  people  that  were  nov/  steer- 
ing of  this  zvestern  course ;  and  there  was  a  sort  of  uproar  made  among 
no  small  part  of  the  nation,  that  this  people  should  not  be  let  go.  Among 
those  bound  for  New-England,  that  were  so  stopt,  there  were  especially 
three  famous  persons,  whom  I  suppose  their  adversaries  would  not  have 
so  studiously  detained  at  home,  if  they  haA  foreseen  events  ;  those  were 
Oliver  Cromwell,  and  Mr.  Hambden,  and  Sir  Arthur  Haselrig  :  neverthe 
less,  this  is  not  the  only  instance  of  persecuting  church-mens  not  having 
the  spirit  of  prophecy.  But  many  others  were  diverted  from  an  intend- 
ed voyage  hither  by  the  pure  providence  of  God,  which  had  provided 
other  improvements  for  them  ;  and  of  this  take  one  instance  instead  of 
many.  Before  the  woful  wars  which  broke  forth  in  the  three  kingdoms, 
there  were  divers  gentlemen  in  Scotland,  who  being  uneasie  under  the  ec- 
clesiastical burdens  of  the  times,  wrote  unto  New -England  their  enquiries, 
Whether  they  might  be  there  suffered  freely  to  exercise  their  Presbyte- 
rian church-government  ?  And  it  was  freely  answered.  That  they  might. 
Hereupon  they  sent  over  an  agent,  who  pitched  upon  a  tract  of  land 
aear  the  mouth  of  Merimack  river,  whither  they  intended  then  to  trans- 
plant themselves  :  but  although  they  had  so  far  proceeded  in  their  voj'- 
age,  as  to  be  half-seas  thorough  ;  the  mauif  dd  crosses  they  met  withal, 
made  them  give  over  their  intentions  ;  and  the  providence  of  God  so  or- 
;dered  it,  that  some  of  those  very  gentlemen  were  afterwards  the  rev.vers 
of  that  well-known  solemn  league  and  covenant,  which  had  so  great  an  in- 
ifluence  upon  the  following  circumstances  of  the  nations.  However,  the 
!number  of  those  who  did  actually  arrive  at  New-England  before  the 
year  1640,  have  been  computed  about  four  thousand  :  since  which  t-im*> 

Vol.  1.  10 


74  MAGNALIA  CURISTI  AMERICANA  .  [Book  I. 

far  more  have  gone  out  of  the  country  than  have  come  to  it ;  and  yet  the 
God  of  Heaven  so  smiled  upon  the  Plantation,  while  under  an  easie  and 
equal  government,  the  designs  of  Christianity  in  well-formed  churches 
have  been  carried  on,  that  no  history  can  parallel  it.  That  saying  of 
Eiitropius  about  Rome,  which  hath  been  sometimes  applied  unto  the 
church,  is  capable  of  some  application  to  this  little  part  of  the  church  : 
Nee  Minor  ab  Exordia,  nee  major  Incrementis  uUa.  Never  was  any  plan- 
tation brought  unto  such  a  considerableness,  in  a  space  of  time  so  incon- 
siderable !  an  howling  zn-ildci-ness  in  a  few  years  became  a  pleasant  land, 
accommodated  with  the  necessaries,  yea,  and  the  conveniences  of  humane 
life  ;  the  gospel  has  carried  with  it  a  fulness  of  all  other  blessings  ;  and 
(albeit,  that  mankind  generally,  as  far  as  we  have  any  means  of  enquir}', 
have  increased,  in  one  and  the  same  given  proportion,  and  so  no  more 
than  doubled  themselves  in  about  three  hundred  and  sixty  years,  in  all 
the  past  ages  of  the  world,  since  the  tixing  of  the  present  period  of  hu- 
mane life)  the  four  thousand  first  planters,  in  less  than  fifty  years,  notwith- 
standing all  transportations  and  mortalities,  increased  into,  they  sav- 
raore  than  an  hundred  thousand. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


— Qui  Transmare  Currunt. — Or,  The  Addition  of  several  other  Colonies  ty 
the  former  ;  "with  some  other  Considerables  in  the  Condition  of  these 
later  Colonies. 

§  1.  It  was  not  long  before  the  Massachvset  Colony  was  become  like 
an  hive,  overstocked  with  bees  ;  and  many  of  the  new  inhabitants  enter- 
tained thoughts  of  swarming  into  plantations  extended  further  into  the 
country.  The  colony  might  fetch  its  own  description  from  the  dispensa- 
tions of  the  great  God,  unto  his  ancient  Israel,  and  say,  0  God  of  Hosts, 
thou  hast  brought  a  vine  out  of  England  ;  thou  hast  last  out  the.  heathen  and 
planted  it ;  thou  preparedst  room  before  it,  and  didst  cause  it  to  take  deep 
root,  and  it  filled  the  land;  the  hills  were  covered  with  the  sliadoTv  of  it. 
and  the  boughs  thereof  were  like  the  goodly  cedars ;  she  sent  out  her  boughs 
unto  the  sea.  But  still  there  was  one  stroak  wanting  for  the  compleat  ac- 
commodations of  the  description  ;  to  wit,  Site  sent  forth  her  branches  unto 
the  river ;  and  this  therefore  is  to  he  next  attended.  The  fiime  of  Coji- 
necticut  river,  a  long,  fresh,  rich  rivpr  (as  indeed  the  name  Connecticut  is 
Indian  for  a  long  river)  had  made  a  little  J\'ilus  of  it,  in  the  expectations 
of  the  good  people  about  the  Massachuset-bay  :  whereupon  many  of  the 
planters  belonging  especially  to  the  towns  of  Cambridge,  Dorchester,  IVa- 
tertown  and  Roxbury,  took  up  resolutions  to  travel  an  hundred  miles 
west-ward  from  those  towns,  for  a  further  settlement  upon  this  famous 
river.  When  the  learned  Fernandius  had  been  in  the  Indies,  he  did  in 
his  preface  to  his  Commentaries  afterwards  published,  give  this  account 
of  it  ;  Deo  sic  volente,  prodii  in  remotissimos  usq ;  Indos,  lam  non  avidus 
lucis  S^  glorice,  ut  earn  vere  dixerim,  idtro  elegcrim  met  ipsius  adhuc  viven- 
tis  verissimam  Sepulluram.  Re  'der,  come  with  me  now  to  behold  some 
worthy,  and  learned,  and  genteel  persons  going  to  be  buried  aUve  on  the 
banks  of  Connecticut,  having  been  first  s/am  by  the  ecclesiastical  imposi- 
tions and  persecutions  of  Europe. 


Book  I.]       OR,  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  75 

§  2.  It  was  ia  the  year  1635,  that  this  design  was  first  formed  ;  and 
the  disposition  of  the  celebrated  Mr.  Thomas  Hooker,  with  his  people  now 
in  Cambridge,  to  engage  in  the  design,  was  that  which  gave  niO.'t  life  unto 
it.  They  then  sent  tlieir  agents  to  view  the  country,  who  returned  with 
so  advantageous  a  report,  thnt  the  next  year  there  was  a  great  remave  of 
good  people  thither :  on  this  remove,  they  that  went  from  Cambridge 
became  a  church  u|'On  a  spot  of  ground  now  called  Hartford ;  they  that 
went  from  Dorchester  became  a  church  at  Windsor  ;  they  that  went  from 
Watertoxan  sat  down  at  IVethersJield  ;  and  they  that  ieh  Roxbury  were  in- 
churcked  higher  up  the  river  at  Springfield,  a  place  which  was  afterwards 
found  within  the  line  of  the  jl/ussac/iws*  i-charter.  Indeed  the^rsf  win- 
ter after  their  going  thither*  proved  an  hard  one  ;  and  the  grievous  dis- 
appointments which  befel  them,  through  the  unseasonable  freezing  of 
the  river^  whereby  their  vessel  of  provisions  was  detained  at  the  mouth 
of  the  river,  threescore  miles  below  them,  caused  them  to  encounter 
with  very  disastrous  difficulties.  Divers  of  them  were  hereby  obliged 
in  the  depth  of  winter  to  travel  back  into  the  Bay;  and  some  of  them 
were  frozen  to  death  in  the  journey. 

However,  such  was  their  courage,  that  they  prosecuted  their  Planta- 
tion-vcork  with  speedy  and  blessed  successes  ;  and  when  bloody  sahages 
in  their  neighbourhood,  known  by  the  name  of  Peguots,  had  like  to  have 
nipt  the  plantation  in  the  bud  by  a  cruel  war,  within  a  year  or  two  after 
their  settlement,  tiie  marvellous  providence  of  God  immediately  extin- 
guished that  'ii;ar,  by  prospering  the  \cxv-Eiiglish  arms,  unto  the  utter 
subduing  of  the  quarrelsome  nation,  and  aifrightning  of  all  the  other 
natives. 

§  3.  It  was  with  the  countenance  and  assistance  of  their  brethren  in 
the  J[Iassachnsct-bay,  that  the  tirst  Planters  of  Connecticut  made  tlieir  es- 
says thus  to  discover  and  cultivate  the  remoter  parts  of  this  mighty  wil- 
derness ;  and  accordingly  several  gentlemen  went  furnished  with  some 
kind  of  commission  from  the  government  of  the  .Massachvset-bay,  for  to 
maintain  some  kind  of  government  among  the  inhabitants,  till  there  could 
be  a  more  orderly  settlement.  But  the  inhabitants  quickly  perceiving 
themselves  to  be  without  the  line  of  the  cMassackuset-chai  ter,  entred  into 
a  combination  among  themselves,  whereby  with  mutual  consent  they  be- 
came abody-polidck,  and  framed  a  body  of  necessary  lan-s  and  orders,  to 
the  execution  whereof  they  chose  all  necessary  officers,  very  much, 
though  not  altogether  after  the  form  of  the  colony  fiom  whence  they 
issued.  So  they  jogged  on  for  many  years  ;  and  whereas  before  the  ye^r 
1644,  that  worthy  gentleman,  George  Fenu-ick,  E<q  ;  did  on  the  behalf  of 
several  persons  of  quality  begin  a  plantation  about  the  mouth  of  the 
river,  which  was  called  Say-brook,  in  remembrance  of  those  right  hon- 
ourable persons,  the  Lord  Say,  and  the  Lord  Brook,  who  laid  a  claim  to 
the  land  thereabouts,  by  virtue  of  a  patent  granted  by  the  Earl  of  JVar- 
wick ;  the  inhabitants  of  Connecticut  that  year  purchased  of  Mr.  Fenwick 
this  tract  of  land.  But  the  confusions  then  embarassing  the  affairs  of 
the  English  nation,  hindered  our  Connecticotians  from  seeking  of  any 
further  -ettlement,  until  the  restoration  of  K.  Charles  II.  when  they  made 
their  application  to  the  King  for  a  charter,  by  the  agency  of  tlieir  hon- 
ourable governour,  John  JVini'irop,  Esq  ;  the  most  accomplished  son  of 
that  excellent  person,  who  had  been  so  considerable  in  the  foundations 
of  the  .Massachuset -colony.  This  renowned  virtuoso  had  justly  been  the 
darling  of  Xezc- England,  if  they  had  only  considered  his  eminent  quali- 
ties, as  he  was  a  Christian,  a  gentleman,  and  a  philosopher,  well  worthy  to 


76  MAGNALIA  CHRISTI  AMERICANA  :  [Book  I. 

be,  a?  he  was,  a  member  of  the  Royal-Society  ;  but  it  must  needs  further 
endear  his  memory  to  his  country,  that  God  made  him  the  instrument  of 
obtaining  for  them,  as  he  did  from  the  King  of  England,  as  amply  privi- 
ledged  a  charier  as  was  ever  enjoyed  perhaps  by  any  people  under  the 
cope  of  He.tven.  Under  the  protection  and  encouragement  of  this 
charter  they  flourished  many  years  ;  and  many  touns  being  successively 
erected  among  them,  their  churches  had  rest,  and  walked  in  the  fear  of 
God,  and  i7i  the  comfort  tf  the  Holy  Spirit. 

§  4.  The  church-order  observed  in  the  churches  of  Connecticut,  has 
been  the  same  that  is  observed  by  their  sisters  in  the  Massachuset-bay ; 
and  m  this  order  they  lived  exceeding  peaceably  all  the  eleven  years  that 
Mr  Hooker  lived  among  them  Nevertheless  there  arose  at  length  some 
unhappy  contests  in  one  town  of  the  colony,  which  grew  into  an  alienation 
that  could  not  be  cured  without  such  a  parting,  and  yet,  indeed,  hardly 
so  kind  a  parting,  as  that  whereto  once  Jlbraham  and  Lot  were  driven. 
However,  these  little,  idle,  angry  controversies,  proved  occasions,  ofen- 
largements  to  the  church  of  God  ;  for  such  of  the  inhabitants  as  chose  a 
coHage  in  a  inldcrness,  before  the  most  beautiful  and  furnished  edifice, 
overheated  with  the^re  of  contention,  removed  peaceably  higher  up  the 
river,  where  a  whole  county  of  holy  churches  has  been  added  unto  the 
number  of  our  congergations. 

§  5.  But  there  was  one  thing  that  made  this  colony  to  become  very 
considerable  ;  which  thing  remains  now  to  be  considered.  The  well- 
known  Mr.  Davenport,  and  Mr.  Eaton,  and  several  eminent  persons  that 
came  over  to  the  Mas&achuset-bay  among  some  of  the  first  planters,  were 
strongly  urged,  that  they  would  have  settled  in  this  Bay  ;  but  hearing  of 
another  Bay  to  the  south-west  of  Connecticut,  which  might  be  more  ca- 
pable to  entertain  those  that  were  to  follow  them,  they  desired  that  their 
friends  at  Connec</c!/.i!  would  purchase  of  the  native  proprietors  for  them,  all 
the  land  that  la}'^  between  themselves  and  Hudson  s  River,  which  was  in 
part  effected.  Accordingly  removing  thither  in  the  year  1637,  they  seated 
themselves  in  a  pleasant  Bay,  where  they  spread  themselves  along  the 
sea-coast  and  one  might  have  been  suddenly,  as  it  were  supprized  with 
the  sight  of  such  notable  towns,  as  first  NeTi^-Haven  ;  then  Guilfo.d  ;  then 
Milford;  then  Stamford;  and  then  Brainford  where  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  is  worshipped  in  churches  of  an  evangelical  constitution  ;  and  from 
thence,  if  the  enquirer  make  a  salley  over  to  Long-Island,  he  might  there 
also  have  seen  the  churches  of  our  Lord  beginning  to  take  root  in  the 
eastern  parts  of  that  island.  All  this  while  th'isfourth  colony  wanted  the 
legal  basis  of  a  charter  to  build  upon  ;  but  they  did  by  mutual  agreement 
form  themselves,  into  a  body-politick  as  like  as  they  judged  fit  unto  the 
other  colonies  in  their  neighbourhood  j  and  as  for  their  church-order,  it 
was  generally  secundum  usum  Massaclivseifenscm. 

§  6.  Behold,  a  fourth  colony  of  JS/'em^- English  Christians,  in  a  manner 
stolen  into  the  world,  and  a  colony,  indeed,  constellated  with  many  stars  of 
the  first  magnitude.  The  colony  was  under  the  conduct  of  as  holy,  and 
as  prudent,  and  as  genteel  persons  as  most  that  ever  visited  these  nooks 
of  Amiirica  ;  and  yet  these  too  were  tryed  with  very  humbling  circum- 
stances. 

Being  Londoners,  or  merchants  and  men  of  fraffick  and  buisness,  their 
design  was  in  a  manner  wholly  to  apply  themselves  unto  trade;  but  the 
design  failing,  they  found  their  great  estates  sink  so  fast,  that  they  must 
inirkly  do  someihing.     Whereupon  in  the  year  lOlTi,  gathering  together 


Book  I.]       OR,  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  77 

almost  all  the  strength  which  was  left  them,  they  built  one  ship  more, 
which  they  fraighted  for  England  with  the  best  part  of  their  tradable  es- 
tates ;  and  sundry  of  their  eminent  persons  embarked  themselves  in  her 
for  the  voyage.  But,  alas,  the  ship  was  never  after  heard  of!  she  found - 
red  in  the  sea  ;  and  in  her  were  lost,  not  only  the  hopes  of  their  future 
trade,  but  also  the  lives  of  several  excellent  persons,  as  well  as  divers 
manuscripts  of  some  great  men  in  the  country,  sent  over  for  the  service 
of  the  church,  which  were  now  buried  in  the  ocean.  The  Juller  story  of 
that  grievous  matter,  let  the  reader  with  a  just  astonishment  accept  from 
the  pen  of  the  reverend  person,  who  is  now  the  pastor  of  Xeio-Havcn. 
I  wrote  unto  him  for  it,  and  was  thus  answered. 

Reverend  and  Dear  Sir, 

'  Is  com[«liance  with  your  desires,  T  now  give  \'0u  the  relation  of  that 
'  apparition  of  nsliip  in  the  air,  which  1  have  received  from  the  most  credi- 
'  ble,  judicious  and  curious  surviving  observers  of  it. 

'  In  the  year  1647,  besides  much  other  lading,  a  far  more  rich  treasure 
'  of  passengers,  (live  or  six  of  which  were  persons  of  chief  note  and  worth 
'  in  New-Haven)  put  themselves  on  board  a  neio  ship,  built  at  Rlwde- Island, 
'  of  about  150  tuns  ;  but  so  walty,  that  the  master,  [Lamberton)  often  said 

*  she  would  prove  their  grave,  lu  the  month  of  January,  cutting  their 
'  way  through  much  ice,  on  which  they  were  accompanied  with  the  Rev- 
'  erend  3Ir.  Davenport,  besides  many  other  friends,  with  many  fears,  as 
'  well  as  prayers  and  tears,  they  set  sail.  Mr.  Davenpjort  in  prayer  with 
'  an  observable  emphasis  used  these  words.  Lord,  if  it  be  thy  pleasure  to 
'  bury  these  our  friends  in  the  bottom  of  the  sea,  they  are  thine  ;  save  them  ! 
'  The  spring  following,  no  tidings  of  these  friends  arrived  with  the  ships 
'  from  England  :  Xew-Haven'' s  heart  began  to  fail  her  :  this  put  the  godly 
'  people  on  much  prayer,  both  publick  and  private,  that  the  Lord  mould 
'  (if  it  xn'as  his  pleasure)  let  them  hear  what  he  had  done  zvlth  their  dear 
'friends,  and  prepare  them  with  a  suitable  subrnission  to  his  Holy  Will. 
'  fn  June  next  ensuing,  a  great  thunder-storm  arose  out  of  the  north-west  ; 
'  after  which  (the  hemisphere  being  serene)  about  an  hour  before  sun-set 
'  a  Ship  of  like  dimensions  with  the  aforesaid,  with  tier  canvass  and  co- 

*  lours  abroad  (though  the  wind  northernly)  appeared  in  the  air  coming 
'  up  from  our  harbour's  mouth,  which  lyes  southward  from  the  town, 
'  seemingly  with  her  sails  filled  under  a  fresh  gale,  holding  her  course 
'  north,  and  continuing  under  observation,  sailing  against  the  wind  for  the 
'  space  of  half  an  hour. 

'  Many  were  drawn  to  behold  this  great  work  of  God  ;  yea,  the  very 
'  children  cryed  out,  There's  a  brave  ship !  At  length,  crouding  up  as  far 
'  as  there  is  usually  xvater  sufficient  for  such  a  vessel ,  and  so  near  some  of 

*  the  spectators,  as  that  they  imagined  a  man  might  hurl  a  stone  on  board 
'  her,  her  main-top  seemed  to  be  blown  off,  but  left  hanging  in  the 
'  shroud?  ;  then  her  missen-top  ;  then  all  her  masting  seemed  blown  away 
'  by  the  board:  quickly  after  the  hulk  broug'it  unto  a  careen,  she  overset. 
'  and  so  vanished  into  a  smoaky  cloud,  which   in  some  time  dissipated. 

j '  leaving,  as  everywhere  else,  a  clear  air.  The  admiring  spectators 
'  could  distinguish  the  several  colours  of  each  part,  the  principal  rigging, 
'  and  such  proportions,  as  caused  not  only  the  generality  of  persons  to 
'  say,  This  was  the  mould  of  their  ship,  and  thus  was  her  trasiirk  end  :  but 
'  Mr.  Davenport  also  in  publick  declared  to  this  effect,  That  God  ho.d 
'  condescended,  for  the  quieting  of  their  evicted  spirits,  this  extraordinarh 


78  MAGNALIA  CHRiSTI  AMERICANA :  [Book  I. 

•  account  of  his  sovereign  disposal  of  those  for  whom  so  many  fervent  pray- 
'  ers  Taere  made  continually .     Thus  1  arn,  Sir, 

Your  bumble  servant, 

James  Pierpont.' 

Reader,  there  being  yet  living  so  many  credible  gentlemen,  that  were 
eye-witnesses  of  this  wonderful  thing,  I  venture  to  publish  it  for  a  thing 
as  undoubted,  as  'tis  wonderful. 

But  let  us  now  proceed  with  our  story.  Our  colony  of  Xew-Haven  ap-  I 
prehended  themselves  disadvantageously  seated  for  the  affairs  of  kus-  * 
bandry ;  and  therefore  upon  these  disasters  they  made  many  attempts  of 
removing  into  some  other  parts  of  the  world.  One  while  they  were  invited 
unto  Delaware-bay,  another  while  they  were  invited  unto  Jamaica  ;  they 
had  offers  made  them  from  Ireland  also,  after  the  wars  there  were  over  ; 
and  they  entred  into  some  treaties  about  the  city  of  Galloway,  which 
they  were  to  have  had  as  a  small  province  to  themselves.  But  the  God 
of  Heaven  still  strangely  disappointed  all  these  attempts  ;  and  whereas 
they  were  concerned  how  their  posterity  should  be  able  to  live,  if  they 
must  make  husbandry  their  main  shift  for  their  living  ;  that  posterity  of 
theirs  by  the  good  providence  of  God,  instead  of  coming  to  beggary  and 
misery,  have  thriven  wonderfully  :  the  colony  is  improved  with  many 
wealthy  husbandmen,  and  is  become  no  small  part  of  the  best  granary  fur 
all  New-England.  And  the  same  good  providence  has  all  along  so  pre- 
served them  from  annoyance  by  the  Indians,  that  although  at  their  iirst 
setting  down  there  were  few  towns  but  what  wisely  perswaded  a  body  of 
Indians  to  dwell  near  them  ;  whereby  such  kindnesses  passed  between 
them,  that  they  always  dwelt  peaceably  together  ;  nevertheless  there 
are  few  of  those  towns,  but  what  have  seen  their  body  o{  Indiaiis  utterly 
extirpated  by  nothing  hxii  mortality  wasting  them. 

§  7.  But  what  is  now  become  of  New-Haven  colony  ?  I  must  answer, 
It  is  not :  and  yet  it  has  been  growing  ever  since  it  first  was.  But  when 
Connecticut-co\ony  petitioned  the  restored  King  for  a  Charter,  they  pro- 
cured New-Haven  colony  to  be  annexed  unto  them  in  the  same  charter  ; 
and  this,  not  without  having  first  the  private  concurrence  of  some  lead- 
ing men  in  the  colony  ;  though  the  minds  of  others  were  so  uneasie 
about  the  coalition,  that  it  cost  some  time  after  the  arrival  of  the  Char- 
ier for  the  colony,  like  Jephtali's  daughter,  to  bewail  her  condition  be- 
fore it  could  be  quietly  complied  withal.  Nevertheless  they  have  lived 
ever  since,  one  colony,  very  happily  together,  and  the  God  of  love  and 
peace  has  remarkably  dwelt  among  them  :  however,  these  children  of 
God  have  not  been  without  their  chastisements,  especially  in  the  malig- 
nant/erers  and  agues,  which  have  often  proved  very  mortal  in  most  or 
all  of  their  plantations, 

§  8.  While  the  south-west  parts  of  New- England  were  thus  filled  with 
new-colonies,  the  north-cast  parts  of  the  country  were  not  forgotten. 
There  were  ample  regions  beyond  the  line  of  the  Massachvsef-pateiit, 
where  new  settlements  were  attempted,  not  only  by  such  as  designed  a 
fishing-iTA(\c  at  sea,  or  a  Bever-trn(\e  on  shore  ;  not  only  by  some  that 
were  uneasie  under  the  Massachuset-gov evnment  in  a  day  of  tanptaHon, 
which  came  upon  the  first  planters  ;  but  also  by  some  very  serious 
christians,  who  propounded  the  enlargement  and  enjoyment  of  our  Lord's 
evangelical  interests  in  those  territories.  The  effect  of  these  excnrsiuns 
were,  that  several  well-constituted  churches  were  gathered  in  the  pro- 
vince of  East-Hampshire,  besides  one  or  two   in  the  province  of  J\'him. 


Book  I.]       OR,  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  79 

whereto  were  added  a  large  number  of  other  congregations,  wherein 
weekly  prayers  and  sermons  were  made,  although  the  inhabitans  belong- 
ing to  those  congregations,  proceeded  not  so  far  as  to  all  the  ordinances  of 
a  more  compleat  Church-State,  among  them,  'i  hat  which  contributed  more 
than  a  little  to  the  growth  of  chrisiianity  in  those  parts  of  Xew- England, 
was  the  application,  which  the  people  being  tired  with  many  quarrelsome 
circumstances  about  their  government,  made  unto  the  general  court  of 
the  Massackuset-bay,  to  be  taken  under  their  protection  ;  which  petition 
of  theirs  being  answered  by  that  general  cuurt,  surely  after  a  more  char- 
itable and  accountable  manner,  than  such  authors  as  Ogilby  in  his  Aineri- 
ca  have  represented  it,  [l^os  niugis  Historicis,  Lectures,  Credite  veris  /] 
there  followed  many  successful  endeavours  to  spread  the  good  eflects  and 
orders  of  the  gospel  along  that  coast. 

But  thus  was  the  settlement  of  Xew-England  brought  about ;  these 
were  the  beginnings,  these  the  foundations  of  those  colonics,  which  have 
not  only  enlarged  the  English  empire  in  some  regards  more  than  any  oth- 
er outgoings  of  our  nation,  but  also  aflbrded  a  singular  prospect  of 
churches  erected  in  an  American  corner  of  the  world,  on  purpose  to  ex- 
press and  pursue  the  Protestant  Reformation. 


CHAPTER  VTI. 

Hecatoropolis  :   or,  a  field  which  the  Lord  hath  blessed. 

A    5IAP    OF    THE    COUNTRY. 

It  is  proper  that  I  should  now  give  the  reader  an  Ecclesiastical  Map  of 
ttte  country,  thus  undertaken.  Know  then,  that  although  for  more  than 
twenty  years,  the  blasting  strokes  of  Heaven  upon  the  secular  afi'airs  of 
this  country  have  been  such,  as  rather  to  abate  than  enlarge  the  growth 
of  it  J  yet  there  are  to  be  seen  in  it  at  this  present  year  1696,  these  Colo- 
nies, Counties,  and  Congregations, 

*[  The  jSumbers  and  Places  of  the  Christian  Congregations,  nonu  worship- 
ping our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  in  the  several  Colonies  of  New-England, 
and  the  Names  of  the  Ministers  at  this  time  employed  in  the  service  of 
those  Congregations. 

Xotandnm,  Where  the  name  of  any  minister  hath  H.  C.  added  unto  it  in 
our  catalogue,  it  is  to  be  understood  that  Harvard-Colledge  was  the 
mother,  in  whose  arms  that  minister  was  educated. 

I.  In  Plymouth  colony  there  are  three  counties ;  and  the  several  congre 
i^ations  therein  are  thus  accommodated. 

PLYMOUTH  COUNTY  MINISTERS. 

Bridgewater,  Mr.  James  Keith. 

Duxbury,  Mr.  Ichahod  Wiszoul,  H.  C. 

i  Marshfield,  Mr.  Edzvard  Thompson,  H.  C. 

'  Middlebury,  Mr. 

Plymouth,"  Mr.  John  Cotton,  H.  C. 

;^j.     .  i    which  hath  two  churches,  Mr.  Jeremiah  Cushing 
H.  C.  Mr.  Deodate  Lawson. 


80 


MAGN.\LIA  CHRISTI  AMERICANA 


[Book  I. 


Barnstable, 

Eastham, 

Falmouth, 

Harwich, 

Manamoyet, 

Rochester, 

Sandwich, 

Yarmouth, 


Bristol, 

Dartmouth, 

Freetown, 

Little-Compton, 

Swansy, 

Tanton, 


BARNSTABLE  COUNTY   MINISTERS, 

Mr.  Jonathan  Rvssel,  H.  C. 
Mr.  Samuel  Treat,  H.  C. 

Mr.  Nathaniel  Stone,  H.  C. 

Mr.  Arnold. 

Mr.  Rouland  Cotton,  H.  C. 

Mr.  John  Cotton,  H.  G. 

BRISTOL  COUNTY  MINISTERS. 

Mr.  JohnSparhawk,  H.  C. 
Perishing  without  vision. 

Mr.  Eliphelet  Adams,  H.  G. 


Mr.  Samuel  Danforth,  H.  C. 
Hereto  an  ecclesiastical  reckoning  may  annex  the  Islands  of 


3Iartha's  Vine-     ( 
yard,  | 

Nantucket, 

Newport  in  Rode- 
Island, 


Mr   Ralph   Thacher,   Mr.   Denham,   besides  Indian 

churches  and  pastors. 
Indian  Pastors. 

Mr.  Nathaniel  Clap,  H.  C. 


II.  In  Massachuset  colony  are  four  counties,  and  the  several  congrega- 


tions in  them  are  so  supplied. 

THE  COUNTY  OF  SUFFOLK  MINISTERS. 


Boston, 


Wads^ 


of  the  old  church,  Mr.  James  Allen,  Mr.  Benj. 

ivorth,  H.  C. 

of  the  north  church,  Mr.  Increase  Mather,  President 

of  the  Colledge,  and  his  son  Cotton  Mather,  H.  C. 

of  the  south  church,  Mr.  Samuel  Wilziard,  H.  C. 

Besides  these,  there  is  in  the  town  a  small  congregation  that  worship  God 

with  the  ceremonies  of  the  Church  of  England ;  served  generally  by 

a  change  of  persons,  occasionally  visiting  these  parts  of  the  world. 

And  another  small  congregation  of  Antipedo-Baptists,  wherein  Mr.  Em-\ 

blin  is  the  settled  minister. 
And  a  French  congregation   of  Protestant   Refugees,  under  the  pastordl 

cares  of  Monsieur  Daille. 
Braintree,  Mr.  Moses  Fi^k,  H.  C. 

Dedham,  Mr.  Joseph  Belcher,  H.  G. 

Dorchester,  Mr.  John  Danforth,  H.  G. 

Hingham,  Mr.  John  Norton,  H.  G. 

Hull,  Mr.  Zechariah  Whitman,  H.  C 

Medtield,  Mr.  Joseph  Baxter,  H.  G. 

Mendon,  Mr.  Grindal  Razi-son,  H.  G. 

Milton.  Mr.  Peter  Thacher,  H.  C. 

Roxbury,  Mr.  Nehemiah  Walter,  H.  C. 

Weymouth.  Mr.  Samuel  Tnrrey,  H.  G. 

Woodstock,  Mr.  Josiah  D-Jcight,  H.  C 

Wrentbara,  Mr.  Samuel  Mov.  H.  C 


Book  I.]       OR,  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND. 


81 


Billerica, 

Cambridge, 

Charles-town, 

Chelmsford, 

Concord, 

Dunstable, 

Groton, 

Lancaster, 

Malborough, 

Maiden, 

Medford, 

Newtown, 

Oxford, 

Reading, 

Sherborn, 

Stow, 

Sudbury, 

Watertown, 

Woburh, 
Worcester, 


Amesbury, 

Andover, 

Beverly, 

Boxford, 

Bradford, 

Glocester, 

Haveril, 

Ipswich, 

And  village, 

Lyn, 

Manchester, 

Marblehead, 

Newbury, 

Rowly, 

Salem, 

And  village, 

Salsbury, 

Topsfield, 

Wenham, 


Deerfield, 
Endfield, 
Hatfield, 
Hadley, 
Northampton, 
Springfield, 
Vol.  I, 


THE  COUNT V  OF  MIDDLESEX  MINISTERS. 

Mr.  Samuel  WInteing,  H.  C. 
Mr.  William  Brattle, R.  C. 
Mr.  Charles  Morton. 
Mr.  Thomas  Clark,  H.  C. 
Mr.  Joseph  Eastabrook,  H.  C, 
Mr.  Thomas  Weld,  H.  C. 
Mr.  Gershom  Hobart,  H.  C. 
Mr.  John  Whiteing,  H    C. 
Mr.  William  Brinsmead,  H.  C. 
Mr.  Michael  Wigghsxi:orlh,  H.  C. 
Mr.  Simon  Bradstreet,  H   C. 
Mr.  Kehemiah  Hobart,  H.  C. 

Mr.  Jonathan  Pierpont,  H.  C. 

Mr.  Daniel  Gookin,  H.  C. 

Mr. 

Mr.  James  Sherman. 
i    East,  Mr.  Henry  Gibs,  H.  C. 
^    West,  Mr.  Samuel  Jlngier,  H.  C. 

Mr.  Jabez  Fox,  H.  C. 


THE  COUNTY  OF  ESSEX  MINISTERS. 


Mr.  Francis  Dean,  and  Mr.  Thomas  Barnard,  H.  C 
Mr.  John  Hale,  H.  C. 

Mr.  Zechariah  Symines,  H.  C. 

Mr.  John  Emerson,  H.  C. 

Mr.  Benjamin  Rolfe,  H.  C. 

Mr.  Wm.  Hubbard,  H.  C.  and  Mr.  John  Rogers,  H.  C. 

Mr.  John  Wise,  H.  C. 

Mr.  Jeremiah  Shepard,  H.  C. 

Mr.  John  Emerson,  H.  C. 

Mr.  Samuel  Cheever,  H.  C. 
^    East,  Mr.  Tappin,  H.  C. 
^    West,  Mr.  Samuel  Belcher,  H.  C. 

Mr.  Edward  Payson,  H.  C. 

Mr.  John  Higginson,  and  Mr.  Nicholas  Noyse,  H.  C. 

Mr.  Samxiel  Paris,  H.  C. 

Mr.  Caleb  Gushing,  H.  C. 

Mr.  Joseph  Capen,  H.  C. 

Mr.  Joseph  Gerish,  H.  C. 

THE  COUNTY  OF  HAMPSHIRE  MINISTERS. 

Mr.  John  Williams,  H.  C. 
Mr. 

Mr.  William  Williams,  H.  C. 
Mr. 

Mr.  Solomon  Stoddard,  H.  C  = 
Mr.  Daniel  Brewer,  H,  C. 
li 


82 


MAGNALIA  CHRISTI  AMERICANA: 


[Book  I. 


Southtield,  Mr.  Benjamin  Riiggles,  H.  C. 

Westfield,  Mr.  Edward  Taylor,  H.  C. 

To  which,  if  we  add  the  congregations  in  Piscataqua 


Dover, 

Exeter, 

Hampton, 

Newcastle, 

Portsmouth, 


Isle  of  Sholes, 
Kittery, 
Wells,  York, 


Mr.  John  Pike,  H.  C. 
Mr.  Johji  Clark,  H.  C. 
Mr.  John  Cotton,  H.  C. 
Mr.  Samuel  Moodey,  H.  C. 
Mr.  Joshua  Moodey,  H.  C. 

And  in  the  Province  of  Maine 


Mr.  Hancock,  H.  C. 


III.   In  Connecticut-co?o?(//  there  are  four  counties,  and  the  several  con 
gregations  therein  are  illuminated  by  these  preachers  of  the  gospel. 


Farminglon, 
Glastenbury, 
Had  ham, 

Hartford. 

Middletown, 

Simsbury, 

Waterbury, 

Wetherstield, 

Windsor, 

And  Farnie, 

Windham, 


Killingworth, 

Lebanon, 

Linne, 

New-London, 

Norwich, 

Pescamsik, 

Preston, 

Say brook, 

Stonington, 


Brainford, 

Derby, 

Guilford, 

Milford, 

New-Hafven, 

Wallingford, 


Dan1)ury, 
Fairfield, 


H.4RTF0RD   COUNTY   .MINISTERS. 

Mr.  Samuel  Hooker,  H.  C. 

Mr.  Timothy  Stevens,  H.  C. 

Mr.  Jeremiah  Hobart,  H.  C. 

old  church,  Mr.  Timothy  JVoodb ridge,  H.  C. 

new  church,  Mr.  Thomas  Buckingham,  H.  C. 

air.  A'oadiah  Rnssel,  H.  C. 

Mr.  Dudly  JFoodbridge,  H.  C. 

Mr.  Jeremiah  Peck,  H.  C. 

Mr.  Steven  Mix,  H.  C. 

Mr.  Samuel  Mather,  H.  C. 

Mr.  Timothy  Ed'zsoards,  H.  C. 

Mr.  Samuel  Whiting. 

NEW-LONDON  COUNTV  MINISTERS. 

Mr.  Abraham  Pierson,  H.  C. 

Mr.  Moses  J\'oyse,  H.  C. 

Mr.  Gordon  Saltonstal,  H.  C  '=' 

3Ir.  James  Fitch. 

Mr.  Joseph  Mors,  H.  C. 

Mr.  Samuel  Tread,  li.  C. 

Mr.  Thomas  Buckingham. 

Mr.  James  JYoyse,  H.  C. 

NEW-HAVEN   COUNTY   MfNISTERa, 

Mr.  Samuel  Russel,  H.  C. 
Mr.  John  James,  H.  C. 
Mr.  Thotnas  Rugglcs,  H.  C 
Mr.  Samuel  Andrexvs,  H.  C. 
Mr.  James  Pierpoint,  H.  C. 
Mr.  Samuel  Street,  H.  C. 

FAIRFIELD  COUNTY  MINISTERS, 

Mr.  Scth  Shove,  H.  C. 
Mr.  Joseph  Web,  H.  C 


Book  l.J       OR,  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  83 

Fairfield  village,        Mr.  Charles  CUaunceij,  H.  C. 

Greenwich,  Mr.  Joseph  Morgan.         4 

Norwtilk,  Mr-  Sleven  Buckingham.  H.  C. 

Rye,  Mr.  Dou-ers,  H.  C. 

Stamford,  Mr.  Jolin  Davenport,  H.  C. 

Stratford,  Mr.  Israel  Chauncey,  H.  C. 

Woodbury,  Mr.  Zachan'ah  TValker,  H.  C. 

REMARKS  UPON  THE  CATALOGUE  OF  PLANTATfOA'S. 

§  1.  There  are  few  towns  to  be  now  seen  in  our  list,  but  what  were 
existing  in  this  land  before  the  dreadful  Indian  zi:ar,  which  befel  us  twen- 
ty years  ago  ;  and  there  are  feu'  towns  broken  up  within  the  then  Alassc- 
chuset-line  by  that  war,  but  what  have  revived  out  of  their  ashes.  Nev- 
tirtheless  the  many  calamities,  which  liave  ever  since  been  wasting  of  the 
country,  have  so  nipt  the  growth  of  it,  that  its  later  progress  hath  held  no 
proportion  with  what  was /torn  the  beginning  ;  but  yet  with  such  variety, 
that  while  the  trained  companies  of  some  towns  are  no  bigger  than  they 
were  thirty  or  forty  years  ago,  others  are  as  big  again. 

§  2.  The  calamities  that  have  carried  off  the  inhabitants  of  our  several 
towns  have  not  been  all  of  one  sort ;  nor  have  all  our  towns  had  an  equal 
share  in  any  sort.  Pestilential  sicknesses  have  made  fearful  havork  in 
divers  phtccs,  where  the  sound  perhaps  have  not  been  enough  to  tend  the 
sick ;  while  others  have  not  had  one  touch  from  that  angel  of  death.  And 
the  sword  hath  cut  off  scores  in  sundry  places,  when  others,  it  may  be. 
have  not  lost  a  man  by  that  avenger. 

§  .3.  'Tis  no  unusual,  though  no  universal  experiment  among  us,  that 
while  an  excellent,  laborious,  illuminating  ministry  has  been  continued 
in  a  town,  the  place  has  thriven  to  admiration  ;  but  ever  since  that  man's 
time,  they  have  gone  down  the  wind  in  all  their  interests.  The  gospel 
has  evidently  been  the  making  of  our  towns,  and  the  blessings  of  the 
upper  have  been  accompanied  with  the  blessings  of  the  nether-springs. 
Memorable  also  is  the  remark  of  Slingsby  Bethel,  Esq  ;  in  his  most  judi- 
cious book  of  The  Interest  of  Europe.  IVerenot  the  cold  climate  uf  New- 
England  supplied  by  good  laivs  and  discipline,  the  baircnness  of  that  country 
iconld  never  have  brought  people  to  it,  nor  have  advanced  it  in  consideration 
and  formidablemss  above  the  other  English  phmtations ,  exceeding  it  much 
in  fertility,  and  other  inviting  qualities. 

§  4.  Well  may  Kew- England  lay  claim  to  the  name  it  wears,  and  to  a 
room  in  the  tenderest  affections  of  its  mother,  the  happy  Island/  for  as 
there  are  few  of  our  towns  but  what  have  their  names-sakes  in  England, 
so  the  reason  why  most  of  our  towns  are  called  what  they  are,  is  because 
the  chief  of  tlie  tirst  inhabitants  would  thus  bear  up  the  names  of  the 
particular  places  there  from  whence  they  came. 

§  5.  I  have  heard  an  aged  saini  near  his  death  chearfully  thu.T  express 
himself;  '  Well,  I  am  going  to  heaven,  and  I  will  there  tell  the  fr'ithful, 
'  who  are  gone  long  since  from  J\'ew- England,  thither,  tiiat  though  they 
'  who  gathered  our  churches  are  all  dead  and  gone,  yet  the  churches  are 
'  still  alive,  with  as  numerous  flocks  of  christians  as  ever  were  a.mong 
'  them.'  Concerning  the  most  of  the  churches  in  our  catalogue,  the  re- 
port thus  carried  unto  heaven,  I  must  now  also  send  through  the  earth ; 
but  if  with,  as  numerous,  we  could  in  every  respect  say,  as  gracions, 
what  joy  unto  all  the  saints,  both  in  heaven  and  on  earth,  might  be  from, 
thence  occasioned  ! 


THE  BOSTOJSTMJS*  EBEJS*EZEM 

SOME 

HISTORICAL  REMARKS 

ON  THE   STATE   OF 

BOSTON, 

THE   CHIEF    TOWN  OF  :N'EW-EKGL^ND,    JiND   OF  THE 

ENGLISH  AMERICA. 

WITH   SOME 

AGREEABLE  METHODS 

VOll  PRESERVING  AND  PROMOTING  THE  GOOD  STATE  OF  THAT,  A3  WELL 
AS   ANY  OTHER  TOWN  IN  THE  LIKE  CIRCUMSTANCES. 

HUMBLY  OFFERED  BY  A  NATIVE  01^  BOSTON. 


Ezek.  XLViir.  35,     The  name  of  the  City  from  that  day  shall  be,  the  lori. 

IS    THERE. 


Urbs  Metropolis,  ul  sil  maximm  AuclorUulis,  const Ituaiar  prmcip^mm  pielatis  Exem- 
plum  &  iSacrarium.         Aphor.  VoW'l. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  BOSTON  RELATED  AND  IMPROVED. 

At  Boston  Lecture,  7  d.  2  m.  1698. 

Remarkable  and  memorable  was  the  time,  when  an  army  of  terrible 
destroyers  was  coming  against  one  of  the  chief  towns  in  the  land  of 
Israel.  God  rescued  the  town  from  the  irresistible  fury  and  approach 
of  tho^e  destroyers,  by  an  immediate  hand  of  heaven  upon  them.  Upon 
that  miraculous  rescue  of  the  tozvn,  and  of  the  whole  country,  whose  fate 
was  much  enwrapped  in  it,  there  followed  that  action  of  the  Prophet 
Samuel,  which  is  this  day  to  be,  with  some  imitation,  repeated  in  the 
midst  of  thee,  O  Boston,  thou  helped  of  the  Lord. 

1  SAM.  vii.   12. 

Then  Samuel  took  a  stone,  and  set  it  vp,—and  called  the  vame  of  it,  Eb- 
ENEZER,  saying,  Hitherto  the  Lord  hath  helped  us. 

The  thankful  servants  of  God  have  used  sometimes  to  erect  monu- 
ments of  stone,  as  durable  tokens  of  ihe'ir  tliankfvlness  to  God  for  mer- 
cies received  in  the  places  thus  distinguished.  Jacob  did  so  ;  Joshua  did 
so  ;  and  Samuel  did  so  ;  but  they  so  did  it,  as  to  keep  clear  of  the  trans- 


Book  I.]  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  8S 

gression  forbidden  in  Lev.  xxvi.  1 .  Ye  shall  not  set  up  an  image  of  stone  in 
your  land,  for  to  boxa  down  unto  it. 

The  Slotie  erected  by  Samuel,  with  the  name  of  Ebenezer,  which  is  as 
much  as  to  say,  a  stone  of  help ;  I  know  not  whether  any  thing  might  be 
XDrit  upon  it,  but  I  am  sure  there  is  one  thing  to  be  now  read  upon  it,  b}' 
our  selv^es,  in  the  text  where  we  find  it  :  namely,  thus  much, 

That  a  people  whom  the  God  of  heaven  hath  remarkably  helped  in  their 
distresses,  ought  greatly  mid  gratefully  to  acknowledge  what  help  of  hea- 
ven they  have  received. 

Now  'tis  not  my  design  to  lay  the  scene  of  my  discourse  as  far  oft"  as 
Bethcar,  the  place  where  Samuel  set  up  his  Ebenezer.  I  am  immediately 
to  transfer  it  into  the  heart  oi Bostm,  a  place  where  the  remarkable  help 
received  from  heaven  by  the  people^  does  loudly  call  for  an  Ebenezer. 
And  I  do  not  ask  you  to  chnnge  the  name  of  the  town  into  that  of  Help- 
stone,  as  there  is  a  town  in  England  of  that  name,  which  may  seem  the 
English  of  Ebenezer ;  but  my  Sermon  shall  be  this  day,  your  Eheriezer,  if 
you  will  with  a  favourable  aud  a  profitable  attention  entertain  it.  May 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  accept  me,  and  assist  me  now  to  glorifie  him  in  the 
town  where  I  drew  my  first  sinful  breath  ;  a  tow7i  whereto  I  am  under 
great  obligations  for  the  precious  opportunities  to  glorifie  him,  which  I 
have  quietly  and  publickly  enjoyed  therein  for  near  eighteen  years  to- 
gether. 0  my  Lord  God,  remember  me,  I  pray  thee,  and  strengthen  me 
this  once,  to  speak  from  thee  unto  thy  people  ! 

And  now,  sirs,  that  I  may  set  up  an  Ebenezer  among  you,  there  are 
these  things  to  be  inculcated. 

L  Let  us  thankfully,  and  agreeably,  and  particularly  acknowledge  ■what 
HELP  we  have  received  from  the  God  of  Heaven,  in  the  years  that  have 
rouled  over  us.  While  the  blessed  apostle  Paul,  was,  as  it  should  seem, 
yet  short  of  being  threescore  yenrs  old,  how  affectionately  did  he  set  up 
an  Ebenezer,  with  an  acknowledgment  in  Acts  xxvi.  22,  Having  obtain- 
ed help  of  God,  I  continue  to  this  day!  Our  town  is  now  threescore  and 
eight  years  old  ;  and  certainly  'tis  time  for  us,  with  ail  possible  affection, 
to  set  up  our  Ebenezer,  saying.  Having  obtained  help  from  God,  the  town 
is  continued  until  almost  the  age  rf  man  is  passed  over  it !  The  town  hath 
indeed  three  elder  sisters  in  this  colony,  but  it  hath  wonderfully  outgrown 
them  all ;  and  her  mother,  Old  Boston,  in  England  also  ;  yea,  within  a 
few  years  after  the  first  settlement  it  grew  to  be.  The  Metropolis  of 
THE  WHOLE  English  America.  Little  was  this  expected  by  them  that 
first  settled  the  town,  when  for  a  while  Boston  was  proverbially  called, 
Lost-town,  for  the  mean  and  sad  circumstances  of  it.  But,  O  Boston,  it  is 
because  thou  hast  obtained  help  from  God,  even  from  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  who  for  the  sake  of  his  gospel,  preached  and  once  prized  here, 
undertook  thy  patronage.  When  the  world  and  the  church  of  God  had 
seen  twenty -six  generations,  a  psalm  was  composed,  wherein  that  note 
occurs  with  twenty-six  repetitions  ;  His  viercy  endureth  for  ever.  Truly 
there  has  not  one  year  passed  over  this  town,  Ab  Urbe  Condiia,  upon  the 
story  whereof  we  might  not  make  that  note,  our  Ebenezer;  His  viercy  en- 
dureth for  ever.  It  has  been  a  town  of  great  experiences.  There  have  been 
several  years  wherein  the  terrible /a wi^e  hath  terribly  stared  the  town  ii. 
the  face  :  we  have  been  brought  sometimes  unto  the  lastmealin  the  bar- 
rel ;  we  have  cryed  out  with  the  disciples.  We  have  not  loaves  enough  fr 
feed  a  tenth  part  of  us  !  but  the  feared  famine  has  always  been  kept  off; 
always  we  have  had  seasonable  and  sufficient  supplies  after  a  surprizing 
manner  sent  in  unto  us  :  let  the  three  last  venm  in  thjc  thing  mo=t.  omi- 


36  MAGNALIA  CHRISTI  AMERICANA :  [Book  f. 

nently  proclaim  the  goodness  of  our  heavenly  Shepherd  and  Feeder.  This 
has  been  the  help  of  our  God  ;  because  his  mercy  endureth  for  ever!  The 
angels  of  death  laave  often  sihot  the  arrows  of  death  into  the  midst  of  the 
town  ;  the  small-pox  has  especially  four  times  been  a  great  plague  upon 
us  :  how  often  have  there  been  bills  desiring  prayers  for  more  than  an 
hundred  sick  on  one  day  in  one  of  our  assemblies  ?  in  one  twelve-month, 
about  one  thousand  of  our  neighbours  have  one  way  or  other  been  car- 
ried unto  their  long  home  :  and  yet  we  are  after  all,  many  more  than 
seven  thousand  souls  of  us  at  this  hour  living  on  the  spot.  Why  is  not,  a, 
Lord,  have  mercy  upon  us,  written  on  the  doors  of  our  abandoned  habita- 
tions ?  This  hath  been  the  help  of  our  God,  because  his  mercy  endureth 
for  ever.  Never  was  any  town  under  the  cope  of  heaven  more  liable  to 
be  laid  in  ashes,  either  through  the  carelessness,  or  through  the  loicked- 
ness  of  them  that  sleejj  in  it.  That  such  a.  combustible  heap  of  contiguous 
houses  yet  stands,  it  may  be  called,  a  standing  miracle  ;  it  is  not  because 
the  u:atdiman  keeps  the  city :  perhaps  there  may  be  too  much  cause  of  re- 
flection in  that  thing,  and  of  inspection  too  ;  no.  It  is  from  thy  watchful 
j)rotection,  O  thou  keeper  of  Boston,  who  neither  slumbers  nor  sleeps.  Ten 
TIMES  has  the  fre  made  notable  ruins  among  us,  and  our  good  servant 
been  almost  our  master :  but  the  ruins  have  mostly  and  quickly  been  re- 
built. I  suppose,  that  many  more  than  a  thousand  houses  are  to  be  seen 
on  this  little  piece  of  ground,  all  filled  with  the  imdeserved  favours  of 
God.  Whence  this  preservation  ?  This  hath  been  the  help  of  our  God  ; 
because  his  mercy  endureth  for  ever  !  But  if  ever  this  town  saw  a  ijear  of 
salvations,  transcendently  such  was  the  last  year  unto  us.  A  formidable 
French  squadron  hath  not  shot  one  bomb  into  the  midst  of  thee,  O  thou 
munition  of  rocks ;  our  streets  have  not  run  with  blood  and  gore,  and 
horrible  devouring  flames  have  not  raged  upon  our  substance  :  those  are 
ignorant,  and  unthinking,  and  unthankful  men,  who  do  not  own  that  we 
have  narrowly  escaped  as  dreadful  things,  as  Carthage?ia,  or  Neufound- 
Jand,  have  suffered.  I  am  sure  our  more  considerate  friends  beyond-sea 
were  very  suspicious,  and  well  nigh  despairing,  that  victorious  enemies 
had  swallowed  up  the  town.  But  thy  soul  is  escaped,  O  Boston,  as  a  bird 
out  of  the  snare  of  the  fowlers.  Or  if  you  will  be  insensible  of  this,  ye 
vain  men,  yet  be  sensible,  that  an  English  squadron  hath  not  brought 
among  us  the  tremendous  pestilence,  under  which  a  neighbouring  planta- 
tion hath  undergone  prodigious  desolations.  Boston,  'tis  a  marvellous 
thing  a  plague  has  not  laid  thee  desolate  !  Our  deliverance  from  our 
friends  has  been  as  full  of  astonishing  mere?/,  as  our  deliverance  from  our 
foes.  We  read  of  a  certain  city  in  Isa.  xix.  18,  called,  The  City  of  De- 
struction. Why  so  ?  some  say,  because  delivered  from  destruction.  If 
that  be  so,  then  hast  thou  been  a  city  of  desiruction :  or  I  will  rather  say, 
a  city  of  salvation:  and  this  by  the  help  of  God  ;  because  his  mercy  en- 
dureth for  ever.  Shall  I  go  on  ?  I  will.  We  have  not  had  the  bread  of 
adversity  and  the  water  of  affliction,  like  many  other  places.  But  yet  all 
this  while  our  eyes  hate  seen  our  teachers.  Here  are  several  golden  can- 
dlesticks in  the  town.  Shining  and  burning  lights  have  illuminated  them. 
There  are  gone  to  shine  in  an  higher  orb  seven  divines  that  were  once 
the  stars  of  this  town,  in  the  pastoral  charge  of  it ;  besides  many  others, 
that  for  some  years  gave  us  transient  influences.  Churches  flourishing 
with  much  love,  and  peace,  and  many  comforts  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  have 
hitherto  been  our  greatest  glory.  I  wish  that  some  sad  eclipse  do  not 
come  e're  long  upon  this  glory  /  The  dispensations  of  the  gospel  were 
fuever  onioyed  by  any  town  with  more  liberty  and  purity  for  so  long  a 


Book  I.]         OR,  THE  HISTORY  OF  iNEW-ENGLAND.  Ql 

while  together.  Our  opportunities  to  draw  near  unto  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  in  his  ordinances ,  cannot  be  parallelled.  Boston,  thou  hast  beeH 
lifted  up  to  heaven  ;  there  is  not  a  town  upon  earth,  which,  on  some  ac- 
counts, has  more  to  answer  for.  Such,  O  such  has  been  our  help  from 
our  God,  because  his  mercy  endureih  for  ever. 

H.  Let  us  acknowledge  whose  help  it  is  that  we  have  received,  and 
Dot  give  the  glory  of  our  God  unto  another.  Poorly  helped  had  we  been, 
I  may  tell  you,  if  we  had  none  but  humane  help  all  this  while  to  depend 
upon.  The  favours  of  our  superiors  we  deny  not :  we  forget  not  the 
instruments  of  our  help,  Nevertheless,  this  little  outcast  Zion,  shall,  with 
my  consent,  engrave  the  name  of  no  man  upon  her  Ebenezer  !  It  was 
well  confessed  in  Psal.  cviii.  12,  Vain  is  the  help  of  man!  It  was  well 
counselled  in  Psal.  cxlvi.  3,  Put  not  your  trust  in  princes,  nor  in  the  son  of 
man,  imvhom  there  is  no  help. 

Wherefore,  first,  let  God  in  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  have  the  glory 
o£  bestowing  on  us  all  the  help  that  we  have  had.  When  the  Spirit  of  GoA 
came  upon  a  servant  of  his,  he  cried  out  unto  David,  in  1  Chron.  xii.  18, 
Thy  God  helpeth  thee.  This  is  the  voice  of  God  from  heaven  to  Boston 
this  day,  Thy  God  bath  helped  thee :  thou  hast  by  thy  si7i  destroyed  thy  self, 
but  in  thy  God  hath  been  thy  help.  A  great  man  once  building  an  edifice, 
caused  an  inscription  of  this  importance  to  be  written  on  the  gates  of  it, 
Such  a  place  planted  me,  such  a  place  watered  me,  and  Caesar  g-are  the  in- 
crease. One  that  passed  by  with  a  witty  sarcasm,  wrote  under  it.  Hie 
Deus  nihil  fecit  j  i.  e.  God,  it  seems,  did  nothing  for  this  man.  But  the 
inscription  upon  our  Ebenezer.  owning  what  help  this  town  hath  had,  shall 
say,  Our  God  hath  done  all  that  is  done.'  Say  then,  O  helped  Boston, 
say  as  in  Psal.  cxxi.  2,  Aly  help  is  from  the  Lord  which  made  heaven  and 
earth.  Say  as  in  PsaZ.  xciv.  17,  Unless  the  Lord  had  been  my  help,  my 
soul  had  quickly  dwelt  in  silence.  And  boldly  say,  ^Tis  only  because  the 
Lord  has  been  my  helper,  that  earth  and  hell  have  never  done  all  that  they 
would  unto  me. 

Let  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  be  praised  as  our  blessed  helper  :  that 
s<one  which  the  foolish  builders  have  refused,  Oh!  set  up  that  stone; 
even  that  high  rock ;  set  him  on  high  in  our  praises,  and  say,  that  that  is 
our  Ebenezer.  'Tis  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  in  his  infinite  com- 
passions for  the  town  hath  said,  as  in  Isa.  Ixiii.  5,  /  looked,  and  there  was 
none  to  help  ;  therefore  my  own  arm  hath  brought  salvation  unto  it.  It  is 
foretold  concerning  th«  idolatrous  Roman  Catholicks,  that  together  with 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  they  shall  worship  other  Mauzzim  ;  that  is  to  say, 
other  protectors.  Accordingly,  all  their  towns  ordinarily  have  singled 
out  their  protectors  among  the  saints  of  heaven  ;  such  a  saint  is  entituled 
unto  the  patronage  of  such  a  town  among  them,  and  such  a  saint  for  an- 
other :  old  Boston,  by  name,  was  but  saint  Botolph's  town.  Whereas 
thou,  O  Boston,  shalt  have  but  one  protector  in  heaven,  and  that  is  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Oh  !  rejoice  in  him  alone,  and  say,  the  Lord  is  my 
Jortress  and  my  deliverer  !  There  was  a  song  once  made  for  a  town, 
which  in  its  distresses  had  been  helped  wondrously  ;  and  the  first  clause 
in  that  song,  [you  have  it  in  Isa.  xxvi.  1 ,]  may  be  so  rendred,  We  have  a 
strong  town ;  salvation  [or  Jesus  the  Lord,  whose  name  hath  salvation  in 
it]  will  appoint  walls  and  bulwarks.  Truly  what  help  we  have  had  we  will 
sing,  'Tis  our  Jesus  that  hath  appointed  them.  The  old  pagan  towns  were 
sometimes  mighty  solicitous  to  conceal  the  name  of  the  particular  God  thai 
they  counted  their  protector,  JVe  ab  hostibus  Evocatus,  alio  commigraret , 
But  I  shall  be  far  from  doing  my  to^vn  any  damage,  bv  publishing  the 


m  MAGNALIA  CHKISTI  AMERICANA;  [Book  I. 

name  of  its  protector  ;  no,  let  all  mankind  know,  that  the  name  of  our 
protector  is  Jescs  Christ  :  for  Among  the  Gods  there  is  none  like  unto 
thee,  OLord:  7ior  is  any  help  like  unto  thine  :  and  there  is  no  rock  like  to 
.  our  God. 

Yea,  when  we  ascribe  the  name  of  helper  unto  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
let  us  also  acknowledge  that  the  name  is  not  sufficiently  expressive,  em- 
phatical  and  signiticant.  Lactantius  of  old  blamed  the  heathen  for  giving 
ihe  highest  of  their  Gods  no  higher  a  title  than  that  of  Jupiter,  or  Juvanf: 
pater,  i.  e.  an  helping  father  ;  and  he  say$,  A'on  inteUigit  Divina  Beneji- 
cia,  qui  se  a  Deo  tantummodo  Juvari  putat :  the  kindnessts  of  God  are  not 
understood  by  that  man,  who  makes  no  more  than  an  helper  of  him. 
Such  indeed  is  the  penury  of  our  language,  that  we  cannot  coin  a  more 
expressive  name.  Nevertheless,  when  we  say,  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
hath  been  our  helper,  let  us  intend  mere  than  we  express  ;  Lord,  thou 
hast  been  all  unto  us. 

Secondly,  Let  the  sacrifice  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  most  explicitely 
have  the  glory  of  purchasing  for  us  all  our  help.  What  was  it  that  pro- 
cured an  Ebenezer  for  the  people  of  God  i  We  read  in  2  Sam.  vii.  9.  ^zva- 
nel  took  a  sucking  lamh ,  and  qff'ered  it  a  burnt-offering  wholly  unto  the 
Lord ;  and  Samuel  cried  unto  the  Lord  for  Israel,  and  the  Lord  heard  him. 
Shall  I  tell  you  ?  Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  that  lamb  of  God  ;  and  he 
has  been  a  lamb  slain  as  a  sacrifice  ;  and  he  is  a  sacrifice  pleadable  not 
only  for  persons,  but  also  for  peoples  that  belong  unto  him.  To  teach  us 
this  evangelical  and  comfortable  mystery,  there  was  a  sacrifice  for  the 
-tnhole  congregation  prescribed  in  the  Mosaic  Paedagogy.  'Tis  notorious 
that  the  sins  of  this  town  have  been  many  sins,  and  mighty  sins  ;  the  cry 
thereof  hath  gone  up  to  Heaven.  If  the  Almighty  God  should  from  Hea- 
ven rain  down  upon  the  town  an  horrible  tempest  of  thunderbolts,  as  he 
did  upon  the  cities  Ti-hich  he  overthrew  in  his  anger,  and  repented  not,  it 
would  be  no  more  than  our  unrepented  sins  deserve.  How  comes  it 
then  to  pass  that  we  have  had  so  much  help  from  Heaven  after  all  ?  Tru- 
ly ihe  sacrifice  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  has  been  pleaded  for  Boston, ^nA 
therefore  say,  therefore  it  is  that  the  town  is  not  made  a  sacrifice  to  the 
vengeance  of  God.  God  sent  help  to  the  town  that  was  the  very  heart  and 
life  of  the  land  that  he  had  a  pity  for  :  but  why  so  1  He  said  in  Isa.  xxxvii. 
3.5,  I  will  defend  this  town,  to  save  it  for  my  servant  David's  sa/ce.  Has 
this  town  been  defended  ?  It  has  been  for  the  sake  of  the  beloved  Jesus  ; 
therefore  has  the  daughter  ofBostoii  shaken  her  head  at  you,  O  ye  calami- 
ties that  have  been  impending  over  her  head.  O  helped  and  happy  town  ! 
Thou  hast  had  those  believers  in  the  midst  of  thee,  that  have  plead- 
«3d  this  with  the  great  God  ;  Ah  !  Lord,  thou  hast  been  more  honoured  by 
the  sufferings  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  than  thou  couldst  be  honoured  by 
overwhelming  this  town  with  all  the  plagues  of  thy  just  indignation.  If 
thou  wilt  spare,  and  feed,  and  keep,  and  help  this  poor  town,  the  sufferings 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  shall  be  owned  as  the  prize  of  all  our  help.  'Tis 
this  that  hath  procured  us  all  our  help  :  'tis  this  that  must  have  all  our 
praise. 

Thirdly,  Let  the  Lord  be  in  a  special  manner  glorifed  for  the  ministry 
of  his  good  angels,  in  that  help  that  has  been  ministred  unto  us.  A  Jacob 
lying  on  a  stone,  saw  the  angels  of  God  helping  him.  We  are  setting  up 
an  Ebenezer  ;  but  when  vve  lay  our  heads  and  our  thoughts  upon  the  stone, 
let  us  then  see,  the  angels  of  God  have  helped  us.  When  Macedonia  was 
to  have  some  he/p  from  God,  an  angel,  whom  the  apostle  in  Acts  xvi.  9, 
•^aw  habited  like  a  man  o/'Macedonia,  was  a  mean  of  its  being  brought  untc 


Book  i.j       OR,  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  89 

them.  There  is  abundant  cause  to  think,  that  every  town  in  which  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  is  worshipped,  hath  an  angel  to  watcli  over  it.  The  primi- 
tive christians  were  pers waded  from  the  scriptures  of  truth  to  make  no 
doubt  of  this,  Quod  per  CivitcUes  distributee  sunt  Angelormn  prafecturw. 
When  the  capital  town  of  Judea  was  rescued  from  an  invasion,  we  read 
in  2  Kings  six.  35,  The  angel  of  the  Lord  went  out,  and  smote  the  camp 
of  the  Assyrians.  It  should  seem  there  was  an  angel  which  did  reside  in, 
and  preside  over  the  town,  who  zi-ent  out  for  that  amazing  exploit.  And 
is  it  not  likely,  that  the  angel  of  the  Lord  went  out  for  to  smite  the  fleet 
of  the  Assyrians  with  a  sickness,  which  the  last  summer  hindred  their  in- 
vading of  this  town  ?  The  angel  oyBosTON  was  concerned  for  it!  Why 
have  not  the  destroyers  broke  in  upon  us,  to  prey  upon  us  with  sore  de- 
struction  ?  'Tis  because  we  have  had  a  rvall  of  fire  about  us  ;  that  is  to 
say,  a  guard  of  angels,  those  flames  of  Jire  have  been  as  a  rvall  unto  us. 
It  was  an  angel  that  helped  a  Daniel  when  the  lions  Avould  else  have 
swallowed  him  up.  It  was  an  angel  that  helped  a  Lot  out  of  the  fires 
that  were  coming  to  consume  his  habitation.  It  was  an  a^igel  that  helped 
an  Elias  to  meat  when  he  wanted  it.  They  were  angels  that  helped  the 
whole  people  of  God  in  the  wilderness  to  their  daily  bread :  their  man- 
na was  angePs  food :  and  is  it  nothing  that  such  ajigels  have  done  for 
this  town,  think  you  ?  Oh !  think  not  so.  Indeed  if  we  should  go  to 
thank  the  angels  for  doing  these  things,  they  would  zealously  say.  See 
thou  do  it  not !  But  if  we  thank  their  Lord  and  ours  for  his  employing 
them*^to  do  these  things,  it  will  exceedingly  gratifie  them.  Wherefore, 
Bless  ye  the  Lord,  ye  his  angels  ;  and  blebsthe  Lord,  O  my  town,  for  those 
his  angels. 

III.  Let  the  help  which  we  have  hitherto  had  from  our  God,  encour- 
age us  to  hope  in  him  for  more  help  hereafter  as  the  matter  may  require. 
The  help  that  God  had  given  to  his  people  of  old  was  commemorated. 
as  with  monumental  pillars,  conveying  down  the  remembrance  of  it  unto 
their  children.  And  what  for  ?  ,We  are  told  in  Psal.  Ixxviii.  7,  That 
they  might  set  their  hope  in  God,  and  not  forget  the  works  of  God.  I  am 
not  willing  to  say  how  much  this  town  may  be  threatned,  even  with  an 
titter  extirpation.  But  this  I  will  say,  the  motto  upon  all  our  Ebenezers, 
is,  Hope  in  God  !  Hope  in  God  I  The  use  of  the  former  help  that  we 
have  had  from  God,  should  be  an  hope  for  future  help  from  him,  that  is 
a  present  help  in  the  time  of  trouble.  As  in  the  three  first  verses  of  the 
eighty-fifth  Psalm  six  times  over  there  occurs.  Thou  hast,  Thou  hast :  all 
to  usher  in  this  ;  Therefore  thou  wilt  still  do  so.  O  let  our  faith  pro- 
ceed in  that  way  of  arguing  in  2  Cor.  i.  10,  The  Lord  hath  delivered,  and 
he  doth  deliver,  and  in  him  we  trust  that  he  will  still  deliver.  We  are  to- 
day writing,  Hitherto  the  Lord  hath  helped  us ;  let  us  write  under  it,  Jlnd 
we  hope  the  Lord  has  more  help  for  us  in  the  time  of  need !  It  may  be  some  are 
purposing  suddenly  and  hastily  to  leave  the  town  through  their  fears  of 
the  straits  that  may  come  upon  it.  But  I  would  not  have  you  be  too  sudden 
and  hasty  in  your  purposes,  as  too  many  have  been  unto  their  after-sor- 
row. There  was  a  time  when  people  were  so  discouraged  about  a  sub- 
sistence  in  the  principal  town  of  the  Jews,  that  they  talked  of  plucking 
up  stakes  and  flying  away  ;  but  the  minister  of  God  came  to  them,  [and 
so  do  I  to  you  this  day !]  saying,  in  Isa.  xxx.  7,  /  cried  concerning  this, 
their  strength  is  to  sit  still !  Boston  was  no  sooner  come  to  some  consist- 
ence threescore  years  ago,  but  the  people  found  themselves  plunged  into 
a  sad  nonplus  what  way  to  take  for  a  stibsistence.  God  then  immediately 
put  them  into  a  way,  and  hitherto  the  Lord,  has  helped  us  !     The  town  is  at 

Vol.  I.  1« 


90  MAGNALIA  CHIUSTI  AMERICANA  [L'ooic  I 

this  day  full  of  ■widom-s  and  orphans,  and  a  multitude  of  them  are  very- 
helpless  creatures.  I  am  astonished  how  they  live  !  In  that  church 
whereof  I  am  the  servant,  I  have  counted  the  zi'ldon-s  make  about  a  sixth 
part  of  our  communicants,  and  no  doubt  in  the  whole  town  the  propor- 
tion differs  not  very  much.  Now  stand  still,  my  friends,  and  behold  the 
help  of  God  !  Were  any  of  these  ever  starved  yet?  No,  these  ■widozcs 
are  every  one  in  some  sort  provided  for.  And  let  me  tell  you,  ye  hand- 
maids of  the  Lord,  you  shall  be  still  provided  for!  The  Lord,  whose 
family  you  belong  unto, will  conveniently  and  wonderfully  provide  foryouj 
if  you  say.  and  Oh  !  say  of  him.  The  Lord  is  my  helper,   I  xinll  not  fear  ! 

What  shall  1  say  ?  When  Moses  was  ready  to  faint  in  h\%praijeis  for 
his  people,  we  read  in  Exod.  xvii.  12,  They  took  a  stone,  and  put  it  under 
him.  Christians,  there  are  some  of  you  who  abotmd  in  prayers,  that 
the  help  of  God  may  be  granted  unto  the  town  ;  the  town  is  much  up- 
held by  those  prayers  of  yours.  Now  that  you  may  not  faint  in  your 
prayers,  I  bring  you  a  stone  :  the  stone,  'tis  our  Ebenczer ;  or,  the  rela- 
tion of  Ihe  help  that  hitherto  the  Lord  hath  given  us. 

IV.  Let  all  that  bear  public  office  in  the  town  contribute  all  the 
help  they  can,  that  may  continue  the  help  of  God  unto  u.*.  Avslin  in 
his  confessions  gives  thanks  to  God,  that  when  he  was  an  helpless  infant, 
he  had  a  nurse  to  help  him,  and  one  that  was  both  able  and  willing  to 
help  him.  Infant- jBos^on,  thou  hast  those  whom  the  bible  calls  nursing- 
fathers.  Oh  be  not  fro'jcard,  as  thou  art  in  thy  treating  of  thy  nurses  ; 
but  give  thanks  to  God  for  them,  I  forget  ray  self;  'tis  with  the  fathers 
themselves  that  I  am  concerned. 

When  it  was  demanded  of  Demosthenes,  what  it  was  that  so  long  pre- 
served .ilthens  in  a  flourishing  state,  he  made  this  answer,  The  orators  are 
men  of  learning  and  n-isdom,  the  inagistiates  do  justice,  the  citizens  love 
quiet,  and  the  lan-s  arc  kept  among  them  all.  May  Boston  flourish  in  such 
happy  order  ! 

And  first,  you  may  assure  yourselves  that  the  ministers  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  among  you  will  be  joyful  to  approve  themselves,  as  the 
Book  of  God  has  called  them.  The  helpers  of  your  joy.  O  our  dear 
flocks,  we  owe  you  our  all ;  all  our  love,  all  our  strength,  all  our  time  ; 
we  71' at ch  for  you  as  those  that  must  give  an  account :  and  I  am  very  much 
mistaken  if  we  are  not  willing  to  die  for  you  too.  if  called  unto  it.  If 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  should  say  to  us.  My  servant,  if  yo'll  die  to  night, 
you  shall  have  this  reix'ard  ;  the  people  that  you  preach  to  shall  be  all  con- 
verted unto  me!  I  think  we  should  with  triumphing  souls  reply,  Jih  ! 
Lord,  then  Fll  die  zc-ith  all  my  heart.  Sirs,  we  should  go  away  rejoycing 
loiih  joy  unspeakable  and  full  of  glory.  I  am  satisfied,  that  the  most  fu- 
rious and  foul-mouthed  reviler  that  God  may  give  any  of  us  to  be  buf- 
feted withal,  if  he  will  but  come  to  sober  thoughts,  he  will  say,  That 
there  is  not  any  one  man  in  the  town,  but  the  ministers  wish  that  man  as 
well  as  they  do  their  own  souls,  and  would  gladly  serve  that  man  by  day 
or  by  night,  in  any  thing  that  it  were  possible  to  do  for  him.  Where- 
fore, O  our  beloved  people,  I  beseech  you  leave  off,  leave  off  to  throw 
stones  at  your  Ebctiezers.  Instead  of  that  pray  for  ns,  and  strive  together 
with  us  in  your  prayers  to  God  for  us.  Then  with  the  help  of  Christ 
we'll  promise  you,  we  will  set  our  selves  to  observe  what  special  truths 
may  be  most  needful  to  be  inculcated  upon  you,  and  we  will  inculcate 
them.  We  will  set  our  selves  to  observe  the  temptations  that  beset  you, 
the  affiictions  that  assault  you,  and  the  duties  that  are  incumbent  on  you  ; 
and  we  will  accommodate  our  selves  unto  them.    We  will  set  our  selves 


Book  I.]       OR,  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  91 

to  observe  what  souls  among  you  do  call  for  our  more  particular  address- 
es, and  we  will  address  them  faithfall}',  and  even  iravet  in  birth  for  them. 
Nor  will  we  give  over  praying,  and  fasting,  and  crying  to  our  great 
Lord  for  you  until  we  die.  Whatever  other  helpers  the  town  enjoys, 
they  shall  have  that  convenience  in  Ezra  v.  2,  With  them,  were  the 
prophets  of  God,  helping  them.  Well  then,  let  the  rest  of  our  worthy 
helpers  lend  an  helping  hand  for  the  promoting  of  those  things  wherein 
the  weal  of  the  town  is  wrapped  up  !  When  the  Jews  thought  that  a  de- 
filing thing  was  breaking  in  among  them,  in  Acts  xxi.  28,  They  cried  out, 
Men  of  Israel,  help.  Truly  there  is  cause  to  make  that  cry,  Alen  of  Bos- 
ton, help  !  for  ignorance,  and  prophaneness,  and  bad  living,  and  the  worst 
things  in  the  world,  are  breaking  in  upon  us. 

And  now  will  the  Justices  of  the  town  set  themselves  to  consider, 
HoTio  they  may  help  to  suppress  all  groxanrig  vices  ainong  %is  ? 

Will  the  Constables  of  the  town  set  themselves  to  consider,  Ho-w 
they  may  help  to  prevent  all  evil  orders  among  us  ? 

There  are  some  who  have  the  eye  of  the  town  so  much  upon  them, 
that  the  very  name  of  Towns-men  is  that  by  which  they  are  distinguish- 
ed. Sirs,  will  you  also  consider  how  to  help  the  affairs  of  the  town,  so  as 
that  all  things  may  go  well  among  us  ? 

Moreover,  may  not  School-masters  do  much  to  instil  principles  of 
religion  and  civility,  as  well  as  other  points  of  good  education  into  the 
children  of  the  town?  Only  let  the  town  well  encourage  its  well-de- 
serving school-masters. 

There  are  some  officers ;  but  concerning  all,  there  are  these  two 
things  to  be  desired.  First,  it  is  to  be  desired,  that  such  officers  as  are 
chosen  among  us,  may  be  chosen  in  the /ear  of  God.  May  none  but  pi- 
ous and  prudent  men,  and  such  as  love  the  town,  be  chosen  to  serve  it. 
And,  secondly,  it  is  to  be  desired,  that  oncers  of  several  sorts  would  often 
come  together  for  consultation.  Each  of  the  sorts  by  themselves,  may 
they  often  come  together  to  consult,  What  shall  we  do  to  serve  the  town 
in  those  interests  which  are  committed  unto  our  charge?  Oh  I  what  a  de- 
plorable thing  will  it  be  for  persons  to  be  entrusted  with  talents,  [your 
opportunities  to  serve  the  town  are  so  many  talents.']  and  they  never 
seriously  consider.  What  good  shall  I  do  with  my  talents  in  the  place  where 
God  hath  stationed  me  '^ 

And  will  the  Representatives  of  the  town  be  considered  among  the 
rest,  as  entrusted  with  some  singular  advantages  for  our  help  !  The  Lord 
give  you  understanding  in  all  things. 

V.  God  help  the  town  to  manifest  all  that  piety,  which  a  town  so 
helped  of  him  is  obliged  unto  !  When  the  people  of  God  had  been  car- 
ried by  his  help  through  their  dilficulties,  they  set  up  stones  to  keep  in 
mind  how  he  had  helped  them  :  and  something  was  written  on  the 
stones  :  but  what  was  written  !  see  Josh.  viii.  32,  Joshua  wrote  upon  the 
stones  a  copy  of  the  law.  Truly  upon  those  Ebenezers  which  we  set  up, 
we  should  write  the  law  of  our  God,  and  recognize  the  obligations  which 
the  help  of  our  God  has  laid  upon  us  to  keep  it. 

We  are  a  very  unpardonable  town,  if  after  all  the  help  which  our 
God  has  given  us,  we  do  not  ingenuously  enquire,  WhatshnV  ive  render  to 
the  Lord  fur  all  his  benefits  ?  Render  I  Oh  !  let  us  our  selves  thus  answer 
the  enquiry  ;  Lord,  we  will  render  all  possible  and  filial  obedience  unto  thee, 
because  hitherto  thou  h'lst  helped  us  :  only  do  thou  ah'i  hi'lp  us  to  reudc-  that 
obedience!  Mark  what  I  say  ;  if  there  be  so  much  as  one  prayerless  house 
in  such  a  town  as  this,  'tis  inexcusable  !  How  inexcusable  then  will  be  all 


92  MAGNALIA  CHRISTI  AMERICANA:  [Book  1. 

flagitious  outrages  i*  There  was  a  town,  ['twas  the  town  of  Sodom  1]  that 
had  been  wontierfuUy  saved  out  of  the  hands  of  their  enemies.  But  af- 
ter tlie  lieljj  that  God  sent  unto  them,  the  town  went  on  to  sin  against  God 
in  very  prodigious  instances.  At  last  a  provoked  God  sent  nflre  upon  the 
town  that  made  it  an  eternal  desolation.  Ah,  Boston,  beware,  beware, 
lest  the  sins  of  Smlom  get  footing  in  thee  !  And  what  were  the  sins  of 
Souom  ?  VV  e  lind  in  Ezek.  xvi.  49.  Behold,  this  ivas  the  iniquity  of  Sodom; 
priatfjulncib  of  bread,  and  abundance  vj  idleness  uas  in  her  ;  neither  did 
she  strengthen  the  hundoj  the  poor  and  the  needy  ;  there  was  much  oppres- 
sion there.  If  you  know  of  any  scandalous  disorders  in  the  town,  do 
all  you  can  to  suppress  them,  and  redress  them  :  and  let  not  those  that 
send  their  sons  hitlier  from  other  parts  of  the  world,  for  to  be  improved 
in  viitue,  have  cause  to  complain,  That  after  they  came  to  Boston  they  lost 
ivhal  little  viitue  was  bejuie  budding  in  them  ;  that  in  Boston  they  grew 
more  debauched  and  more  maligttant  than  ever  they  were  before  !  It  was 
noted  concerning  the  famous  town  of  Port-Royal  in  Jamaica,  which  you 
know  was  the  other  day  swallowed  up  in  a  stupendous  earthquake,  that 
just  before  the  earthquake  the  people  were  violently  and  scandalously  set 
upon  going  to  Fortune-tel lers  upon  all  occasions  :  much  notice  was  taken 
of  this  imi.iety  generally  prevailing  among  the  people  :  but  none  of  those 
wretched  Fortune-tellers  could  foresee,  or  forestal  the  direful  catastrophe. 
I  have  heard  tiiat  there  are  Fortune-tellers  in  this  town  sometimes  con- 
sulted by  some  of  the  sinful  inhabitants.  1  wish  the  town  could  be  made 
too  hot  Ibr  these  dangerous  transgressors.  1  am  sure  the  preservation 
of  the  town  from  horrendous  earthquakes,  is  one  thing  that  bespeaks  our 
Ebenezers ;  'tis  trom  the  merciful  help  of  our  God  unto  us.  But  beware 
I  beseech  3'f  u,  of  those  piovoking  evils  that  may  expose  us  to  a  plague, 
exceeding  all  that  are  in  the  catalogue  of  the  iwenty-eighth  of  Deuterono- 
my. Let  me  go  on  to  say,  What,  shall  there  be  any  bawdy-houses 
in  sucli  a  town  as  this  !  It  may  be  the  neighbours,  that  coulJ  smoke  them, 
and  rout  them,  if  they  would,  are  loth  to  stir,  for  fear  of  being  reputed 
ill  neighbdurs.  But  1  say  unto  you,  that  you  are  ill  neighbours  because 
you  do  it  not.  All  the  neighbours  are  like  to  have  their  children  and 
servants  poisoned,  and  their  dwellings  laid  in  ashes,  because  you  do  it 
not.  And  Oh!  that  the  drinking  houses  in  the  town  might  once  come 
under  a  laudable  regulation.  The  town  has  an  enormous  number  of  them; 
will  the  haunteis  of  those  houses  hear  the  counsels  of  heaven?  For  you 
that  are  the  toivn-dwe/lcrs,  to  be  oft,  or  long  in  your  visits  of  the  ordinary, 
'twill  certainly  expose  you  to  niischiefs  more  than  ordinary.  I  have 
seen  certain  taverns,  where  the  pictures  of  horrible  devourers  were 
hanged  out  for  the  signs  ;  and,  thought  I,  'twere  well  if  such  signs  were 
not  sometimes  too  sigr.ificanl :  alas,  men  have  their  estates  devoured, 
their  names  devoured,  their  hours  devoured,  and  their  very  souls  devour- 
ed, when  they  are  so  besotted,  that  they  are  not  in  their  element,  except 
thev  be  tipling  at  such  houses.  When  once  a  man  is  bewitched  with  the 
ordmaiy,  what  usually  becomes  of  him  .'  He  is  a  go7ie  man  ;  and  when  he 
comes  to  die,  he  will  cry  out  as  many  have  done.  Ale-houses  are  hell-houses! 
ale-houses  are  heU-hovses  !  But  let  the  owners  of  those  houses  also  now  hear 
our  counsels.  Oh!  hearken  to  me,  that  God  may  hearken  to  you  another  day! 
It  is  an  honest,  and  a  lumful,  though  it  may  not  be  a  very  desirable  employ- 
ment, that  you  have  undertaken  :  you  may  glorife  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
in  your  employment  if  you  will,  and  benetit  the  town  considerably.  There 
was  a  very  got'h  man  that  was  an  iidteeper,  and  a  great  nunister  of  God 
could  say  to  that  man,  in  3  John  2,  Thy  soul  prospereth.     O  let  it  not  be 


I500K  I.]         OR,  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  93 

said  of  you,  since  you  are  fallen  into  this  employment,  Thy  soul  wither- 
eth  !  It  is  thus  with  too  many  :  especially,  when  they  that  get  a  license 
perhaps  to  sell  drink  out  of  doors,  do  stretch  their  license  to  sell 
within  doors.  Those  private  houses^  when  once  a  professor  of  the 
gospel  comes  to  steal  a  living  out  of  them,  it  commonly  precipi- 
tates them  into  an  abundance  of  wretchedness  and  confusion.  But  I  pray 
God  assist  you  that  keep  ordinaries,  to  keep  the  commandments  of  God 
in  them.  There  was  an  Inn  at  Bethlehem  where  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
was  to  be  met  withal.  Can  Boston  boast  of  many  such  ?  Alas,  too  ordi- 
narily it  may  be  said,  there  is  no  room  jor  him  in  the  Inn  I  My  friends,  let 
me  beg  it  of  you,  banish  the  unfruitful  loorks  of  darkness  irom  your  houses, 
and  then  the  sun  of  righteousness  will  shine  upon  them.  Don't  counten- 
ance drunkenness,  revelling,  and  mis-spending  of  precious  time  in  your 
houses  ;  let  none  have  the  snares  of  death  laid  for  them  in  your  houses. 
You'll  say,  I  shall  starve  then  /  I  say,  better  starve  than  sin  :  but  yon  shall 
'not.  It  is  the  word  of  the  Most  High,  trust  in  the  Lord,  and  do  good,  and 
verily  thou  shalt  be  fed.  And  is  not  peace  of  conscience,  with  a  little ,he.\.- 
ter  than  those  riches,  that  will  shortly  melt  away,  and  then  run  like 
scalding  metal  down  the  very  bowels  of  thy  soul  ? 

What  shall  I  say  more  ?  There  is  one  article  of  piety  more  to  be  re- 
commended unto  us  all ;  and  it  is  an  article  which  all  piety  does  exceed- 
ingly turn  upon,  that  is,  the  sanctification  of  the  Lord's  day. 
Some  very  judicious  persons  have  observed,  that  as  they  sanctify  the 
Lord^s  day,  remisly  or  carefully,  just  so  their  avoirs  usually  prospered  all 
the  ensuing  week  Sirs,  you  cannot  more  consult  the  prosperity  of  the 
town,  in  all  its  affairs,  than  by  endeavouring  that  the  Lord's  day  may  be 
exemplarily  sanctified.  When  people  about  Jerusalem  took  too  much 
liberty  on  the  sabbath,  the  ruler  of  the  town  contended  with  them,  and 
said,  Ye  bring  wrath  upon  Israel,  by  prophaning  the  sabbath.  I  fear,  I 
fear  there  are  many  among  us,  to  whom  it  may  be  said,  Ye  bring  wrath 
wpow  Boston,  by  prophaning  the  sabbath.  And  what  a^ro^,^  .^  Ah,  Lord, 
prevent  it !  But  there  is  an  awful  sentence  in  Jer.  xvii.  27,  If  ye  will  not 
hearken  unto  me,  to  sanctife  the  sabbath  day,  then  will  I  kindle  a  fire  on 
the  town,  and  it  shall  devour,  and  shall  not  be  quenched. 

Finally,  Let  the  piety  of  the  town  manifest  it  self  in  a  due  regard  unto 
the- Institutions  of  him  whose  help  has  hitherto  been  a  shield  unto  us. 
Let  the  ark  be  in  the  town,  and  God  will  bless  the  town  !  I  believe  il. 
may  be  found,  that  in  the  mortal  scourges  of  heaven,  which  this  town  has 
felt,  there  has  been  a  discernable  distinction  of  those  that  have  come  up 
to  attend  all  the  ordinances  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  in  the  communion 
of  his  churches  Though  these  have  had,  as  'tis  fit  they  should,  a  share 
in  the  common  deaths,  yet  the  destroying  angel  has  not  had  so  great  a 
proportion  of  these  in  his  commission,  as  he  has  had  of  others.  Whe- 
ther this  be  so,  or  no,  to  uphold,  and  support,  and  attend  the  ordinances 
of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  reforming  churches,  this  will  entitle  the  town 
to  the  help  of  heaven  ;  for,  Upon  the  glory  there  shall  be  a  defence ! 
There  were  the  victorious  forces  of  Alexander,  that  in  going  bad-; ward 
and  forward,  passed  hy  Jerusalem  without  hurting  it.  Why  so.''  Said 
the  Lord  in  Zech.  ix.  8.  I  will  encamp  about  my  house,  because  rf  the  ar- 
my. If  our  God  have  an  house  here,  he'll  encamp  about  it.  Kazianzen, 
a  famous  minister  of  the  gospel,  taking  his  farewel  of  Constantinople,  an 
old  man  that  had  sat  under  his  ministry,  cried  out.  Oh!  my  father,  don't 
you  dare  to  go  away,  rjoii'll  carry  the  whole  Trinity  with  you!    How  much 


y4  xMAGNALlA  CHRiSTl  AMERICANA ;  [Book  1. 

more  may  it  be  cried  out,  Jf  tyg  lose  or  slight  the  ordinances  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  ■a,"c  forego  the  help  of  all  the  IVinitij  rvilh  them! 

VI.  Extraordinary  EqLiTV  and  charity,  as  well  as  piety,  well  be- 
comes a  town  that  hath  been  by  the  help  of  God  so  extraortlinarily  sig- 
nalized. A  town  marvellously  helped  by  God,  has  this  foretold  concern- 
ing it,  in  ha.  i.  2G,  .ifterri:ard  thou  shall  be  called,  the  city  of  righteous- 
ness, the  faithful  city.  May  the  Ebenezers  of  this  town  render  it  a  town 
of  equity,  and  a  town  of  charity  !  Oh  !  there  should  be  none  but  fair 
dealings  in  a  town  wherewith  heaven  has  dealt  so  favourably.  Let  us 
deal  fairly  in  bargains  ;  deal  fairly  in  taxes  ;  deal  fairly  in  paying  re- 
spects to  such  as  have  been  benefactors  unto  the  town.  'Tis  but  equit)', 
that  they  who  have  been  old  standers  in  the  town,  and  both  with  person 
and  estate  served  the  town  unto  the  utmost  for  many  years  together, 
should  on  all  proper  occasions  be  considered.  For  charily,  1  may  in- 
deed speak  it  without  flattery,  this  town  has  not  many  equals  on  the  face 
of  the  earth.  Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  from  heaven  wrote  unto  the  good 
people  of  a  town  in  the  lesser  Asia,  [Rev.  ii.  19.]  /  knorv  thy  t^orAs  and 
charity.  From  that  blessed  Lord  I  may  venture  to  bring  that  message 
unto  the  good  people  of  this  town  ;  the  glorious  Lord  of  heaven  knorcs  thy 
works,  O  Boston,  and  all  thy  charity.  This  is  a  poor  town,  and  yet  it  may 
be  said  of  the  Bostonians,  as  it  was  of  the  Macedonians ,  their  deep  pov- 
erty hath  abounded  unto  the  riches  of  their  liberality.  O  ye  bountiful  peo- 
ple of  God,  all  your  daily  hountiesio  the  needy,  all  your  subscriptions  to 
send  the  bread  of  life  abroad  unto  places  that  are  perishing  in  wicked- 
ness, all  your  collections  in  your  assemblies  as  often  as  they  are  called 
for  ;  all  these  alms  are  come  up  for  a  memorial  before  God!  The  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  in  heaven  hath  beheld  your  helpfulness,  and  readiness  to 
every  good  work  ;  and  he  hath  requited  it  with  his  helpful  Ebenczers. 
It  %vas  said,  in  Isa.  xxxii.  8,  The  liberal  deviseth  liberal  things,  and  by  libe- 
ral things  ke  shall  staled.  There  are  some  in  this  town  that  are  always 
devising  liberal  things,  and  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  lets  the  town  stand 
for  the  sake  of  those  I  Instead  of  exhorting  you  to  augment  your 
charity,  I  will  rather  utter  an  exhortation,  or  at  least  a  supplication, 
that  you  may  not  abuse  your  charity  by  misapplying  of  it.  I  remember 
I  have  read,  that  an  inhabitant  of  the  city  Pisa  being  asked  why  their 
town  so  went,  as  it  then  did,  unto  decay  ?  He  fetched  a  deep  sigh,  and 
said.  Our  young  men  are  too  prodigal,  our  old  men  are  too  affectionate, 
and  tie  have  no  punishment  for  those  that  spend  their  years  in  idleness. 
Ah !  the  last  stroak  of  that  complaint  I  must  here  sigh  it  over  again. 
Idletiess,  alas  !  idleness  increases  ia  the  town  exceedingly  ;  idleness,  of 
which  there  never  came  any  goodness  !  idleness,  which  is  a  reproach  to 
any  people.  We  work  hard  all  summer,  and  the  drones  count  themselves 
wronged  if  they  have  it  not  in  the  winter  divided  among  them.  The 
poor  that  can't  work,  are  objects  for  your  liberality.  But  the  poor  that 
can  work  and  won't,  the  best  liberality  to  them  is  to  jnake  them.  I  be- 
seech you,  sirs,  find  out  a  method  quickly,  that  the  idle  persons  in  the 
town  may  earn  their  bread ;  it  were  the  best  piece  of  charity  that  could 
be  shown  unto  them,  and  equity  unto  us  all.  Our  beggars  do  shamefully 
grow  upon  us,  and  such  beggars  too  as  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  himself 
hath  expressly  forbidden  us  to  countenance.  I  have  read  a  printed  ser- 
mon which  was  preached  before  both  Houses  of  Parliament,  the  Lord 
Mayor  and  Aldermen  of  London,  and  the  Assembly  tf  Divines  ;  the  great- 
est audience  then  in  the  world  :  and  in  that  sermon  the  preacher  had 
this  passage  ;  /  have  lived  in  a  country  -jchere  in  seven  years  I  never  mzc 


Book  I.]       OR,  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  He- 

a  beggar,  nor  heard  an  oalh,  nor  looked  upon  a  drunkard.  Shall  I  tell 
you  where  that  Utopia  was?  'Twas  New-England  !  But  they  that  go 
from  hence  must  now  tell  another  story. 

V^ll.  May  the  changes,  and  especially  the  judgnunts  that  have  come 
upon  the  town,  direct  us  what  help  to  petition  from  the  God  of  our  salva- 
tions. The  Israelites  had  formerly  seen  dismal  things,  where  they  now 
set  up  their  EOenezer  :  the  Philistines  had  no  less  than  twice  beaten  them 
there,  and  there  taken  from  them  the  Ark  of  God.  Now  we  are  setting 
up  our  Ehenezer,  let  us  a  little  call  to  mind  some  dismal  things  that  we 
have  seen  ;  the  Ehenezer  will  go  up  the  better  for  it. 

We  read  in  1  Sam.  vi.  18,  concerning //le  g-jcaf  stone  ofAhel.  Some  say, 
that  Adam  erected  that  stone,  as  a  grave-stone  for  his  Abel,  and  wrote  that 
epitaph  upon  it.  Here  was  poured  out  the  blood  of  the  righteous  Abel.  I 
know  nothing  of  this  ;  the  names,  I  know,  differ  in  the  original  ;  but  as 
we  may  erect  many  a  stoiie  for  an  Ehenezer,  so  we  may  erect  many  a  great 
stone  of  Abel,  that  is  to  say,  we  may  write  mourning  and  sorrow,  upon 
the  condition  of  the  town  in  various  examples.  Now  from  the  stories  of 
Abel,  we  will  a  little  gather  what  we  should  wish  to  write  upon  the  stones 
of  our  Ehenezer. 

What  changes  have  we  seen  in  point  o(  religion  ?  It  was  noted  by  Lu- 
ther, he  cordd  never  see  good  order  in  the  church  last  more  thanffteen  years 
together  in  the  purity  of  it.  Blessed  be  God,  religion  hath  here  flourished 
in  the  purity  of  it  for  more  thnn  fifteen  years  together.  But  certainly  the 
po-wer  of  Godliness  is  now  grievously  decayed  among  us.  As  the  prophet 
of  old  Exclaimed  in  Joel  i.  2,  Hear  this  ye  old  men,  and  give  ear,  ye  inha- 
bitants; has  this  been  in  your  days  ?  Thus  may  I  say,  Hear  this,  ye  old  men, 
that  are  the  inhabitants  of  the  tozcn :  can't  you  remember  thai  in  your  days, 
a  prayerful,  a  watchful, a  fruitful  christian,  and  a  well  governed  family,  was 
a  more  common  sight,  than  it  is  now  in  our  days  ?  Can't  you  remember  that 
in  your  days  those  abominable  things  did  not  shore  their  heads,  that  are  now 
barefaced  among  us  ?  Here  then  is  a  petition  to  be  made  unto  our  God  : 
Lord,  help  us  to  remember  -Si'hence  tee  are  fallen,  and  to  repent,  and  to  do 
the  first  rcorks. 

Again,  What  c/ianr;-es  have  we  seen  in  Tpo'int  of  mortality  ?  By  mortali- 
ty almost  all  the  old  race  of  our  first  planters  here  are  carried  off ;  the 
old  stock  is  in  a  manner  expired.  We  see  the  fulfilment  of  that  word  in 
Eccl.  i.  4,  One  generation  passetli  azvay,  and  another  generation  cometh. 
It  would  be  no  unprofitable  thing  for  you  to  pass  over  the  several  streets, 
and  call  to  mind,  "who  lived  liere  so  many  years  ago  ?  Why  ?  In  that  place 
lived  such  an  one.  But,  -where  are  they  now  ?  Oh  !  they  are  gone  ;  they 
are  gone  into  that  eternal  world,  whither  ti-e  must  quickly  follow  them. 
Here  is  another  petition  to  be  made  unto  our  God  ;  Lord  help  tis  to  num- 
ber our  days,  and  apply  our  hearts  unto  wisdom,  that  when  the  places  that 
now  know  us,  do  know  us  no  more,  we  may  be  gone  into  the  city  of  God. 

Furthermore,  What  changes  have  we  seen  in  point  of  possessions  ?  If 
=  ome  that  are  now  rich,  were  once  low  in  the  world,  "tis  possible,  more 
that  were  once  rich,  are  now  brought  very  low.  Ah  !  Boston,  thou  hast 
seen  the  vanity  of  all  worldly  possessions.  One  fatal  morning,  which  laid 
I  fourscore  of  thy  dwelling-houses,  and  seventy  of  thy  ware-house&,  in  a 
ruinous  heap,  not  nineteen  years  ago,  gave  thee  to  read  it  in  fiery  char- 
acters. And  an  huge  fleet  ofthy  vessels,  which  they  would  make  if  they 
were  all  together,  that  have  miscarried  in  the  late  war,  has  given  thee  to 
^cnd  more  of  it.     Here  is  one  petition  more  to  be  made  unto  our  God, 


96  MAGNALIA  CHRISTl  AMERICANA :  [Book  i. 

Lord  help  us  to  ensure  a  better  and  a  lasting  substance  in  Heaven,  and  the 
good  part  that  cannot  be  taken  away. 

In  fine,  how  dreadfully  have  the  young  people  of  Boston  perished  un- 
der the  judgments  of  God  !  A  renowned  writer,  among  the  Pagans  could 
make  this  remark  ;  there  was  a  town  so  irreligious  and  atheistical,  that 
they  did  not  pay  ihe.\v first-fruits  unto  God  ;  (which  the  light  of  nature 
taught  the  Pagans  to  do  I)  and,  says  he. they  were  by  a  sudden  desolation 
so  strangely  destroyed,  that  there  were  no  remainders  either  of  the  per- 
sons, or  of  the  houses,  to  be  seen  any  more.  Ah,  my  young  folks,  there 
are  few  first  fruits  paid  unto  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  among  you.  From 
hence  it  comes  to  pass,  that  the  consuming  wrath  of  God  is  every  day 
upon  you.  JVew-England  has  been  like  a  tottering  house,  the  very  foun- 
dations of  it  have  been  shaking  ;  but  the  house  thus  over-setting  by  the 
whirlwinds  of  the  wrath  of  God,  hath  been  like  /o6's  house  ;  It  falls 
upon  the  young  men,  and  they  are  dead !  The  disasters  on  our  young  folks 
have  been  so  multiplied,  that  there  are  few  parents  among  us,  but  what 
will  go  with  wounded  hearts  down  unto  their  graves  :  their  daily  moans 
are,  Ah,  my  son  cut  off'  in  his  youth  !  My  son,  my  son!  Behold  then  the 
help  that  we  are  to  ask  of  our  God  ;  and  why  do  we,  with  no  more  days 
of  prayer  with  fast  irig,  ask  it?  Lord  help  the  young  people  of  Boston  to 
remember  thee  in  the  days  of  their  youth,  and  satisfie  unto  the  survivers  the 
terrible  things  that  have  come  upon  so  many  of  that  generation. 

And  now  as  Joshua  having  reasoned  with  his  people,  a  little  before  he 
died,  in  Josh,  xxiv,  26,  27,  took  a  great  stone,  and  set  it  up,  and  said 
unto  all  the  people,  Behold,  this  stone  shall  be  a  witness  unto  you.  lest  ye  deny 
your  God.  Thus  we  have  been  this  day  setting  up  a  stone,  even,  an 
£6enerer  among  you  ;  and  I  conclude,  earnestly  testifymg  unto  you,  be- 
hold this  stone  shall  be  a  ivitness  unto  you,  that  the  Lord  Jksus  Christ  has 
been  a  good  Lord  unto  you  ;  and  if  you  seek  him,  he  will  bo  still  found  of 
you;  but  if  you  forsake  him,  he  will  cast  you  off  for  ever. 


ECCLESMRUM  CLTFEJ 


THE 


SECOND  BOOK 


OF    THE 


^^m'W^lF'^'^^  Ti^(^wi^  m^^^mnr^^ 


CONTANING    THE 


<^ 


LIT 


OF 


THE    GOVERNOURS, 


AND    THE    NAMES  OF 


THE    MAGISTRATES, 

THAT  HAVE  BEEN  SHIELDS  UNTO  THE 

CHURCHES  OF  NEW-ENGLAND, 

(UNTIL  THE  YEAR  1686.) 

PERPETUATED  BY   THE  ESSAY  OF  COT T OX  MATHER^ 

■■^ 

Priscaq;  ne  Vtleris  vanescai  Gloria  Sacti, 

Vivida  defensant,  qua  Monumenla  damur. 
^ui  Aliis  prcesuni,  tanto  privatis  Hominibus  M eliores  esse  Oporiff} 

Q,uanto  Hononbus  &i  Liguitateantecellunt.     Panorinitan. 

Nondum  hmc,  qum  nunc  tenet  Saculum^  JVegligentia 
Dei  Venerat,     Li  v.  1.  3. 

Optimus  quisq  ;  Nobilissimus.     Plato, 


HARTFORD  : 
PRINTED  FOR  SILAS  ANDRUS. 

1820. 


i 


INTRODUCTION. 


"TwERE  to  be  zjtshed  that  there  might  never  be  any  English  translation 
of  that  wicked  position  in  Machiavel,  Non  requiri  in  Principe  veram  pie- 
tatem,  ?ed  sufficere  illius  quandam  umbrara,  &.  simulationem  Externam. 
It  may  be  there  never  was  any  region  under  lieaven  happier  than  poor  New- 
England  hatJi  been  in  Magistrates,  whose  true  piety  was  worthy  to  be  made 
the  example  of  after-ages. 

Happy  hast  thou  been,  O  land  I  in  Magislrates,  whose  disposition  to 
serve  the  Lord  Jesus  C'hrist,  unto  whom  they  still  considered  themselves  ac- 
countable, answered  the  good  rule  of  Agapetus,  Q,uo  quis  in  Republica 
Majorem  Dignitatis  gradual  adeptus  est,  eo  Deum  Colat  Submissius  : 
Magistrates,  whose  disposition  to  serve  the  people  that  chose  them,  to  rule 
over  them,  argued  them  sensible  of  that  great  stroak  in  Cicero,  Nulla  Re 
propius  Homines  ad  Deum  Accedunt,  quam  salute  Hominibus  danda  : 
Magistrates,  acted  in  their  administrations  by  the  spirit  of  a  Joshua. 
When  the  wise  man  observes  unto  us,  That  oppressions  make  a  wise  man 
mad,  it  may  be  worth  considering,  whether  the  oppressor  is  not  intended 
rather  than  the  oppressed  in  the  observation.  ^Tis  very  certain  that  a  dis- 
position to  oppress  other  men,  does  often  make  those  that  are  otherwise  very 
wise  men,  to  forget  the  rules  of  reason,  and  commit  most  unreasonable  ex- 
orbilancies.  Rehoboam  in  some  things  acted  wisely  ;  but  this  admonition 
of  his  inspired  father  could  not  restrain  him  from  acting  madly,  when  the 
spirit  of  oppression  was  upon  him.  The  rulers  of  New-England  have 
been  wise  men,  whom  that  spirit  of  oppression  betrayed  not  into  this  mad- 
ness. 

The  father  of  Themistocles  dlsswading  him  from  government,  showed 
him  the  old  oars  which  the  mariners  had  nozv  thrown  away  upon  the  sea- 
shores with  neglect  and  contempt ;  and  said,  That  people  would  certainly 
treat  their  old  rulers  with  the  same  contempt.  But,  reader,  let  us  now 
take  up  our  old  oars  with  all  possible  respect,  and  see  whether  we  cannot 
still  make  use  of  them  to  serve  our  little  vessel.  But  this  the  rather,  because 
we  may  with  an  easie  turn  change  the  name  into  that  of  pilots. 

The  word  Gov^ernment,  properly  signifies  the  guidance  of  a  ship  : 
Tnlly  uses  it  for  that  purpose;  and  in  Plutarch,  the  art  o/"  steering  a 
ship,  is,  Tf;t^vjj  Kvliepvy/TiKij.  New-England  is  a  little  ship,  which  hath  wea- 
thered many  a  terrible  storm  ;  and  it  is  but  reasonable  that  they  who  have 
sat  at  the  helm  of  the  ship,  should  be  remembred  in  the  history  of  its  deliver- 
ances. 

Prudentius  calls  Judges,  The  great  lights  of  the  sphere  ;  Symmachus 
calls  Judges,  The  better  part  of  mankind.  Reader,  thou  art  now  to  be 
entertained  with  the  Lives  of  Judges  which  have  deserved  that  character. 
And  the  Lives  of  those  who  have  been  called,  s\)enking  laws,  will  excuse  our 
History  from  coming  under  the  observation  made  about  the  work  of  Homer, 
That  the  word.  Law,  is  never  so  much  as  once  occurring  in  them.  They 
are  not  written  like  the  Cyrus  of  Xenophon,  like  the  Alexander  of  Cur- 
tius,  like  Virgil's  iEneas,  and  like  Pliny's  Trajan  :  but  the  reader  hath  in 
every  one  of  them  a  real  and  a  faithful  History.  And  I  please  my  self 
with  hopes,  that  there  will  yet  be  found  among  the  sons  of  New- England, 
those  young  gentlemen  by  whom  the  copies  given  in  this  History  will  be  writ- 
ten after  ;  and  that  saying  of  old  Chaucer  be  remembred.  To  do  the  gen- 
teel deeds,  that  makes  the  gentleman. 


ECCLESIARUM  CLYPEL 


V  • 

THE  SECOND  BOOK 


OF    THE 


NEW-ENGLISH  HISTORY 


CHAPTER  I. 


Galeacius  Secundus.     The  Life  of  William  Bradford,  Esq.  Governonr 
of  Plymouth  Colony. 

Omnium  Soinnos,  illius  vigilantia  defendit,  omnium  otivm  illivs  Labor, 
omnium  Delitias  illius  Industria,  omnium  vacationem  illius  occupatio. 

§  1.  It  has  been  a  matter  of  some  observation,  that  although  YorJc- 
sliire  be  one  of  the  largest  shires  in  England;  yet,  for  all  the  fires  of 
martyrdom  which  were  kindled  in  the  days  of  Queen  Mary,  it  afforded 
no  more  fuel  than  one  poor  Leaf ;  namely,  John  Leaf,  an  apprentice, 
who  suffered  for  the  doctrine  of  the  Refnmaiion  at  the  same  time  and 
stake  with  the  famous  John  Bradford.  But  when  the  reign  of  Q.ueen 
Elizabeth  would  not  admit  the  Reformation  of  worship  to  proceed  unto 
those  degrees,  which  were  proposed  and  pursued  by  no  small  number  of 
the  faithful  in  those  days,  Yorkshire  was  not  the  least  of  the  shires  in  Eng- 
land that  afforded  suffering  ivif.nesses  thereunto.  The  Churches  there 
gathered  were  quickly  molested  with  such  a  raging  persecution,  that  if 
the  spirit  of  separation  in  them  did  carry  them  unto  a  further  extream 
than  it  should  have  done,  one  blameable  cause  thereof  will  be  found  in 
the  extremity  of  that  persecution .  Their  troubles  made  that  cold  country 
too  hot  for  them,  so  that  they  were  under  a  necessity  to  seek  a  retreat  in 
the  Low  Count-lies  ;  and  yet  the  watchful  malice  and  fury  of  their  adver- 
saries rendred  it  almost  impossible  for  them  to  fnd  what  they  sought. 
For  them  to  leave  their  native  soil,  their  lands  and  their  friends,  and  go 
into  a  sb-ange  place,  where  they  must  hear  foreign  language,  and  live 
meanly  and  hardly,  and  in  other  imployments  than  that  of  husbandi-yy 
wherein  they  had  been  educated,  these  must  needs  have  been  such  dis- 
couragements as  could  have  been  conquered  by  none,  save  those  who 
sought  first  the  kingdom-  of  God,  and  tlie  righteousness  thereof.  But  that 
which  would  have  made  these  discouragements  the  more  unconquerable 
unto  an  ordinary  faith,  was  the  terrible  zeal  of  their  enemies  to  guard  all 
ports,  and  search  all  ships,  that  none  of  them  should  be  carried  off.  I 
will  not  relate  the  sad  things  of  this  kind,  then  seen  and  felt  by  this  peo- 


1 


Book  II.J  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  101 

pie  of  God  ;  but  only  exetnplifie  those  trials  with  one  short  story.  Di- 
vers of  this  people  having  hired  a  Dutchman  then  lying  at  Hull,  to  carry 
them  over  to  Holland.,  he  promised  faithfully  to  takre  them  in  between 
Grimsly  and  Hull;  but  they  coming  to  the  place  a  day  or  two  too  soon, 
the  appearance  of  such  a  multitude  alarmed  the  officers  of  the  town  ad- 
joining, who  came  with  a  great  body  of  soldiers  to  seize  upon  them. 
Now  it  happened  that  one  boat  full  of  men  had  been  carried  aboard, 
while  the  ivomen  were  yet  in  a  bark  that  lay  aground  in  a  creek  at  low 
water.  The  Dutchman  perceiving  the  storm  that  was  thus  beginning 
ashore,  swore  by  the  sacrament  that  he  would  stay  no  longer  for  any  of 
them  ;  and  so  taking  the  advantage  of  a  fair  wmd  then  blowing,  he  put 
out  to  5ea  for  Zealand.  The  women  thus  left  n^diV  Grimsly-common^  be- 
reaved of  their  husbands,  who  had  been  hurried  from  them,  and  forsaken 
of  their  neighbours,  of  whom  none  durst  in  this  fright  stay  with  them, 
were  a  very  rueful  spectacle  ;  some  crying  for  fear,  some  shaking  for 
cold,  all  dragged  by  troops  of  armed  and  angry  men  from  one  Justice  to 
another,  till  not  knowing  what  to  do  with  them,  they  even  dismissed 
them  to  shift  as  well  as  they  could  for  themselves.  But  by  their  singular 
affiictions,  and  by  their  christian  behaviours,  the  cause  for  which  they  ex- 
posed themselves  did  gain  considerably.  In  the  mean  time,  the  men  at 
sea  found  reason  to  be  glad  that  their  families  were  not  with  them,  for 
they  were  surprized  with  an  horrible  tempest,  which  held  them  for  four- 
teen days  together,  in  seven  whereof  they  saw  not  sun,  moon  or  star,  but 
were  driven  upon  the  coast  of  JVoncay.  The  mariners  often  despaired 
of  life,  and  once  with  doleful  shriiRks  gave  over  all,  as  thinking  the  ves- 
sel was  foundred  :  but  the  vessel  rose  again,  and  when  the  mariners 
with  sunk  hearts  often  cried  out,  JVe  sink  f  Wesijikf  the  passengers 
without  such  distraction  of  mind,  even  while  the  water  was  running  into 
their  mouths  and  ears,  would  chearfuUy  shout,  Yet,  Lord,  thou  canst  save/ 
Yet,  Lord,  thou  canst  save  !  And  the  Lord  accordingly  brought  them  at 
last  safe  unto  their  desired  haven:  and  not  long  after  helped  their  dis- 
tressed relations  thither  after  them,  where  indeed  Ihey  found  upon  almost 
all  accounts  a  new  world,  but  a  world  in  which  they  found  that  they  must 
live  like  strangers  and  pilgrims. 

§  2.  Among  those  devout  people  was  our  William  Bradford,  who  was 
born  ^nno  1588,  in  an  obscure  village  called  Ansterfeld.  where  the  peo- 
ple were  as  unacquainted  with  the  Bible,  as  the  Jews  do  seem  to  have 
been  with  part  of  it  in  the  days  o[  Josiah  ;  a  most  ignorant  and  licentious 
people,  and  like  unto  their  priest.  Here,  and  in  some  other  places,  he 
had  a  comfortable  inheritance  left  him  of  his  honest  parents,  who  died 
while  he  was  yet  a  child,  and  cast  him  on  the  education,  first  of  his 
grand  parents,  and  then  of  his  uncles,  who  devoted  him,  like  his  ances- 
tors, unto  the  affairs  of  husbandry.  Soon  and  long  sickness  kept  him, 
as  he  would  afterwards  thankfully  say,  from  the  vanities  of  youth,  and 
made  him  the  fitter  for  what  he  was  afterwards  to  undergo.  When  he 
was  about  a  dozen  years  old,  the  reading  of  the  Scriptures  began  to  cause 
great  impressions  upon  him  ;  and  those  impressions  were  much  assisted 
and  improved,  when  he  came  to  enjoy  Mr.  Richard  Clifton's  illuminating 
ministry,  not  far  from  his  abode  ;  he  was  then  also  further  befriended, 
by  being  brought  into  the  company  and  fellowship  of  such  as  were  then 
called  professors  ;  though  the  young  man  that  brought  him  into  it,  did 
after  become  a  prophane  and  wicked  apostate.  Nor  could  the  wrath  of 
his  uncles,  nor  the  scoffi  of  his  neighbours  now  turned  upon  him,  as  one  of 
the  puritans,  divert  him  from  his  pious  inclination!: 


102  MAGNALIA  CHRlSTl  AMERICANA.  [Boots 

§  3.  At  last  beholding  how  fearfully  the  evangelical  and  apostolical 
church-form,  whereinto  the  churches  of  the  primitive  times  y,eve  cast  by 
the  good  spirit  of  God,  had  been  deformed  by  the  apostacy  of  the  suc- 
ceeding tvues ;  and  what  little  progress  the  Beformation  had  yet  made  in 
many  parts  of  Christendom  towards  its  recovery,  he  set  himself  bj-  read- 
ing, by  discourse,  by  prayer,  to  learn  whether  it  was  not  his  duty  to  icith- 
draw  from  the  communion  of  the  parish-assemblies ,  and  engage  with  some 
society  of  the  faithful,  that  should  keep  close  unto  the  wiitten  word  of 
God,  as  the  rule  of  their  worship.  And  after  many  distresses  of  mind 
concerning  it,  he  took  up  a  very  deliberate  and  understanding  resolution 
of  doing  so  ;  which  resolution  he  chearfully  prosecuted,  although  the  pro- 
voked rage  of  his  friends  tried  all  the  ways  imaginable  to  reclaim  him 
from  it,  unto  all  whom  his  answer  was.  Were  I  like  to  endanger  my  Hfe,  or 
consume  my  estate  by  any  ungodly  courses,  your  counsels  to  me  were  very 
sec!S:mfjb!e :  but  you  hiouo  that  I  have  been  diligent  and  pi'ovident  in  my 
calti.ig,  and  not  only  desirous  to  augment  ivhat  I  have,  but  also  to  enjuy  it 
in  yuur  company  ;  to  part  jrora  which  will  be  as  great  a  cross  as  can  bejal 
me.  Keceitheicss,  to  ketpa  good  conscience,  and  icalk  in  such  a  way  as 
God  has  prescribed  in  his  JVord^  is  a  thing  which  I  must  prefer  before  you 
all,  and  above  life  it  self.  Wherefore,  since  'tis  for  a  good  cause,  that  I  am 
like  to  suffer  the  disasters  ichich  you  lay  before  me,  you  hate  no  cause  to  be 
either  angry  uith  me,  or  sorry  for  me  ;  yea,  I  am  not  only  willing  to  part  . 
wih  every  thing  that  is  dear  to  me  in  this  tvorld  for  this  cause,  but  I  am  also 
thankful  ihai  Gi-dhas  given  me  an  heart  so  to  do,  and  will  accept  vie  so  to 
suffer  ror  him.  Some  lamented  him,  some  derided  him.  a/Zdisswaded  him: 
nevertheless  the  more  the}'  did  it,  the  more  fixed  he  was  in  his  purpose 
to  seek  the  ordinances  of  the  gospel,  where  they  should  be  dispensed 
with  most  of  the  commanded  purity  ;  and  the  sudden  deaths  of  the  chief 
relations  which  thus  lay  at  liim,  quickly  after  convinced  him  what  a 
folly  it  had  been  to  liave  quitted  his  profession,  in  expectation  of  any  sat- 
isfaction from  them.     So  to  Holland  he  attempted  a  removal. 

§  4.  Having  with  a  great  company  of  christians  hired  a  ship  to  trans- 
port them  for  Holland,  the  master  perfidiously  betra3'ed  them  into  the 
h.jids  of  those  persecutors,  who  rifled  and  ransacked  their  goods,  and 
clapped  their  persons  into  prison  at  Boston,  where  they  lay  for  a  month 
together.  But  Mr.  Bradford  being  a  young  man  of  about  eighteen,  was 
dismissed  sooner  than  the  rest,  so  that  within  a  while  he  had  opportunity 
with  some  others  to  get  over  to  Zealand,  through  perils  both  by  land 
and  sea  not  inconsiderable  ;  where  he  was  not  long  ashore  e're  a  viper 
seized  on  his  hand,  that  is,  an  officer,  who  carried  him  unto  the  magis- 
trates, unto  whom  an  envious  passenger  had  accused  him  as  having  ^cc? 
out  of  England.  When  the  magistrates  understood  the  true  cause  of  his 
coming  thither,  they  were  well  satisfied  with  him ;  and  so  he  repaired 
joyfull}'  unto  his  brethren  at  Amsterdam,  where  the  difficulties  to  which 
he  afterwards  stooped  in  learning  and  serving  of  a  Frenchman  at  the 
working  of  silks,  ^vere  abundantl}'  compensated  by  the  delight  where- 
with he  sat  under  the  shadon.1  of  our  Lord  in  his  purely  dispensed  ordi- 
nances. At  the  end  of  two  years,  he  did,  being  of  age  to  do  it,  convert 
his  estate  in  England  into  money  ;  but  setting  up  for  himself,  he  found 
some  of  his  designs  by  the  providence  of  God  frowned  upon,  which  he 
lodged  a  correction  bestowed  by  God  upon  iiim  for  certain  decays  of  in- 
ternal piety,  whereinto  he  had  fallen  ;  the  consumption  of  his  estate  he 
thought  came  to  prevent  a  consumption  in  his  virtue.  But  after  he  had 
resided  in  Holland  about  half  a  score  years,  he  was  one  of  those  who 


1300K  II.]      OR,  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  103 

bore  a  part  in  that  hazardous  and  generous  enterprize  of  removing  into 
JS'ew- England,  with  part  of  the  English  church  at  Leyden,  where  at  their 
first  landing,  his  dearest  consort  accidentally  falling  overboard,  was 
drowned  in  the  harbour ;  and  the  rest  of  his  days  were  spent  in  the  ser- 
vices, and  the  temptations,  of  that  American  ■wilderness. 

^  5.  Here  was  Mr.  Bradford  in  the  year  1G21,  unanimously  chosen 
the  governour  of  the  plantation  :  the  difficulties  whereof  were  such,  that 
if  he  had  not  been  a  person  of  more  than  ordinary  piety,  wisdom  and 
courage,  he  must  have  sunk  under  them.  He  had  with  a  laudable  in- 
dustry been  laying  up  a  treasure  of  experiences^  and  he  had  now  occasion 
to  use  it  :  indeed  nothing  but  an  experienced  man  could  have  been  suita- 
ble to  the  necessities  of  the  people.  The  potent  nations  of  the  Indians, 
into  whose  country  they  were  come,  would  have  cut  them  oft"  if  the 
blessing  of  God  upon  his  conduct  had  not  quelled  them  ;  and  if  his  pru- 
dence, justice  and  moderation  had  not  over-ruled  them,  they  had  been 
ruined  by  their  own  distempers.  One  specimen  of  his  demeanour  is  to 
this  day  particularly  spoken  of.  A  company  of  young  fellows  that  were 
newly  arrived,  were  very  unwilling  to  comply  with  the  governour's  or- 
der for  working  abroad  on  the  publick  account  ;  and  therefore  on  Christ- 
mass-day,  when  he  had  called  upon  them,  they  excused  themselves,  with 
a  pretence  that  it  was  against  their  conscience  to  wor-k  such  a  day.  The 
governour  gave  them  no  answer,  only  that  he  would  spare  them  till 
they  were  better  informed  ;  but  by  and  by  he  found  them  all  at  play  in 
the  street,  sporting  themselves  with  various  diversions  ;  whereupon  com- 
manding the  instruments  of  their  games  to  be  taken  from  them,  he  effect- 
ually gave  them  to  understand.  That  it  was  against  his  conscience  that 
they  should  play  whilst  others  were  at  work;  and  that  if  they  had  any  c?e- 
xotion  to  the  day,  they  shoidd  show  it  at  home  in  the  exercises  of  religion, 
and  not  in  the  streets  with  pastime  and  frolicks  ;  and  this  gentle  reproof 
put  a  tinal  stop  to  all  such  disorders  for  the  future. 

§  6,  For  two  years  together  after  the  beginning  of  the  colony,  where- 
of he  was  now  governour,  the  poor  people  had  a  great  experiment  ot 
inayi's  not  living  by  bread  alone ;  for  when  they  were  left  all  together 
without  one  morsel  of  bread  for  many  months  one  after  another,  still  the 
good  providence  of  God  relieved  them,  and  supplied  them,  and  this  for 
the  most  part  out  of  the  sea.  In  this  low  condition  of  afl'airs,  there  was 
no  little  exercise  for  the  prudence  and  patience  of  the  governour,  who 
chearfuUy  bore  his  part  in  all  :  and  that  industry  might  not  flag,  he 
quickly  set  himself  to  settle  propriety  among  the  new-planters  ;  fore- 
seeing that  while  the  whole  country  laboured  upon  a  common  stock,  the 
husbandry  and  business  of  the  plantation  could  not  flourish,  as  Plato  and 
others  long  since  dreamed  that  it  would,  if  a  community  were  establish- 
ed. Certainly,  if  the  spirit  which  dwelt  in  the  old  puritans,  had  not  in- 
spired these  new-planters,  they  had  sunk  under  the  burden  of  these 
difljculties  ;   but  our  Bradford  had  a  double  portion  of  that  spirit. 

§  7.  The  plantation  was  quickly  thrown  into  a  storm  that  almost  over- 
whelmed it,  by  the  unhappy  actions  of  a  minister  sent  over  from  Eng- 
land by  the  adventurers  concerned  for  the  plantation  ;  but  by  the  bless- 
ing of  heaven  on  the  conduct  of  the  governour,  they  weathered  out  that 
storm.  Only  the  adventurers  hereupon  breaking  to  pieces,  threw  up  all 
their  concernments  with  the  infant-colony ;  whereof  they  gave  this  as 
one  reason.  That  the  planters  dissembled  with  his  Majesty,  and  their  friends 
in  their  petition,  wherein  they  declared  for  a  church- discipline,  agreeing 
with  the  Freuch  and  Qthcrs  of  the  reforming  churches  in  Europe.    Where- 


104  MAGNALIA  CHRISTI  AMERICANA :  [Book  11. 

as  'twas  now  urged,  that  they  had  admitted  into  their  communion  a  per- 
son, who  at  his  admission  utterly  renounced  the  Churches  of  England, 
(which  person  by  the  way,  was  that  very  man  who  had  made  the  com- 
plaints against  them)  and  therefore  though  they  denied  the  name  of 
Brozi'nists,  yet  they  were  the  tfujig.  In  answer  hereunto,  the  very 
words  written  by  the  governour  were  these  ;  Whereas  you  fax  us  with 
dissembling  about  the  French  di;<cipline,  you  do  us  wrong,  for  zse  both  hold 
and  practice  the  discipline  of  the  French  and  other  Reformed  Churches 
[as  they  have  published  the  smae  in  the  Harmony  of  Confessions)  accord- 
ing to  our  means,  in  eff^ect  ard  substance.  But  Tfhereas  yon  -would  tie  us  up 
*o  the  French  discipline  in  every  circumstance,  you  derogate  from  the  lib- 
erty we  have  in  Christ  Jesus.  The  apostle  Paul  would  have  none  to  follow 
him  in  any  thing,  but  wherein  he  follows  Christ  ;  much  less  ought  any 
christian  or  church  in  the  world  to  do  it.  The  French  7nay  err,  we  may 
err,  and  other  churches  may  err,  and  doubtless  do  in  many  circumstances. 
That  honour  therefore  belongs  only  to  the  infallible  Word  of  God,  and 
pure  Testament  of  Christ,  to  be  propounded  and  followed  as  the  only 
rule  and  pattern  for  direction  herein  to  all  churches  and  christians.  And 
it  is  too  great  arrogancy  for  any  man  or  church  to  think,  that  he  or  they  have 
no  sounded  the  Word  of  God  unto  the  bottom,  as  precisely  to  set  down  the 
churches  discipline  without  error  in  substance  or  circumstance,  that  no  other 
without  blame  may  digress  or  differ  in  any  thing  from  the  same.  And  it  is 
not  difficult  to  shew  that  the  Reformed  Churches  differ  in  many  circum- 
stances among  themselves.  By  which  words  it  appears  how  far  he  was 
free  from  that  rigid  spirit  of  separation,  which  broke  to  pieces  the  Sepa- 
ratists themselves  in  the  Low  Countries,  unto  the  great  scandal  of  the  re- 
forming  churches.  He  was  indeed  a  person  of  a  well-tempered  spirit,  or 
else  it  had  been  scarce  possible  for  him  to  have  kept  the  aifairs  of  Ply- 
mouth in  so  good  a  temper  for  thirty-seven  years  together  ;  in  every  one 
of  which  he  was  chosen  their  governour,  except  the  three  years,  whare- 
in  Mr.  Winslow,  and  the  two  years,  wherein  Mr.  Prince,  at  the  choice  of 
the  people,  took  a  turn  with  him. 

§  8.  The  leader  of  a  people  in  a  wilderness  had  need  be  a  Moses  ;  and 
if  a  Moses  had  not  led  the  people  of  Plymouth  Colony,  w  hen  this  worthy 
person  was  their  governour,  the  people  had  never  with  so  much  unanim- 
ity and  importunity  still  called  him  to  lead  them.  Among  many  instances 
thereof,  let  this  one  piece  of  self-denial  be  told  for  a  memorial  of  him, 
wheresoever  this  History  shall  be  considered.  The  Patent  of  the  Colony  was 
taken  in  his  name,  running  in  these  terms.  To  William  Bradford,  his  heirs, 
associates  and  assigns.  But  when  the  number  of  the  freemen  was  much 
increased,  and  many  new  townships  erected,  the  General  Court  there  de- 
sired of  Mr.  Bradford,  th  t  he  would  make  a  surrender  of  the  same  into 
their  hands,  which  he  willingly  and  presently  assented  unto,  and  confirm- 
ed it  according  to  their  desire  by  his  hand  and  seal,  reserving  no  more  for 
himself  than  was  his  proportion,  with  others,  by  agreement.  But  as  he 
found  the  providence  of  heaven  many  ways  recmpcnsing  his  many  acts 
of  self-denial,  so  he  gave  this  testimony  to  the  faithfulness  of  the  divine 
promises  ;  That  he  had  forsaken  friends,  houses  and  lands  for  the  sake  of 
the  gospel,  and  the  Lord  gave  them  him  again.  Here  he  prospered  in  his 
estate  ;  and  besides  a  worthy  son  which  he  had  by  a  former  wife,  he  had 
also  two  sons  and  a  daughter  by  another,  whom  he  married  in  this  land. 

§  9.  He  was  a  person  for  study  as  well  as  action;  and  hence,  notwith- 
standing the  difficulties  through  which  he  passed  in  his  youth,  he  attained 
linto  a  notable  skill  in  languages :  the  D«fc/t  toague  was  become  almost  a^ 


Book  II.]       OR,  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  105 

vernacular  to  him  as  the  English ;  the  French  tongue  he  could  also  ma- 
nage ;  the  Latin  and  the  Greek  he  had  mastered  ;  but  the  Hebiew  he  most 
of  all  studied,  Because,  he  said,  he  zn'oti/d  see  zciih  his  otivi  eyes  the  ancient 
oracles  of  God  in  their  native  beauty.  He  was  also  well  skilled  in  ftistO' 
ry,  in  Antiquity,  and  in  Philosophy ;  and  for  Theology  he  became  so  versed 
in  it,  that  he  was  an  irrefragable  dispvtant  against  the  errors,  especially 
those  of  Anabaptisin,  which  with  trouble  he  saw  rising  in  his  colony  ; 
wherefore  he  wrote  some  significant  things  for  the  confutation  of  those 
errors.  But  the  croxs;n  of  all  was  his  holy,  prayerful,  watchful  and 
fruitful  -walk  "with  God,  wherein  he  was  very  exeniplary. 

§  10.  At  length  he  fell  into  an  indisposition  of  body,  which  rendred 
him  unhealthy  for  a  whole  winter ;  and  as  the  spring  advanced,  his  health 
yet  more  declmed  ;  yet  he  felt  himself  not  what  he  counted  sick,  till  one 
day ;  in  the  night  after  which,  the  God  of  heaven  so  tilled  his  mind  with 
ineffable  consolations.,  that  he  seemed  little  short  of  Paul,  rapt  up  unto 
the  unutterable  entertainments  of  Paradise.  The  next  morning  he  told 
his  friends.  That  the  good  Spirit  of  God  had  given  him  a  pledge  of  his  hap- 
piness in  another  zuorld,  and  the  first-fruits  of  his  eternal  glory  :  and  oa 
the  day  following  he  died,  May  9,  1657,  in  the  69th  year  of  his  age. 
Lamented  by  all  the  colonies  of  New-England,  as  a  common  blessing 
and  father  to  them  all. 

O  mihi  si  Similis  Contingat  Clausula  Vitce  I 

Plato^s  brief  description  of  a  governour,  is  all  that  I  will  now  leave  ^s 
his  character,  in  an 

EPITAPH. 

Noje45f5  T^9^«j  'ayeXiii  ^cDiiouTrMn. 

Men"  are  but  flocks  :  Bradford  beheld  their  need. 
And  long  did  them  at  once  both  rule  and  feed. 


CHAPTER  II. 

SUCCESSORS. 

tnter  omnia  quoe  Reinpublicam,  ejusq ;  fcelicitatem  conservant,  quid  utilivs, 
quid  prceslantius,  qicam  Viros  ad  JMagistiatus  gerendos  Eligere,  sumrna 
prudentia  4"  Virtute  preditos,  quiq  ;  ad  Honores  obtinendos,  non  Ambi' 
tione,  non  Largiiionibus,  sed  Virtute  4'  Modestia  sibi parent  adytum! 

§  1.  The  merits  of  Mr.  Edward  Winslow,  the  son  of  Edward  Wins- 
low,  Esq.  o{  Druughtwich,  in  the  country  of  Worcester,  obliged  the  votes 
of  the  Plymouthean  colony  (whereto  he  arrived  in  the  year  16'24,  after 
his  prudent  and  faithful  dispatch  of  an  agency  in  England,  on  the  behalf 
of  that  infant  colony)  to  chuse  him  for  many  years  a  magistrate,  and  -.or 
two  or  three  their  governour.  Travelling  into  the  Low-Cow  tries,  he 
fell  into  acquaintance  with  the  English  church  at  Leyden,  and  joining 
bim-elf  to  them,  he  shipped  himself  with  that  part  of  them  wh.ch  tirst 
•ame  over  into  America;  from  which  time  he  was  continually  engaged  in 

V,r,T.  14 


106  MAGNALIA  CHKISTI  AMEKICANA :  [Book  li. 

such  extraordinary  actions,  as  the  assistance  of  that  people  to  encounter 
their  more  than  ordinary  dithcuUies,  called  for.     but  their  pubhck  af- 
fairs.then  requiring  an  agency  of  as  wise  a  man  as  the  country  could  tind 
at  Whiteliull  for  them,  he  was  again  prevailed  withal  in  the  year  103o,  to 
appear  for  them  at  the  Council-board ;  and  his  appearance  there  proved 
as  effectual,  as   it  was  very  seasonable,   not  only  for  the  colony  of  Ply- 
■mouth,  but  for  the  Massachusets  also,   on  very  important   accounts       It 
was  by  the  blessing  of  God  upon  his  \vary  and  proper  applications,  that 
the  attempts  of  many  adversaries   to  overthrow  the  whole  settlement  of 
New-England,  were  themselves  wholly  overthrown  ;  and  as  a  small  ac- 
knowledgment for  his  great  service  therein,  they  did,  upon  his  return 
again,  chuse  him  i\\e\v  governcnir.     But  in  the  year  1G16,  the  place  of 
governovr  being  reassumed  by    Mr.  Bradford,  the   Massacfutset-colony 
addressed  themselves  unto  3Ir.  Winslow  to  take  another  voyage  for  Eng- 
land, that  he  might  there  procure  their  deliverance  from  the  designs  of 
many  troublesome  adversaries  that  were  petitioning  unto  the  Parliament 
against  them  ;  and  this  Hercules  having  been  from  his  very  early  days 
accustomed  unto  the  crussing  of  that  sort  of  serpents,  generously  under- 
took another  agency,  wherein  how  many  good  services  he  did  for  J\'ew- 
England,  and  with  what  fidelity,  discretion,  vigour  and  success  he  pur- 
sued the  interests  of  that  happy  people,  it  would  make  a  large  history  to 
relate,  an  history  that  may  not  now  be  expected  until  the  resttrreclion  of 
the  just.     After  this  he  returned  no  more  unto  New-England  ;  but  being 
in  great  favour  witii  the  greatest  persons  then  in  the  nation,  he  fell  into 
those  imployments  wherein  the  whole  nation  fared  the  better  for  him.' 
At  length  he  was  imployed  as  one  of  the  grand  commissioners  in  the  ex- 
pedition against  Hispaniola,  where  a  disease  (rendered  yet  more  uneasie 
by  his  dissatisfaction  at  the  strange  miscarriage  of  that  expedition)  arrest- 
ing him,  he  died  between  Domingo  and  Jamaica,  on  May  8,  1656,  in  the 
sixty-first  year  of  his  life,  and  had  his  body  honourably  committed  unto 
the  sea. 

§  2.  Sometimes  during  the  life,  but  always  after  the  death  of  govern- 
our  Bradford,  even  until  his  ovvn,  Mr.  'Vhovias  Prince  was  chosen  Gov- 
ERNouR  oi  Plymouth.  He  was  a  gentleman  whose  natural  parts  exceeded 
his  acquired ;  but  the  want  and  worth  of  acquired  parts  was  a  thing  so 
sensible  unto  him,  that  Plymouth  never  had  a  greater  Mecinias  of  learn- 
ing in  it  :  it  was  he  that  in  spite  of  much  contradiction,  procured  reve- 
nues for  the  support  of  grammar-schools  in  that  colony.  About  the  time 
of  governour  Bradford's  death,  religion  it  self  had  like  to  have  died  in 
that  colony,  through  a  libertine  and  Brownisiick  spirit  then  prevailing 
among  the  people,  and  a  strange  disposition  to  discountenance  the  gospel- 
ministry,  by  setting  up  the  gifts  of  private  brethren  in  opposition  there- 
unto. The  good  people  being  in  extream  distress  from  the  prospect 
which  this  matter  gave  to  them.,  saw  no  way  so  likely  and  ready  to  save 
the  churches  from  ruin,  as  by  the  election  of  Mr.  P)ince  to  the  place  of 
governour;  and  this  point  being  by  the  gracious  and  marvellous  provi- 
dence of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  gained  at  the  next  election,  the  adverse, 
party  from  that  very  time  sunk  into  confusion.  He  had  sojourned  for  awhile 
at  Eastham,  where  a  church  was  by  hla  means  gathered  ;  but  after  this 
time  he  returned  unto  his  former  scituation  at  Plymouth,  where  he  re- 
sided until  he  died,  which  was  March  ?9,  1G73,  when  he  was  about  sev- 
enty-three years  of  age.  Among  the  many  excellent  qualities  which 
adorned  him  as  governour  of  the  colony,  there  was  much  notice  taken  of 
that  integrity,  wherewith  indeed   he  was  most  exemplarily  qualified  : 


Book  II.]      OR,  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-EXGLAND.  107 

tvhence  it  was  that  as  he  ever  would  refuse  any  thing  that  looked  like  a 
bribe ;  so  if  any  person  having  a  case  to  be  heard  at  Court,  had  sent  a 
present  unto  his  lamiiy  in  his  absence,  he  would  presently  send  back  the 
value  thereof  in  money  unto  the  person.  But  had  he  been  only  a  pri- 
vate christian,  there  would  yet  have  Ijeen  seen  upon  him  those  orna- 
ments of  prayer  fulness,  iind  peaceableness,  i\nd  profound  resignation  to 
the  conduct  of  the  Word  of  God,  and  a  strict  walk  with  God,  which 
might  justly  have  been  made  an  example  to  a  whole  colony. 

§  3.  Reader,  if  thou  wouldest  have  seen  tlie  true  picture  of  wisdom, 
courage  and  generosity,  the  successor  of  Mr.  Thomas  Prince  in  the  govern- 
ment oi  Plymouth  would  have  represented  it.  It  was  the  truly  honourable 
Josiah  Winslow,  Esq.  the  first  governour  that  was  born  in  Aew- England, 
and  one  well  worthy  to  be  an  example  to  all  that  should  come  after  him  : 
a  true  English  gentleman,  and  (that  I  may  say  all  at  once)  the  true  son 
of  that  gentleman  whom  we  parted  withal  no  more  than  two  paragraphs 
ago.  His  education  and  his  disposition  was  that  of  a  gentleman  ;  and 
his  many  services  to  his  country  in  the  Jicld,  as  well  as  on  the  bench, 
ought  never  to  be  buried  in  oblivion.  All  that  Homer  desired  in  a  ruler, 
was  in  the  life  of  this  gentleman  expressed  unto  the  life  ;  to  be,  Fortes 
in  Hostes,  and  Bonus  in  Cives.  Though  he  hath  left  an  off-spring,  yet  I 
must  ask  for  one  daughter  to  be  remembred  above  the  rest.  As  of  old, 
Epaminondas  being  upbraided  with  want  of  issue,  boasted  that  he  left 
behind  him  one  daughter,  namely,  the  battel  of  Leuctra,  which  would 
render  him  immortal  ;  so  our  general  Winslow  hath  left  behind  him  his 
battel  at  the  fort  of  the  Narragansets,  to  immortalize  him  :  there  did  he 
with  his  own  sword  make  and  shape  a  pen  to  write  his  history.  But  so 
large  a  Jield  of  merit  is  now  before  me,  that  I  dare  not  give  ray  self  the 
liberty  to  range  in  it  lest  I  lose  my  self.     He  died  on  Dec.  18,  16C0. 

Jam  Cinis  est,  4"  de  tain  magus  restat  Jlchille, 
JVescio  quid;  parvam  quod  7ion  bene  compleat  urnam. 

§  4.  And  what  Successor  had  he?  Methinks  of  the  two  last  words  in 
the  wonderful  prediction  of  the  succession,  oracled  unto  King  Henry  VII. 
Lf.o,  Nullus,  the  first  would  have  well  suited  the  valiant  Winslow  of 
Plymouth  ;  and  the  last  were  to  have  been  wished  for  him  that  followed. 


CHAPTER  HI. 

Patres  Conscripti  :  or,  ASSISTEJVTS. 

The  Governours  of  New-England  have  still  had  righteousness  the 
girdle  of  their  loins,  and  faithfulness  the  girdle  of  their  reins,  that  is  to 
say,  righteous  and  faithful  men  about  them,  in  the  assistance  of  such  ma- 
gistrates as  were  called  by  the  votes  of  the  freemen  unto  the  adminis- 
tration ot  the  government,  (according  to  their  charters)  and  made  the 
judges  of  the  land.  These  persons  have  been  such  members  ot  the 
churches,  and  such  'patrons  to  the  churches,  and  generally  been  such  ex- 
amples of  courage,  wisdom,  justice,  goodness  and  religion,  that  it  is  tit 
our  Church-History  should  remember  them.  The  blessed  Spollonius, 
who  in  a  set  oration  generously  and  eloquently  pleaded  the  cause  of 
Ckristianitij  before  the  Roman  Senate,  was  not  only  a  learned  person,  but 


108 


MAGNALIA  CHRISTI  AMERICANA  :         [Book  11. 


also  (if  Jerom  say  right)  a  Senator  of  Rome.  The  Senators  of  JVew- 
England  also  have  pleaded  the  cause  of  Christianity,  not  so  much  by 
orations,  as  by  practising  of  it,  and  by  suffering  for  it.  Nevertheless, 
as  the  Sicyoniaiis  would  have  no  other  epitaphs  written  on  the  tombs  of 
their  Kings,  but  only  their  names,  that  they  might  have  no  honour  but 
what  the  remembrance  of  their  actions  and  merits  in  the  minds  of  the 
people  should  procure  for  them  ;  so  I  shall  content  my  self  with  only 
reciting  the  names  of  these  worthy  persons,  and  the  tim,es  when  I  find 
them  first  chosen  unto  their  magistracy. 

MAGISTRATES   IN   THE  COLONY   OF   NEW-PLYMOUTH. 


The  good  people,  soon  after  their  first  coming  over,  chose  Mr.  Wil- 
liam Bradford  for  their  governour,  and  added  five  assislents,  whose 
numes,  I  suppose,  will  be  found  in  the  catalogue  of  them,  whom  I  find 
sitting  on  the  seat  of  judgment  among  them,  in  the  year  1633. 

Edivard  WinsJow,  Gov. 
William  B)  odford. 
Milfs  S'ajidish. 
John  Rowland. 


Thomas  Princr,  1G34. 

William  Collier,  1634 

Timothy  Halherly,  1636. 

John  Brown,  1636. 

Sohn  Jenny,  1637. 

John  Atwood,  1638. 

Edmund  Freeman .  1640. 

William  Tlwtnas,  1642. 

T/wmas  Willd,  1651.. 

Thus  far  we  find  in  a  book  entituled,  New-England's  N'morial ,  which 
was  published  by  Mr.  Kathanael  Morton,  the  Secretary  of  Plymouth  col- 
ony, in  the  year  J  669.  .Since  then  there  have  been  added  at  several 
times, 


John  Alden. 

John  Dime. 

Stejjhen  Hopkins. 

William  Gilson. 

al  times  were  added. 

Thomas  SoiUhworth, 

1652. 

James  Cud  worth, 

1656. 

Josiah  Winslnw, 

1657. 

William  Bradford,  F. 

1668. 

Thomas  Hinkley, 

1658. 

James  Broivn, 

1666. 

John  Freeman, 

1666. 

Nathanael  Bacon, 

1667. 

Constant  Southworth, 
Daniel  Smith, 
Barnabas  Lothropt 


1670. 
1674. 
1681. 


John  Thatcher, 
Joim  Walley. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


Nehemias  Americanus.     The  Life  of  John  Winthrop,  Esq.  Governour 
of  the  Massachuset  Colony. 

Quiamq;  Venii  erunt,  Ars  nostra  eerie  non  aherit.     Cicer. 

§  1.  Let  Greece  boast  of  her  patient  Lycurgus,  the  lawgiver,  by  whom 
diligence,  temperance,  fortitude  and  wit  were  made  the  fashions  of  a 
therefore  long-lasting  and  renowned  commonwealth:  let  Rome  tell  of  her 
devout  Numa,  the  lawgiver,  by  whom  the  most  famous  commonwealth 


Book  II.]     OR,  THE  HISTORY  OF  KEW-ENGLAND.  lOP 

saw  ftact  triumphing  over  extinguished  war,  and  cruel  plunders  ;  and 
mwdtrs  giving  place  to  the  more  mollifying  exercises  of  his  religion. 
Our  JVeiu  England  shall  lell  and  boast  of  her  Winthrop,  a  lawgiver,  a^ 
patient  as  Lytxngns,  but  not  admitting  any  of  his  criminal  disorders  ;  as 
devout  as  JS'nnia,  but  not  liable  to  any  of  !ns  heathenish  madnesses  ;  a 
giiveniuur  in  whom  the  excellencies  ot  Christianity  made  a  niost  improving 
addition  unto  the  virtues,  wherein  even  without  tliose  he  would  have 
made  a  parallel  for  the  great  men  of  Greece,  or  of  Hume,  which  the  pen 
of  a  Piutarch  has  eternized. 

§  2.  A  stock  of  nerots  by  right  should  afford  nothing  but  \i'hat  i?  hero- 
ical ;  and  nothing  out  an  extreara  degeneracy  would  make  anything  less 
to  be  expected  from  a  stock  of  WirVhrops.  Mr.  Adam  Winlhrnp^  the  son 
of  a  worthy  gentleman  wearing  the  same  name,  was  himself  a  worthy,  a 
discreet,  and  a  learned  gentleman,  particularly  eminent  for  skill  in  the 
law,  nor  without  remark  for  L'Ve  to  the  g'-spel,  under  the  reign  of  King 
He.nry  VIII.  ;  and  brother  to  a  memorable  favourer  of  the  reformed  reli- 
gion in  the  days  of  Queen  Mary,  into  whose  hands  the  famous  martyr 
Fliilpiit  committed  his  papers,  which  afterwards  made  no  inconsiderable 
part  of  our  nut'iyr-hooks.  1  his  Mr.  Adam  Winthr.'p  had  a  son  of  the 
same  name  also,  and  of  the  same  endowments  and  imployments  with  his 
father;  and  this  third  Adam  Whuhrop  was  the  father  of  that  renowned 
John  Winthrop,  who  was  the  fither  of  .VezL'-Englund,  and  the  founder  0/ 
a  colony,  which  upon  many  accounts,  hke  hiriL  that  founded  it,  may  chal- 
lenge ihe  first  place  among  the  English  glories  of  America.  Our  JoH^ 
Winthrop  thus  born  at  the  mansion-house  of  his  ancestors,  at  Groton  in 
Svff'olk,  on  June  12,  1587,  enjoyed  afterwards  an  agreeable  education. 
But  though  he  would  rather  have  devoted  himself  unto  the  study  of  Mr. 
John  Calvin,  than  of  Sir  Edward  Cook  ;  nevertheless,  the  accomplish- 
ments of  Rlazvyer,  were  those  wherewith  heaven  made  his  chief  oppor 
tunies  to  be  serviceable. 

§  3.  Being  made,  at  the  unusually  early  age  of  eighteen,  a  justice  of 
peace,  his  virtues  began  to  fall  under  a  more  general  observation  ;  and 
he  not  only  so  bound  himself  to  the  behaviour  of  a  christian,  as  to  become 
exemplary  for  a  conformity  to  the  lams  of  cliristianily  in  his  own  conver- 
sation, but  also  discovered  a  more  than  ordinary  measure  of  those  quali- 
ties, which  adorn  an  officer  of  hnmine  society.  His  justice  was  impar- 
tial, and  used  the  baUauce  to  weigh  not  the  cash,  but  the  case  of  those 
•who  were  before  him  :  prosopola'ria,  he  reckoned  as  bad  as  idolo- 
latria  :  hi?  in-isdom  did  exquisitely  temper  things  according  to  the 
art  of  governing,  which  is  a  business  of  more  contrivance  than  the 
seven  arts  of  the  schools  :  oyer  still  went  before  terminer  in  all  his  ad- 
ministrations :  his  courage  made  him  dare  to  do  right,  and  fitted  him 
stand  amons  the  lio-'S  that  have  sometimes  been  the  supporters  of  the 
throne  :  all  which  virtues  he  rendred  the  more  illustrious,  by  emblazon- 
ing them  with  the  constant  liberality  and  hospitality  of  a  gentleman.  This 
made  him  the  terror  of  the  wicked,  and  the  delight  of  the  sober,  the 
envy  of  the  many  but  the  hope  of  those  who  had  any  hopeful  design  in 
hand  for  the  common  good  of  the  nation,  and  the  interests  of  religion. 

§  4.  Accordingly  when  the  noble  design  of  carrying  a  colony  of  chosen 
people  into  an  Americati  wilderness,  was  by  so77?e  eminent  persons  under- 
taken, thts  eminent  person  was,  by  the  consent  of  all,  chosen  for  the 
Moses,  who  must  be  the  leader  of  so  great  an  undertaking :  and  indeed 
nothing  but  a  Mosaic  spirit  could  have  carried  him  through  the  tempfa- 
tions,  to  which  either   his  farpn-el  to  his    nrvn   hmd.  or  his    travel  in   a 


no  MAG.N ALIA  CHRIST!  AMERICANA.  [Book  II. 

strange  land,  must  needs  expose  a  gentleman  of  his  education.  Where- 
fore having  sold  a  fair  estate  of  six  or  seven  hundred  a  year,  he  trans- 
ported himself  with  the  effects  of  it  into  New-England  in  the  year  1630, 
where  he  spent  it  upon  the  service  of  a  famous  plantation  founded  and 
formed  for  the  seat  of  the  most  reformed  Christianity :  and  continued 
there,  conflicting  with  temptations  of  all  sorts,  as  many  years  as  the  nodes 
of  the  ?Moo??.  take  to  dispatch  a  revolution.  Those  persons  were  never 
conf'erned  in  a  nezi--planiation,  who  know  not  that  the  unavoidable  diffi- 
culties of  such  a  thing,  will  call  for  all  the  prudence  and  patience  of  a 
mortal  man  to  encounter  therevviShal  ;  and  they  must  be  very  insensible 
of  the  influence,  which  the  just  wrath  of  heaven  has  permitted  the  devils 
to  hnve  upon  this  zi-orld,  if  tliey  do  not  think  that  the  difficulties  of  a 
new-plantation,  devoted  unto  the  evangelical  worship  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  must  be  yet  more  than  ordinary.  How  prudently,  how  patiently, 
and  with  how  much  resignation  to  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  our  brave  Win- 
throp  .vaded  through  these  difficulties,  let  posterity  consider  with  admi- 
ration. And  know,  that  as  the  picture  of  this  their  gov ernour,  was,  after 
his  death,  hung  up  with  honour  in  the  state-house  of  his  country,  so  the 
wisdom,  courage,  and  holy  zeal  of  his  life,  were  an  example  well-worthy 
to  be  copied  by  all  that  shall  succeed  him  in  government. 

§  5.  Were  he  now  to  be  considered  only  as  a  christian,  we  might 
therein  propose  him  as  greatly  imitable.  He  was  a  very  religious  man  ; 
and  <xi  he  strictly  kept  his  heart,  so  he  kept  his  house,  under  the  laws  of 
pieiy  ;  tJure  he  was  every  day  constant  in  holy  duties,  both  morning  and 
evening  and  on  the  Lord's  days,  and  lectures ;  tliough  he  W7-ote  not  after 
the  preacher,  yet  such  was  his  atteniion,  and  such  his  retentiim  in  hearing, 
that  he  repeated  unto  his  family  the  sermons  which  he  had  heard  in  the 
congregation  But  it  is  chiefly  .is  a  governour  that  he  is  now  to  be  con- 
siv'"reJ.  Being  the  governour  over  the  considerablest  part  of  Aew- 
EngULnd,  he  maintained  the  Hgure  and  honour  of  his  place  with  the 
spiril  of  a  true  geallcman  :  but  yet  with  such  obliging  condescention  to 
the  circumstailces  of  tlie  colony,  that  when  a  certain  troublesome  and 
malicious  caluvuniator,  well  known  in  those  times,  printed  his  libellous 
nick-names  upon  the  chief  persons  here,  the  worst  nick-name  he  could 
find  for  the  governour.  was  John  Temper-zvell ;  and  when  the  calumnies 
of  that  ill  man  caused  the  Arch-bishop  to  summon  one  Mr.  Cleaves  before 
the  King,  in  hopes  to  get  some  accusation  from  him  against  the  country, 
Mr.  C/ent:c5  gave  such  an  account  of  the  governour's  laudable  carriage  in 
all  respects,  and  the  serious  devotion  wherewith  prayers  were  both  pub- 
lick  ly  and  privately  made  for  his  Majcst;/,  that  the  King  expressed  him- 
self most  highly  pleased  therewithal,  only  sorry  that  so  worthy  a  person 
sho'jld  be  no  better  accommodated  than  with  the  hardships  of  America. 
He  tvas,  indeed,  a.  governour,  who  had  most  exactly  studied  that  book, 
which  pretending  to  leach  politicks,  did  only  contain  f/iree  leaves,  and  but 
one  rcord  in  each  of  those  leaves,  which  word  was,  Moderation.  Hence, 
though  he  were  a  zealous  enemy  to  all  vice,  yet  his  practice  w.is  accord- 
ing to  \i'\s  judgment  thus  expressed  ;  In  the  infancy  of  plantations,  justice 
should  be  administered  Xx-ith  more  lenity  than  in  a  settled  stale  ;  because  peo- 
ple arc  more  apt  then  to  transgress  ;  partly  out  of  ignorance  of  new  laws 
and  orders,  partly  out  of  oppression  of  business,  and  other  straits.  [Len- 
to Gradi",]  was  the  old  rule  ;  and  if  the  strings  of  a  new  instrument  be 
wound  up  unto  their  heighth,  they  will  quickly  crack.  But  when  some 
leading  and  learned  men  took  ofl'ence  at  his  conduct  in  this  matter,  and 
Tipon  a  conference  gave  it  in  as  their  opinion,  That  a  stricter  discipline  was 


Book  11.]      OR,  THE  HISTORY  OF  XEW-ENGLAND.  Ill 

to  be  used  in  the  beginning  of  a  plantation,  than  after  its  being  with  more 
age  established  and  cojifirimd,  the  governour  being  readier  to  see  his  oxen 
errors  than  other  mens,  piofessed  his  purpose  to  endeavour  their  satis- 
faction with  less  of  lenity  in  iiis  administrations.  At  that  conference  there 
were  drawn  up  several  other  articles  to  be  observed  between  the  gov- 
ernour and  the  rest  of  the  magistrates,  which  were  of  this  import :  That 
the  inagisl7'ates,  as  far  as  might  be,  shouhl  aforehand  ripen  their  considia- 
tions,  to  produce  that  U7ianimity  in  their  publick  votts,  which  might  make 
them  liker  to  the  voice  of  God  ;  that  if  differences  fell  out  among  them  in 
their  publick  meetings,  they  should  speak  only  to  the  cose,  without  any 
reflection,  with  all  due  modesty,  and  but  by  way  of  question  ;  or  desire  the 
deferring  of  the  cause  to  further  time  ;  and  after  sentence  to  imitate 
privately  no  dislike;  that  they  should  be  more  familiar,  friendly  and 
open  unto  each  other,  and  more  frequent  in  their  visitaiioiis,  and  not  any 
way  expose  each  other's  infirmities,  but  seek  the  honour  of  each  other, 
and  all  the  Court ;  that  one  magistrate  shall  not  cross  the  proceedings  uf 
another,  without  first  advising  with  him  ;  and  that  they  should  in  all  their 
appearances  abroad,  be  so  circumstanced  as  to  prevent  all  contenipt  of 
authority  ;  and  that  they  should  support  and  strengthen  all  under  officers. 
All  of  which  articles  were  observed  by  no  man  more  than  by  the  gov- 
ernour himself. 

§  6.  Bat  whilst  he  thus  did  as  our  JVerv- English  jYehemiah,  the  part 
ofai?M/erin  managing  the  public  affairs  of  our  American  Jerusalem, 
when  there  were  Tobijahs  and  Sanbatlats  enough  to  vex  him,  and  give 
him  the  experiment  o(  Luther'' s  observation,  Omnis  qui  regit  est  tanquam 
sigmim,  in  quod  omnia  jacula,  Sataji  &.  Miciidus  dirigunt ;  he  made  him- 
self still  an  ex.ictcr  parallel  unto  that  governor  of  Israel,  by  doing  the 
part  of  a  neighbour  among  the  distressed  people  of  the  nc-s>  plaiitation.  To 
teach  them  ihefugality  necessary  for  those  times,  he  abridged  himself  of 
a  thousand  comfortable  things,  which  he  had  allowed  himself  elsewhere  : 
his  habit  was  not  that  soft  raiment,  which  would  have  been  disagreeable 
to  a  wilderness  ;  his  table  was  not  covered  with  the  superfluities  that 
would  have  invited  unto  sensualities :  water  was  commonly  his  own  di-ink, 
though  he  gave  wine  to  others.  But  at  the  same  time  his  liberality  unto 
the  needy  was  even  beyond  measure  generous  ;  and  therein  he  was  con- 
tinually causing  the  blessing  of  him  that  was  ready  to  perish  to  come  upon 
him,  and  the  heart  of  the  widow-  and  the  orphan  to  sing  for  joy :  but  none 
more  than  those  of  deceased  Ministers,  whom  he  always  treated  with  a 
very  singular  compassion  ;  among  the  instances  whereof  we  still  enjoy 
with  us  the  worthy  and  now  aged  son  of  that  reverend  IIiggi7ison,  whose 
death  left  his  family  in  a  wdde  world  soon  after  his  arrival  here,  publick- 
ly  acknowledging  the  charitable  fVinthrop  for  his  foster-father.  It  was 
oftentimes  no  small  trial  unto  his  faith,  to  think  hozv  a  table  for  the  people 
should  be  furnished  when  they  first  came  into  the  wilderness  !  and  for  very 
many  of  the  people,  his  own  good  works  were  needful,  and  accordingly  em- 
ployed for  the  answering  of  his  faith.  Indeed,  for  a  while  the  governour 
was  the  Joseph,  unto  whom  the  whole  body  of  the  people  repaired  when 
their  cor7i  failed  them  ;  and  he  continued  relieving  of  them  with  his  open 
handed  bounties,  as  long  as  he  had  any  stock  to  do  it  with  ;  and  a  lively 
faith  to  see  the  return  of  the  bread  after  many  days,  and  not  starve  in  the 
days  that  were  to  pass  till  that  return  should  be  seen,  carried  him  chear- 
fully  through  those  expences. 

Once   it   was  observable,  that  on  Feb.  5.   1630,  when  he  was  distri- 
buting the  last  handful  of  the  meal  in  the  barrel  unto  a  poor  man  distressed 


112  MAGNALIA  CHRISTI  AMERICANA .  [Book  II 

by  the  wolf  ai  the  door,  at  Ihat  instant  they  spied  a  ship  arrived  at  the  har- 
bour's mouth  laden  with  provisions  for  them  all.  Yea,  the  governour 
sometimes  made  his  own  private  purse  to  be  the publick  ;  not  by  sucking 
into  it,  but  by  squeezing  out  of  it  ;  for  when  the  publick  treasure  had  no- 
thing in  it,  he  did  himself  defray  the  charges  of  tiie  publick.  And  having 
learned  that  lesson  of  our  hovti,  (hat  it  is  better  to  give,  than  to  receive. 
he  did,  at  the  general  court  when  he  was  a  third  time  chosen  governour, 
make  a  speech  unto  this  purpose.  That  he  had  received  gratuities  from, 
divers  toztms,  which  he  ucceplid  with  much  comfort  and  content;  and  he 
had  likewise  received  civiliiies  from  particular  persons,  which  he  could  not 
refuse,  without  incivility  in  himself:  nevertheless,  he  took  them  with  a  tremb- 
ling heart,  in  regard  of  God'' s  word,  axdthe  co7iscience  of  his  own  infirmi- 
ties ;  and  therefore  he  desired  them  that  they  would  not  hereafter  take  it  ill 
if  he  refused  such  presents  for  tlie  time  to  come.  'Twas  his  custom  also  to 
send  some  of  his  family  upon  errands,  unto  the  houses  of  the  poor  about 
their  meal  time,  on  purpose  to  spy  whether  they  wanted ;  and  if  it  were 
found  that  they  wanted,  he  would  make  that  the  opportunity  of  sending 
supplies  unto  them.  And  there  was  one  passage  of  his  charity  that  was 
perhaps  a  little  unusual :  in  an  hard  and  long  winter,  when  wood  was 
very  scarce  at  Boston,  a  man  gave  him  a  private  information,  that  a  needy 
person  in  the  neighbourhood  stole  wood  sometimes  from  his  pile ; 
whereupon  the  governour  in  a  seeming  anger  did  reply,  Does  he  so? 
Vll  take  a  course  with  him;  go,  call  that  man  to  me,  I'll  warrant  you 
ril  cure  him  of  stealing.  When  the  man  came,  the  governour  consid- 
ering that  if  he  had  stolen,  it  was  more  out  of  necessity  than  disposi- 
tion, said  unto  him.  Friend,  it  is  a  severe  winter,  and  I  doubt  you  art 
but  meanly  provided  for  wood ;  wherefore  I  woidd  have  you  supply  your 
self  at  my  wood-pile  till  this  cold  season  be  over.  And  he  then  merrily 
asked  his  friends.  Whether  he  had  not  e^ectually  cured  this  man  of  stealing 
his  wood? 

§  7.  One  would  have  imagined  that  so  good  a  man  could  have  had  no 
enemies ;  if  we  had  not  had  a  daily  and  woful  experience  to  convince 
us,  Ih-di  goodness  it  self  will  make  enemies.  It  is  a  wonderful  speech  of 
Plato,  (in  one  of  his  book.--,  Dp  ^^ep"hlica)  For  the  tri  d  of  true  vertue, 
'tis  necessary  that  a  good  man  fAiihv  ct.hx.uv  ^o^xv  tyjn  lut  iMyi^yft  d^t%ici%  : 
Though  he  do  nu  vjust  thing,  sut-uui  aujf'er  iht  injomy  uj  liic  greatest  in- 
justice. The  governour  had  by  his  unspotted  inlcgrily.  procured  himself 
a  great  reputation  among  the  people;  and  then  the  crime  of  popularity 
was  laid  unto  his  charge  by  such,  who  were  willing  to  deliver  him  from 
the  danger  of  having  all  men  speak  well  of  him.  Yea,  there  were  per- 
sons eminent  both  for  hgure  and  for  number,  unto  whom  it  was  almost 
essential  to  dislike  every  thing  that  came  from  him  ;  and  yet  he  always 
maintained  an  amicable  correspondence  with  them  ;  as  believing  that 
they  acted  according  to  their  judgment  and  conscience,  or  that  their 
eyes  were  held  by  some  temptation  in  the  worst  of  all  their  oppositions. 
Indeed,  his  right  works  were  so  many,  that  they  exposed  him  unto  the 
envy  of  his  neighbours  ;  and  of  such  pozver  was  that  envy,  that  some- 
times he  could  not  stand  before  it;  but  it  was  by  not  standing  that  he 
most  eSeciuhWy  withstood  it  all.  Great  attempts  were  sometimes  made 
among  the  freemen,  to  get  him  left  out  from  his  place  in  the  government 
upon  little  pretences,  lest  by  the  too  frequent  choice  of  one  man,  the 
government  should  cease  to  be  by  clvnce ;  and  with  a  particular 
aim  at  him,  sermons  were  preached  at  the  anniversary  Court  ol 
election,   to  dissvvade  the /ie<^»(e/i  from  chusing  07ic  man  twice  together. 


Book  III  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  U;; 

This  was  the  reward  of  his  extraordinary  scrviceableness !  But  when 
these  attempts  did  succeed,  as  they  sometimes  did,  his  profound  humility 
appeared  in  that  equality  of  mind,  wherewith  he  applied  himself  cheer- 
fully to  serve  the  country  in  whatever  station  their  votes  had  allotted  for 
him.  And  one  year  when  the  votes  came  to  be  numbered,  there  were 
found  six  less  for  Mr.  Winthrop,  than  for  another  gentleman  who  then 
stood  in  competition  :  but  several  other  persons  regularly  tendring  their 
votes  before  the  election  was  published,  were,  upon  a  very  frivolous  ob- 
jection, refused  by  some  of  the  magistrates,  that  were  afraid  lest  the 
election  should  at  last  fall  upon  Mr.  Winthrop  :  which  though  it  was  well 
perceived,  yet  such  was  the  self-denial  of  this  patriot,  that  he  would  not 
permit  any  notice  to  be  taken  of  the  injury.  But  these  trials  were  noth- 
ing in  comparison  of  those  harsher  and  harder  treats,  which  he  some- 
times had  from  the  frowardness  of  not  a  few  in  the  days  of  their  parox- 
isms ;  and  from  the  faction  of  some  against  him,  not  much  unlike  that  of 
the  Piazzi  in  Florence  against  the  family  of  the  Medices  :  all  of  which 
he  at  last  conquered  by  conforming  to  the  famous  Judge's  motto,  Pru- 
dens  qui  Patiens.  The  oracles  of  God  have  said.  Envy  is  rottenness  to 
the  bones;  and  Gxdielinus  Parisiennis  applies  it  unto  rulers,  who  are  as  it 
were  the  bones  of  the  societies  which  they  belong  unto  :  Envy,  says  he, 
is  of  ten  found  among  them,  and  it  is  rottenness  unto  them.  Our  Winthrop 
encountred  this  envy  from  others,  but  conquered  it,  by  being  free  from 
it  himself. 

§  8.  Were  it  not  for  the  sake  of  introducing  the  exemplary  skill  of 
this  wise  man,  at  giving  soft  answers,  one  woul  1  not  chuse  to  relate  those 
instances  of  wrath,  which  he  had  sometimes  to  encounter  with  ;  but  he 
was  for   his  gentleness,  his  forbearance,   and  longanimity,   a   pattern  so 
worthy  to  be  written  after,  that  something  must  here  be  written  of  it. 
He  seemed  indeed  never  to  speak  any  other  language  than  that  of  Tneo- 
dosius.  If  any  man  speak  evil  of  the  governour ,  if  it  be  through  lightness, 
'tis  to  be  contemned;  if  it  be    through  madness,  'tis  to  be  pitied;  if  it  be 
through  injury,  His  to  be  remitted.     Behold,  reader,  the  7neekness  of  z^is- 
dom  notably  exemplified  !     There  was  a  time  when  he  received  a  very 
sharp  letter  from  a  gentleman,  who  was  a  member  of  the  Court,  but  he 
delivered  back  the  letter  unto  the  messengers  that  brought  it,  with  such 
a  christian  speech  as  this,  /  am  not  willing  to  keep  such  a  matter  of  pro- 
vocation by  me !     Afterwards  the  same  gentleman  was  compelled  by  the 
scarcity  of  provisions  to  send  unto  him  that  he  would  sell  him  some  of 
his  cattel ;  whereupon  the  governour  prayed  him  to  accept  what  he  had 
sent  for  as  a  token  of  his  good  will  5  but  the  gentleman  returned  him  this 
answer,  Sir,  your  overcoming  of  yourself  hath  overcome  me  ;  and  after- 
wards gave   demonstration  of  it.     The  French  have   a  saying,  That  Uu 
Honeste  Homme,  est  un  Homme  mesle  !  a  good  man  is  a  mixt  man  ;  and 
there  hardly  ever  was  a  more  sensible  mixture  of  those  two  things,  res- 
j  olution  and  condescention,  than  in  this  good  man.     There   was   a  time 
'  when  the  court  of  election,  being  for  fear  of  tumult,  held  at  Cambridge, 
I  May  17,  1637,  the  sectarian  part  of  the  country,  who  had  the  year  be- 
j  fore  gotten  a  governour  more  unto  their  mind,  had  a  project  now  to  have 
i  confounded  the  election,  by  demanding  that  the  court  would  consider  a  pe- 
1  iition  then  tendered  before  their  proceeding  thereunto.     Mr.  Winthrop 
i  saw  that  this  was  only  a  trick  to  throw  all  into  confusion,  by  putting  off 
I  the  choice  of  the  governour  and  assistents  until  the  day  should  be  over  ; 
j  and  therefore  he  did,  with  a  strenuous  resolution,  procure  a  disappoint- 
j  ment  unto  that  mischievous   and  ruinous  contrivance.     Nevertheless, 
1      Voj.  r,  1.5 


114  MAGNALIA  CHRISTI  AMERICANA.  [Book  II 

Mr.  Winthrop  himself  being  by  the  voice  of  the  freemen  in  this  exigence 
chosen  the  governour,  and  all  of  the  other  party  left  out,  that  ill-affected 
party  discovered  the  dirtimd  mire,  which  remained  with  them,  after  the 
.storm  was  over  ;  particularly  the  smjeants,  whose  office  'twas  to  attend 
the  goverrKmr,  laid  down  their  halberts  ;  but  such  was  the  co?idescention 
of  this  governour,  as  to  take  no  present  notice  of  this  anger  and  con- 
tempt, but  only  order  some  of  his  own  servants  to  take  the  halberts  : 
and  when  the  country  manifested  their  deep  resentments  of  the  affront 
thus  offered  him,  ha  prayed  them  to  overlook  it.  But  it  was  not  long  be- 
fore a  compensation  was  made  for  these  things  by  the  doubled  respects  ■ 
which  were  from  all  parts  paid  unto  him.  Again,  there  was  a  time  when 
the  suppression  of  an  antinomian  and  familishcal  faction,  which  extream- 
ly  threatned  the  ruin  of  the  country,  was  generally  thought  much  owing 
unto  this  renowned  man  ;  and  therefore  when  the  friends  of  that  faction 
could  not  wreak  their  displeasure  on  him  with  any  politick  vexations, 
they  set  themselves  to  do  it  by  ecclesiastical  ones.  Accordingly  when  a 
sentence  of  banishment  was  passed  on  the  ringleaders  of  those  disturb- 
ances, who 

— Maria  Sf  Terras,  Ccelumq ;  profundum^ 

(^uippe  ferant,  Hapidi,  secmn,  vertantq;  per  Auras  ; 

many  at  the  church  of  Boston,  who  were  then  that  way  too  much  inclin- 
ed, most  earnestly  solicited  the  elders  of  that  church,  whereof  the 
governour  was  a  member,  to  call  him  forth  as  an  offender  for  passing  of 
that  sentence.  The  elders  were  unwilling  to  do  any  such  thing  ;  but  the 
governour  understanding  the  ferment  among  the  people,  took  that  occa- 
sion to  make  a  speech  in  the  congregation  to  this  effect,  '  Brethren,  un- 
'  derstanding  that  some  of  you  have  desired  that  I  should  answer  for  an 
'  tiffence  lately  taken  among  you  ;  had  I  been  called  upon  so  to  do,  I 
'  would,  first,  have  advised  with  the  ministers  of  the  country,  whether 
'  the  church  had  power  to  call  in  question  the  civil  covrt ;  and  I  would. 
'  secondly,  have  advised  with  the  rest  of  the  court,  whether  I  might  dis- 
'  cover  their  counsels  unto  the  church.  But  though  1  know  that  the 
'  reverend  elders  of  this  church,  and  some  others,  do  very  well  appre- 
'  hend  that  the  church  cannot  enquire  into  the  proceedings  of  the  court : 
'  yet  for  the  satisfaction  of  the  weaker  who  do  not  apprehend  it,  I  will 
•  declare  my  mind  concerning  it.  If  the  church  have  any  such  power, 
'  they  have  it  from  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  but  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
'  hath  disclaimed  it,  not  only  by  practice,  but  also  by  precept,  which  we 
'  have  in  his  gospel,  Mat.  xx.  2t»,  26.  It  is  true  indeed,  that  magistrates, 
'  as  the}'  are  church-members ,  are  accountable  unto  the  church  for  their 
'  failings  ;  but  that  is  when  they  are  out  of  their  calling.  When  Uzziuh 
'  would  go  offer  incense  in  the  temple,  the  otTicers  of  the  church  called 
'  him  to  an  account,  and  withstood  him.  ;  but  when  Jlsa  put  the  prophet 
'  in  prison,  the  othcers  of  the  church  did  not  call  him  to  an  account  for 
'  that.  If  the  magistrate  shall  in  a  private  way  wrong  any  man,  the 
'  church  may  call  him  to  an  account  for  it ;  but  if  he  be  in  pursuance  of 
'  a  course  of  justice,  though  the  thing  tliathe  does  be  wijust,  yet  he  is  not 
'  accountable  Ibv  it  before  the  church.  As  for  my  self  I  did  nothing  in 
'  the  causes  of  any  of  the  brethren,  but  by  the  advice  of  the  elders  of  the 
'  church.  Moreover,  in  the  uathwh\ch  I  have  taken  there  is  this  clause, 
'  In  all  cases  wherein  you  are  to  give  your  tote,  you  shall  do  as  in  your 
■'judgment  and  conscience  yoit  shall  see  to  be  just,  and  for  the  publick  good. 


Took  II.]      OR,  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  115 

'  And  1  am  satisfied,  it  is  most  for  the  glory  of  God,  and  the  public  good, 
'  that  there  has  been  such  a  sentence  passed  ;  yea,  tho&e  brethren  are  so 
"  divided  from  the  rest  of  the  country  in  their  opinions  and  practices, 
'  that  it  cannot  stand  with  tlie  publick  peace  for  them  to  continue  with 
'  us  ;  Abraham  saw  that  Hagar  and  Ishmael  must  be  sent  away.'  By 
such  a  speech  he  marvellously  convinced,  satisfied  and  mollified  the  vn- 
easie  brethren  of  the  church  ;  Sic  cunclus  Pelagi  cecidic  Fragor — .  And 
after  a  little  patient  waiting,  the  differences  all  so  wore  awaj,  that  the 
church,  meerly  as  a  token  of  respect  unto  the  governour,  when  he  had 
newly  met  with  some  losses  in  his  estate,  sent  him  a  present  of  several 
hundreds  of  pounds.  Once  more  there  was  a  time,  when  some  active 
spirits  among  the  deputies  of  the  colony,  by  their  endeavours  not  only  to 
make  themselves  a  Court  of  Judicature,  but  also  to  take  away  the  nega- 
tive by  which  the  magistrates  might  check  their  votes,  had  like  b}'  over- 
driving to  have  run  the  whole  government  into  something  too  democrat- 
ical.  And  if  there  were  a  town  in  Spain  undermined  by  coneys,  another 
town  in  Thrace  destroyed  by  moles,  a  third  in  Greece  ran  versed  hy  frogs, 
a  fourth  in  Germany  subverted  by  rats  ;  I  must  on  this  occasion  add,  that 
there  was  a  country  in  America  like  to  be  confounded  by  a  swine.  A 
certain  stray  sow  being  found,  was  claimed  by  two  several  persons  with 
a  claim  so  equally  maintained  on  both  sides,  that  after  six  or  seven  years' 
hunting  the  business,  from  one  court  unto  another,  it  was  brought  at  last 
into  the  General  Court,  where  the  final  determination  was,  that  it  -was  im- 
possible to  proceed  unto  atiy  judgment  in  the  case.  However  in  the  de- 
bate of  this  matter,  the  negative  of  the  upper-house  upon  the  lower  in 
that  Court  was  brought  upon  the  stage  ;  and  agitated  with  so  hot  a  zeal, 
that  a  little  more  and  all  had  been  in  the  fire.  In  these  agitations  the 
governour  was  informed  that  an  offence  had  been  taken  by  some  emi- 
nent persons,  at  certain  passages  in  a  discourse  by  him  written  therea- 
bout ;  whereupon  with  his  usual  condescendency ,  when  he  next  came 
into  the  General  Court,  he  made  a  speech  of  this  import.  '  1  under- 
'  stand,  that  some  have  taken  offence  at  something  that  I  have  lately 
'  written  ;  which  offence  1  desire  to  remove  now,  and  begin  this  }'ear  in 
'  a  reconciled  state  with  you  all.  As  for  the  matter  of  my  writing,  I  had 
'  the  concurrence  of  my  brethren  ;  it  is  a  point  of  judgment  which  is  not 

*  at  my  own  disposing.  I  have  examined  it  over  and  over  again  by  such 
'  ligJu  as  God  has  given  me,  from  the  rules  of  religion,  reason  and  cus- 
'  torn;  and  I  see  no  cause  to  retract  any  thing  of  it  :  wherefore  1  must 
'  enjoy  my  liberty  in  that,  as  you  do  your  selves.  But  for  the  manner, 
'  this,  and  all  that  was  blame  worthy  in  it,  was  w  holly  my  omn  ;  and  what- 
'  soever  I  might  alledge  for  my  own  justification  therein  before  men,   I 

*  wave  it,  as  now  setting  my  self  before  another  Judgment-seat.  How- 
'  ever,  wh.-l.  1  wrote  was  upon  great  provocation,  and  to  vindicate  niy 
'  self  and  others  from  great  aspersion  ;  yet  that  was  nu  sufficient  warrant 
'  for  me  to  allow  any  distemper  of  spirit  in  my  self;  and  I  doubt  1  have 
'  been  too  prodigal  of  my  brethren's  reputation  ;  1  might  have  maintained 
'  my  cause  without  casting  any  blemish  upon  others,  when  I  made  that  my 

■  conclusion,  And  now  let  religion  and  sound  reason  give  judgment  in  the 
'  case  ;  it  looked  as  if  1  arrogated  too  much  unto  my  self,  and  too  little  to 
'  others.  And  when  1  made  that  profession,  Tliat  I  would  maintain  what 
'  I  wrote  before  all  the  world,  though  such  words  might  modestly  be  spo- 

■  ken,  yet  I  perceive  an  unbeseeming  pride  of  my  own  heart  breathing 

*  in  them.     For  these  failings  I  ask  pardon  both  of  God  and  man. 


U6  MAGNALIA  CHRIbTI  AMERICANA:  [Book  i(. 

Sic  ait,  4*  dicto  citius  Tumida  JEquora  placat, 
Collectasq  ;  fugat  JVtibes,  Soleinq  ;  reducit. 

This  acknowledging  disposition  in  the  governour,  made  them  all  acknowl- 
edge, that  he  was  truly  a  man  of  an  excellent  spirit.  In  fine,  the  vicio- 
ries  of  an  Alexander,  an  Hannibal,  or  a  Cmsar  over  other  men,  were  not 
so  glorious,  as  the  victories  of  this  great  man  over  hifnself,  which  also  at 
last  proved  victories  over  other  men. 

§.  9.  But  the  stormiest  of  all  the  trials  that  ever  befel  this  gentleman, 
was  in  the  year  1645  when  he  was  in  title,  no  more  than  Deputy -Governour 
of  the  colony.  If  the  famons  Caio  were  forty-four  times  called  into  judg- 
ment, but  as  often  acquitted  ;  let  it  not  be  wondred,  and  if  our  famous 
Winthrt,p  were  one  time  so.  There  hapning  certain  seditious  and  mu- 
tinous practices  in  the  town  of  Hingham,  the  Deputy-Governour  as  legally 
as  prudently  interposed  his  authority  for  the  checking  of  them  :  wherup- 
on  there  followed  such  an  enchantment  upon  the  minds  of  the  deputies  in 
the  General  Court,  that  upon  a  scandalous  petition  of  the  delinquent.^ 
unto  them,  wherein  a  pretended  invasion  made  upon  the  liberties  of  the 
people  was  complained  of  the  Depnty-Guvernour ,  was  most  irregularly  call- 
ed forth  unto  an  ignominous  hearing  before  them  in  a  vast  assembly  : 
%vhereto  with  a  sagacious  hnmilitnde  he  consented,  although  he  shewed 
them  how  he  might  have  refused  it.  The  result  of  that  hearing  was,  that 
notwithstaning  the  touchy  jealousie  of  the  people  about  their  liberties  lay 
at  the  bottom  of  all  this  prosecution,  yet  Mr.  Winthrop  was  publickly  ac- 
quitted, and  the  offenders  were  severally  fined  and  censured.  But  Mr. 
Winthrop  then  resuming  the  place  of  Deputy -Governour  on  the  bench,  saw 
cause  to  speak  unto  the  root  of  the  matter  after  this  manner.  '  I  shall  not 
'  now  speak  any  thing  about  the  past  proceedings  of  this  Court,  or  the 
'■persons  therein  concerned.  Only  1  bless  God  that  I  see  an  issue  of  this 
'  troublesome  affair.  I  am  well  satisfied  that  I  was  publickly  accused,  and 
'  that  I  am  now  publickly  acquitted.  But  though  I  am  justified  before 
"  men,  yet  it  may  be  the  Lord  hath  seen  so  much  amiss  in  my  administra- 
'  tions,  as  calls  me  to  be  humbled  ;  and  indeed  for  me  to  have  been  thus 
'charged  hymen,  is  it  self  a  matter  of  humiliatimi,  whereof  I  desire  to 
■^  make  a  right  use  before  the  Lmd.  l( Miriam^ s  father  spit  in  her  face, 
'  she  is  to  be  ashamed.  But  give  me  leave  before  you  go,  to  say  some- 
■•  thing  that  may  rectifie  the  opinions  of  many  people,  from  whence  the 
'  distempers  have  risen  that  have  lately  prevailed  upon  the  body  of  this 
'  people.  The  questions  that  have  troubled  the  country  have  been  about 
'  the  autlw'ity  of  the  magistracy,  and  the  liberty  of  the  people.  It  is  you 
'  who  have  called  us  unto  this  office  ;  but  being  thus  called,  we  have  our 
'  authority  from  God  ;  it  is  the  ordinance  of  God,  and  it  hath  the  image  of 

*  God  stamped  upon  it  ;  and  the  contempt  of  it  has  been  vindicated  by 
'  God  with  terrible  examples  of  his  vengeance.  I  entreat  you  to  consid- 
'  er,  that  when  you  chuse  magistrates,  you  take  them  from  among  your 
'  selves,  men  sulject  unto  like  passio7is  ivith  y(mr  selves.  If  you  see  our  in- 
'  firmities,  reflect  on  your  own,  and  you  will  not  be  so  severe  censurers 
<  of  ours.  We  count  him  a  good  servav-t  who  bieaks  not  his  covenant:  the 
'  covenant  between  us  and  y.  ii,  is  the  oath  you  have  taken  of  us,  which  is 
'  to  this  purpose,  tliat  io<i  shall  govern  you,  and  judge  your  causes,  accord- 

*  ing  '«••  God''s  laivs,  and  our  own,  according  to  our  best  skill.  As  for  our 
'  skill,  you  must  run  the  hazard  of  it ;  and  if  there  be  an  error,  not  in  the 
'  iviU,  but  only  in  the  skill  it  becomes  you  to  bear  it.     Nor  would  I  have 

'■  you  to  mistake  in  the  point  of  your  own  liberty.     There  is  a  liberty  of 


Book  U.J      OR,  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  IIT 

'  corrupt  nature,  which  is  affected  both  by  men  and  beasts,  to  do   what 

•  they  list  ;  and  this  liberty  is  inconsistent  with  authority,  impatient  of  all 
'  restraint  ;  by  this  liberty,  Siimiis  Omnes  Deteriores  ;  'tis  the  grand  enemy 
'  oi truth  and  peace,  and  all  the  ordinances  of  God  are  bent  against  it.  But 
'  there  is  a  civil,  a  moral,  a  federal  liberty,  which  is  the  proper  end  and 

•  object  oC  authority  ;  it  is  a  libeiiy  for  that  only  which  is  just  and  good  ; 
'  for  this  liberty  you  are  to  stand  with  the  hazard  of  your  very  lives ;  and 

•  whatsoever  crosses  it  is  not  au//io?^7i/,  but  a  distemper  thereof  This 
'  liberty  is  maintained  in  a  way  of  subjection  to  authority  ;  and  the  author- 
'  ity  set  over  you,  will  in  all  administrations  for  your  good  be  quietly  sub- 
'  mitted  unto,  by  all  but  such  as  have  a  dispositon  to  shake  off  the  yoke, 
'  and  lose  their  true  liberty,  by  their  murmuring  at  the  honour  and  povv- 

•  er  o(  authority .'' 

The  spell  that  was  upon  the  eyes  of  the  people  being  thus  dissolved, 
their  distorted  and  enraged  notions  of  things  all  vanished  ;  and  the  people 
would  not  afterwards  entrust  the  helm  of  the  weather-beaten  bark  in  any 
other  hands,  but  Mr.  Winthrop's  until  he  died. 

§.  10.  Indeed  such  was  the  mixture  of  distant  qualities  in  him,  as  to 
make  a  most  admirable  temper ;  and  his  having  a  certain  greatness  of  soul, 
which  rendered  him  grave,  generous,  courageous,  resolved,  well-applied, 
and  every  way  a  gentleman  in  his  demeanour,  did  not  hinder  him  from 
taking  sometimes  the  old  Roraaii's  way  to  avoid  confusions,  namely,  Ce- 
dendo  ;  or  from  discouraging  some  things  which  are  agreeable  enough 
to  most  that  wear  the  name  of  gentlemen.  Hereof  I  will  give  no  instan- 
ces, but  only  oppose  two  passages  of  his  life. 

In  the  year  1632,  the  governour,  with  his  pastor  Mr.  Wilson,  and 
some  other  gentlemen,  to  settle  a  good  understanding  between  the  two 
colonies,  travelled  as  far  as  Plymouth,  more  than  forty  miles,  through  an 
howling  wilderness,  no  better  accommodated  in  those  early  days,  than 
the  princes  that  in  Solomon''s  time  saw  servants  on  horseback,  or  than  ge- 
nus and  species  in  the  old  epigram,  going  on  foot.  The  difficulty  of  the 
isjalk,  was  abundantly  compensated  by  the  honourable,  first  reception, 
and  then  dismission,  which  they  found  from  the  rulers  of  Plymouth;  and 
by  the  good  correspondence  thus  established  between  the  new  colonies, 
who  were  like  the  floating  bottels  wearing  this  motto,  Si  Collidimur , 
Frangimur.  But  there  were  at  this  time  in  Plymouth  two  ministers^ 
leavened  so  far  with  the  humours  of  the  rigid  separation,  that  they  in- 
sisted vehemently  upon  the  unlawfulness  of  calling  any  unregenerate 
man  by  the  name  of  good-man  such  an  one,  until  by  their  indiscreet  urg- 
ing of  this  whimsey,  the  place  began  to  be  disquieted.  The  wiser  peo- 
ple being  troubled  at  these  trifles,  they  took  the  opportunity  of  govern- 
our Winthrop's  being  there,  to  have  the  thing  publicly  propounded  in  the 
congregation  ;  who  in  answer  thereunto,  distinguished  between  a  theolo- 
gical and  a  moral  goodness ;  adding,  that  when  Juries  were  first  used  in 
England,  it  was  usual  for  the  crier,  after  the  names  of  persons  fit  for  that 
service  were  called  over,  to  bid  them  all.  Attend,  good  men,  and  true  ; 
whence  it  grew  to  be  a  civil  custom  in  the  English  nation,  for  neighbours 
living  by  one  another,  to  call  one  another  good  man  such  an  one:  and  it 
was  pity  now  to  make  a  stir  about  a  civil  custom,  so  innocently  introduced. 
And  that  speech  of  Mr.  Winthrop's  put  a  lasting  stop  to  the  little,  idle, 
whimsical  conceits,  then  beginning  to  grow  obstreperous.  Nevertheless 
there  was  one  civil  custoin  used  in  (and  in  few  but)  the  English  nation , 
which  this  gentleman  did  endeavour  to  abolish  in  this  country ;  and  thai 
was,  the  mage  of  drinking  to  one  another.     For  although  by  drinking  i" 


118  MAGNALIA  CHRISTI  AMERICANA ;  [Book  IL 

one  another^  no  more  is  meant  than  an  act  of  covrtcsic,  when  one  going 
to  drink,  does  invite  another  to  do  so  too,  for  the  same  ends  with  him- 
selfj  nevertheless  the  governour  (not  altogether  unlike  to  Cleomenes,  of 
whom  'tis  reported  by  Plutarch,  urjovn  ^ahu  Trortipiov  7rpoii-(<pepe,  A'o- 
lenti  poculam  mmquam  prwbuii,)  considered  the  iinpertintncy  <xi,(i  'i7isig- 
nificancy  of  this  usage,  as  to  any  of  those  ends  that  are  usually  pretended 
for  it ;  and  that  indeed  it  ordinarily  served  for  no  ends  at  all,  but  only  to 
provoke  persons  unto  unseasonable,  and  perhaps  unreasonable  drinking, 
and  at  last  produce  that  abominable  health- drinking,  which  the  fathers 
of  old  so  severely  rebuked  in  the  Pagans,  and  which  the  Papists 
themselves  do  condemn,  when  their  casuists  pronounce  it,  Peccatum 
mortale,  provocare  ad  .lEquales  Calices  4"  J^''efas  Respondere.  Where- 
fore in  his  own  most  hospitable  house  he  left  it  ofl";  not  out  of  any 
silly  or  stingy ya7ic!/,  but  meerly  that  by  his  example  a  greater  temperance, 
with  liberty  oi  drinking,  might  be  recommended,  and  sundry  inconve- 
niences in  drinking  avoided  ;  and  his  example  accordingly  began  to  be  much 
followed  by  the  sober  people  in  tkis  country,  as  it  now  also  begins  to  be 
among  persons  of  the  highest  rank  in  the  English  nation  it  self ;  until 
an  order  of  court  came  to  be  made  against  that  ceremomy  in  drinking,  and 
then,  the  old  wont  violently  returned,  with  aJVitimur  in  Vetitum. 

§  1 1.  Many  were  the  afjlictio7is  of  this  righteous  man  !  He  lost  much  of 
his  estate  in  a  ship,  and  in  an/iowse,  quickly  after  his  coming  to  New-Eng 
land,  besides  the  prodigious  expence  of  it  in  the  difficulties  of  his  first 
coming  hither.  Afterwards  his  assiduous  application  unto  the  publick  af- 
fairs, (wherein  Ipse  se  non  habuit,  postquam  Respublica  cum  Gubernatorem 
habere  ccepit^  made  him  so  much  to  neglect  his  own  private  interests,  that 
an  unjust  steward  ran  him  2500  I.  in  debt  before  he  was  aware  ;  for  the 
payment  whereof  he  was  forced,  many  years  before  his  decease,  to  sell 
the  most  of  what  he  had  left  unto  him  in  the  country.  Albeit,  by  the 
observable  blessings  of  God  upon  the  posterity  of  this  liberal  man,  his 
children  all  of  them  came  to  fair  estates,  and  lived  in  good  fashion  and 
credit.  Moreover,  he  successively  buried  three  wives ;  the  first  of 
which  was  the  daughter  and  heiress  of  Mr.  Forth,  o{  Much-Stambridge  in 
Essex,  by  whom  he  had  wisdom  with  an  inheritance  ;  and  an  excellent  son. 
The  second  was  the  daughter  of  Mr.  William  Clopton  of  London,  who 
died  with  her  child,  within  a  very  little  while.  The  third  was  the  daugh- 
ter of  the  truly  worshipful  Sir  John  Tyndal,  who  made  it  her  whole  care 
to  please,  first  God,  and  then  her  husband;  and  by  whom  he  had  four 
sons,  which  survived  and  honoured  their  father.  And  unto  all  these, 
the  addition  of  the  distempers,  ever  now  and  then  raised  in  the  country 
procured  unto  him  a  very  singular  share  of  trouble  ;  yea,  so  hard  was 
the  measure  which  he  found  even  among  pious  men,  in  the  temptations 
of  a  wilderness,  that  when  the  thunder  and  lightning  had  smitten  a  wirxd- 
milL  whereof  he  was  owner,  some  had  such  things  in  their  heads  as  pub- 
lickly  to  reproach  this  charitablest  of  men  as  if  the  voice  of  the  Almighty  had 
rebuked,  1  know  not  what  oppression,  which  they  judged  him  guilty  of; 
which  thin2;s  I  would  not  have  mentioned,  but  that  the  instances  may  for- 
lifie  the  expectations  of  ray  best  readers  for  such  afllictions. 

§  12.  He  that  had  bepn  for  his  attainments,  as  they  said  of  the  blessed 
Macarius,  a  Treaoctptoyipuv,  an  old  7nan,  while  a,  young  one,  and  that  had  in 
his  young  days  met  wiih  many  of  those  ill  days,  whereof  he  could  say, 
he  had  little  pleasure  in  them  ;  now  found  old  age  in  its  infirmities  advanc- 
mg  earlier  upon  him,  than  it  came  upon  his  much  longer  lived  progeni- 
tors.    While  he  was  yet  seven  years  off  of  that  which  we  call  the  grand 


Book  II.]       OR,  THE  HISTORY  OK  NEW-ENGLAND.  119 

climacterical,  he  felt  the  approaches  of  his  dissolution ;  and  finding;  he 
eould  say, 

JVon  Habitus,  non  ipse  Color  non  Grcssus  Euntis. 
J\'o/i  Species  Eadem,  quccfuit  ante,  manet. 

He  then  wrote  this  account  of  himself,  Jge  now  comes  upon  me,  and  in- 
firmities therewithal,  which  makes  me  apprehend,  that  the  time  of  my  de- 
parture out  of  this  world  is  not  far  off.  However  our  times  are  all  in  the 
Lord's  hand,  so  as  zve  need  not  trouble  our  thoughts  how  long  or  short  they 
•may  be,  but  how  we  may  be  found  faithful  when  we  are  called  for.  But  at  last 
when  that  year  came,  he  took  a  cold  which  turned  into  afeaver,  whereof 
he  lay  sick  about  a  mouth,  and  in  that  sickness,  as  it  hath  been  observed, 
that  there  was  allowed  unto  the  serpent  the  bruising  of  the  heel ;  and  ac- 
cordingly at  the  heel  or  the  close  of  our  lives  the  old  serpent  will  be  nib- 
bling more  than  ever  in  our  lives  before  ;  and  when  the  devil  sees  that 
we  shall  shortly  be,  where  the  wicked  cease  from  troubling,  that  wicked 
one  will  trouble  us  more  than  ever  ;  so  this  eminent  saint  now  underwent 
sharp  conflicts  with  the  tempter,  whose  wrath  grew  great,  as  the  time  to 
exert  it  grew  short;  and  he  was  buffetted  with  the  disconsolate  thoughts 
of  black  and  sore  desertions,  wherein  he  could  use  that  sad  representa 
tion  of  his  own  condition. 

JVuper  eram  Judex  ;  Jam,  Judicor  ;  Ante  Tribunat, 
Subsislens  paveo,  Judicor  ipse  modo. 

But  it  was  not  long  before  those  clouds  were  dispelled,  and  he  enjoyed 
in  his  holy  soul  the  great  consolations  of  God !  While  he  thus  lay  ripen- 
ing for  heaven,  he  did  out  of  obedience  unto  the  ordinance  of  our  Lord, 
send  for  the  elders  of  the  church  to  pray  with  him  ;  yea,  they  and  the 
whole  church  fasted  as  well  as  prayed  for  him  ;  and  in  that  fast  the  ve- 
nerable Cotton  preached  on  Psal.  xxxv.  13,  14,  When  they  were  sick,  1 
humbled  my  selj  with  fasting ;  I  behaved  my  self  as  though  he  had  been  mi, 
friend  or  brother ;  I  bowed  down  heavily,  as  one  that  mourned  for  his  mo- 
ther :  from  whence  I  find  him  raising  that  observation,  The  sickness  of  one 
that  is  to  us  as  a  friend,  a  brother,  a  mother,  is  a  just  occasion  of  deep 
humbling  our  soids  with  fasting  and  prayer  ;  and  making  this  application 
'  Upon  this  eccasion  we  are  now  to  attend  this  duty  for  agoverno7ir,  who 
'  has  been  to  us  as  a  friend  in  his  counsel  for  all  things,  and  help  for  oui 
'  bodies  by  physick,  for  our  estates  by  law,  and  of  whom  there  was  no 
'  fear  of  his  becoming  an  enemy,  like  the  friends  of  David:  a  governoui 
*  who  has  been  unto  us  as  a  brother;  not  usurping  aiii/ionf?/ over  the 
'  church  ;  often  speaking  his  advice,  and  often  contradicted,  even  by 
'young  men,  and  some  of  low  degree  ;  yet  not  replying,  but  oflferinj; 
'  satisfaction  also  when  any  supposed  offences  have  arisen  ;  a  governour 
'  who  has  been  unto  us  as  a  rnother,  parent-like  distributing  his  goods  to 
'  brethren  and  neighbours  at  his  first  coming ;  and  gently  bearing  oui 
'  i»^rmi7ies  without  taking  notice  of  them.'  "        "^        ,      - 

Such  a  governour  aitev  he  had  been  more  than  ten  several  time?  by  the 
people  chosen  their  governour,  was  Neiv-England  now  to  lose  ;  who 
hai'ing,  like  Jacob,  first  left  his  council  and  blessing  with  his  children  gather- 
ed about  his  bed-side  ;  and,  like  David,  served  his  generation  by  the  will  of 
God.  he  gave  up  the  ghost,  and  fell  asleep  on  March  26,  1649.      Having. 


120  MAGiNALlA  CHRISTI  AMERICANA ;  [Book  U. 

like  the  dyiug  Emperour  Valentinian,  this  above  all  his  other  victories  for 
his  triumphs.  His  overcoming  of  himself , 

The  words  of  Josephus  about  J\'ehemiah,  the  governour  of  Israel,  we 
will  now  use  upon  this  governour  of  New-England,  as  his 

EPITAPH. 

'knf  ''cyeftTo  Jifw«s  tjjv  (pvo-tv,  kxi  ^txxiti, 
Ktct  vepi  T»5    efMs6vtii  ^(AoT/ftoTarej 

' lcpoe-e>iVfA,m  reij^t}. 

VIR    FUIT    INDOLE    BONUS,    AC    JUSTUS  : 
ET    POPULARIUM    GLORIJE    AMANTISSIMUS  : 
QUIBUS    ETERNUM    RF.LIQUIT    MONUMENTUM, 

Novanglorum  3I(enia. 


CHAPTER  V. 
SUCCESSORS. 

^  1.  Une  as  well  acquainted  with  the  matter,  as  Isocraies,  informs  us. 
ihat  among  the  judges  of  Areopagus  none  were  admitted,  wA«v  a<  xctA»$ 
yeyeve]i^,  kxI  ■areMjjv  xpe^ijv  y.xi  s-uppoe-ivtjv  'ev  ru  ^lu  evasS'et'yf^vci,  U7iiesi,  Ifiey 
were  nobly  born,  and  eminently  exemplary  for  a  virtuous  and  a  sober  life. 
The  report  may  be  truly  made  concerning  the  Judges  of  .\eze-Efgland, 
though  they  were  not  nobly  born,  yet  they  were  generally  m-eil  burn  ;  and 
by  being  eminently  exemplary  for  a  virtuous  and  a  sober  life,  gave  demon- 
stration that  they  were  nem-born.  Some  account  of  them  is  now  more 
particularly  to  be  endeavoured. 

We  read  concernins;  Saul,  [1  Sam.  xv.  12.]  He  setup  himself  a  place. 
The  Hebrew  word,  T^  there  used,  signifies  a  monumental  pillar.  It  is 
Hccordingly  promised  unto  them  who  please  God,  [Isa.  Ivi.  5,]  That  they 
thall  have  a  place  and.  a  name  in  the  house  of  God :  that  is  to  say,  a  pillar 
'^rected  for/a?ne  in  the  church  of  God.  Audit  shall  be  fulfilled  in  what 
shall  now  be  done  for  owy  goi'CDWurs  in  this  cur  Ckurch-H'htory.  Even 
while  the  Massachusettensians  had  a  Winthrop  for  their  governour,  they 
could  not  restrain  the  channel  of  their  affections  from  running  towards 
another  gentleman  in  their  elections  for  the  year  1634,  particularljs  when 
I  hey  chose  unto  the  place  of  governour,  Thomas  Dudley,  Esq  ;  one 
whom  after  the  death  of  the  gentleman  abovementioaed,  they  again  and 
again  voted  into  the  chief  place  of  government.  He  was  born  at  the  town 
of  Northampton,  in  the  year  1574,  the  only  son  of  captain  Roger  Dudley, 
who  being  slain  in  the  wars,  left  this  our  Thomas,  with  his  only  sister, 
tor  the  Father  of  the  orphans  to  take  them  up.  In  the  family  of  the  Earl 
ofi  Northampto7i  he  had  opportunity  perfectly  to  learn  the  points  of  good 
behaviour;  and  here  having  fitted  himself  to  do  many  other  benefits  unto 
the  world,  he  next  became  a  clei-k  unto  Judge  JVichols,  who  being  his 
kiii«man  by  the  mother's  side,  therefore  took  the  more  special  notice  of 
hiip.  From  his  rehttion  to  this  judge,  he  had  and  used  an  adviintage  to 
attain  such  a  skill  in  the  law,  as  was  of  great  advai.tige  to  him  in  tiie  fu- 
turio  changes  of  his  life  ;  and  the  judge  would  have  preferred  him  unto 


Book  II.]     OR,  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  121 

the  higher  imploynients,  whereto  his  prompt  ^-it  not  a  little  recommend- 
ed him,  if  he  had  not  been  by  death  prevented.  But  before  he  could 
appear  to  do  much  at  the  pen,  for  which  he  was  very  well  accomplish- 
ed, he  Was  called  upon  to  do  something  at  the  sTt-ord  ;  for  beini^  a  young 
gentleman  well-known  for  his  ingenuity,  courage  and  conduct,  when 
there  were  soldiers  to  be  raised  by  order  from  Q,ueen  Elizal'eth  for  the 
French  service,  in  the  time  of  King  Henry-^e  Fourth,  the  young  sparks 
about  Northampton  were  none  of  them  willing  to  enter  into  the  service, 
until  a  commission  was  given  unto  our  young  Dudley  to  be  their  captain; 
and  then  presently  there  wevefowscore  that  listed  under  him.  At  the 
head  of  these  he  went  over  mto  the  Low  Countries,  which  was  then  an 
academy  ofarms,  as  well  as  arts  ;  and  thus  became  to  furnish  himself  with 
endowments  for  the  Jield,  as  well  as  for  the  bench.  The  post  assigned 
unto  him  with  his  company,  was  after  at  the  siege  of  Amiens,  before 
which  the  King  him.self  was  now  encamped  ;  but  trie  providence  of  God 
so  ordered  it,  that  when  both  parties  were  drawn  forth  in  order  to  battel, 
a  treaty  of  peace  was  vigorously  set  on  foot,  which  diverted  the  battel 
that  was  expected.  Captain  Dudley  hereupon  returned  into  England, 
and  settling  himself  about  Northampton,  he  married  a  gentlewoman 
whose  extraction  and  estate  were  considerable  ;  and  the  scituation  of  his 
habitation  after  this  helped  him  to  enjoy  the  ministry  of  Mr.  Dod,  Mr. 
Cleaver,  Mr.  Winston,  and  Mr.  Hildersham,  all  of  them  excellent  and  re- 
nowned men  ;  which  puritan  ministry  so  seasoned  his  heart  with  a  sense 
of  religion,  that  he  was  a  devout  and  serious  christian,  and  a  follower  of 
the  ministers  that  most  effectually  preached  real  Christianity  all  the  rest 
of  his  days.  The  spirit  of  real  Christianity  in  him  now  also  disposed 
him  unto  sober  non-conformity  ;  and  from  this  time,  although  none  more 
hated  the  fanaticisms  and  enthusiasms  of  wild  opinionists,  he  became  a 
judicious  Dissenter  from  the  unscripturaL  ceremonies  retained  in  the  Church 
of  England.  It  was  not  long  after  this  that  the  Lord  Say,  the  Lord 
Compton,  and  other  person?  of  quality,  made  such  observations  of  him, 
as  to  commend  him  unto  the  service  of  the  Earl  of  Lincoln,  who  was 
then  a  young  man,  and  newly  come  unto  the  possession  of  his  Earldom, 
and  of  what  belonged  thereunto.  The  grandfather  of  this  noble  person 
had  left  his  heirs  under  vast  entanglements,  out  of  which  his  father  was 
never  able  to  extricate  himself;  so  that  the  difficulties  and  incumbrances 
were  now  devolved  upon  this  Theophtlus,  which  caused  him  to  apply 
himself  unto  this  our  Dudley  for  his  assistances,  who  proved  so  able, 
and  careful,  and  faithful  a  steward  unto  him,  that  within  a  little  while  the 
debts  of  near  twenty  thousand  pounds,  whereinto  the  young  Earl  found 
himself  desperately  ingulphed,  were  happily  waded  through  ;  and  by  his 
means  also  a  match  was  procured  between  the  young  Earl  and  the  daugh- 
ter of  the  Lord  Say,  who  proved  a  most  virtuous  lady,  and  a  great  bless- 
ing to  the  whole  family.  But  the  Earl  finding  Mr.  Dudley  to  be  a 
person  of  more  than  ordinary  discretion,  he  would  rarely,  if  ever,  do 
any  matter  of  any  moment  without  his  advice  ;  but  some  into  whose 
hands  there  fell  some  of  his  manuscripts  after  his  leaving  of  the 
Earl's  family,  found  a  passage  to  this  purpose.  The  estate  of  the  Earl  of 
Lincoln,  I  found  so,  and  so,  much  in  debt,  schich  I  have  discharged,  and 
have  raised  the  rents  unto  so  many  hundreds  per  annum  ;  Gud  zvill,  I  trust, 
hless  me  and  mine  in  such  a  manner.  I  can.  as  sometimes  Nehemiah  did, 
appeal  unto  God,  who  knows  the  hearts  of  all  men,  that  I  have  with  integrity 
-discharged  the  duty  of  my  place,  before  him. 
Vol.  I  10 


122  MAONALIA  CHRISTl  AMERICANA  :         [Book  il. 

I  had  prepared  and  intended  a  more  particular  account  of  this  gentle- 
man ;  but  not  having  any  opportunity  to  commit  it  unto  the  perusal  of 
any  descended  from  him,  (unto  whom  I  am  told  it  will  be  unacceptable 
for  me  to  publish  any  thing  of  this  kind,  by  them  not  perused)  I  have 
laid  it  aside,  and  summed  all  up  in  this  more  general  account. 

It  was  about  nine  or  ten  years,  that  Mr.  Dudley  conimnQi^  astezvard 
unto  the  Earl  of  Lincoln  ;  but  then  growing  desirous  of  a  more  private 
life,  he  retired  unto  Boston,  where  the  acquaintance  and  ministry  of  Mr. 
Cotton  became  no  little  satisfaction  unto  him.  Nevertheless  the  Earl  of 
Lincoln  found  that  he  could  be  no  more  without  Mr.  Lhidley,  than  Pha- 
raoh without  his  Joseph,  and  prevailed  with  him  to  resume  his  former 
employment,  until  the  storm  of  persecution  upon  the  non-conformists 
caused  many  men  of  great  worth  to  transport  themselves  into  New-Eng- 
land. Mr.  Dudley  was  not  the  least  of  the  worthy  men  that  bore  a  part 
in  this  transportation,  in  hopes  that  in  an  American  wilderness  they  might 
peaceably  attend  and  enjoy  the  pure  worship  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
When  the  first  undertakers  for  that  plantation  came  to  know  him,  they 
soon  saw  that  in  him,  that  caused  them  to  chuse  him  their  deputy  govern- 
our,  in  which  capacity  he  arrived  unto  these  coasts  in  the  year  1630,  and 
had  no  small  share  in  the  distresses  of  that  young  plantation,  whereof  an 
account  b}'  him  written  to  the  Countess  of  Lincoln,  has  been  since  pub- 
lished unto  the  world.  Here  his  xi'isdom  in  managing  the  most  weighty 
and  thorny  afi'airs  was  often  signalized  :  his  justice  was  a  perpetual  ter^ 
ror  to  evil  doers  :  his  courage  procured  his  being  the  first  major-general 
of  the  colony,  when  they  began  to  put  themselves  into  dL  military  figure. 
His  orthodox  piety  had  no  little  intluence  unto  the  deliverance  of  the 
country,  from  the  contagion  of  the  famalistical  errors,  which  had  like 
to  have  overturned  all.  He  dwelt  first  at  Co7/(6ru/^e ;  but  upon  Mr. 
Hooker's  removal  to  Hartford,  he  removed  to  Ipswich ;  nevertheless, 
upon  the  importunity  and  necessity  of  the  government  for  his  coming 
to  dwell  nearer  the  center  of  the  whole,  he  fixed  his  habitation  at  Rox- 
biiry,  two  miles  out  of  Boston,  where  he  was  always  at  hand  upon  the  ; 
publick  exigencies.  Here  he  died,  July  31,  1653,  in  the  seventy-se- 
venth year  of  his  age  ;  and  there  were  found  after  his  death,  in  his 
pocket,  these  lines  of  his  own  composing,  which  may  serve  to  make  up 
what  may  be  wanting  in  the  character  already  given  him. 

Dim  eyes,  deaf  ears,  cold  stomach,  shew 
My  dissolution  is  in  view. 
Eleven  times  seven  near  liv'd  have  I, 
And  now  God  calls,  I  willing  die. 
My  shuttle's  shot,  my  race  is  run, 
My  sun  is  set,  my  day  is  done. 
My  span  is  measured,  tale  is  told, 
My  flower  is  faded,  and  grown  old. 
My  dream  is  vanish'd,  shadow's  fled. 
My  soul  with  Christ,  my  body  dead.  , 

Farewel  dear  wife,  children  and  friend?. 
Hate  heresie,  make  blessed  ends. 
Bear  poverty,  live  with  good  men  ; 
So  shall  we  live  with  joy  agen. 
Let  men  of  God  in  courts  and  churches  watch 
O're  such  as  do  a  iolerakion  hatch 


Hook  11.]      OR,  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  123 

Lest  that  ill  egg  bring  forth  a  cockatrice, 
To  poison  all  with  heresie  and  vice. 
If  men  be  laft,and  otherwise  combine, 
My  Epitaph^s,  I  dy'd  kg  libertine. 

But  when  I  mention  the  poetry  of  this  gentleman  as  one  of  hisaccom 
plishments,  I  must  not  leave  unmentioned  the  fame  with  which  the  poems 
of  one  descended  from  him  have  been  celebrated  in  both  En^lands.  If 
the  rare  learning  of  a  daughter,  was  not  the  least  of  those  bright  things 
that  adorned  no  less  a  .Tudge  of  England  than  Sir  Thomas  More ;  it  must 
now  be  said,  that  a  Judge  of  A'e~s;- England,  namely,  Thomas  Dudley, 
Esq.  had  a  daughter  (besides  other  children)  to  be  a  crozvn  unto  him. 
Reader,  Ameiica  justly  admires  the  learned  women  of  the  other  hemis- 
phere. She  has  heard  of  those  that  were  tutoresses  to  the  old  professor? 
of  all  philosophy  ;  she  hath  heard  of  Hippatia,  who  formerly  taught  the 
liberal  arts  ;  and  of  Samcchia,  who  more  lately  was  very  often  the  mo- 
deratrix  in  the  disputations  of  the  learned  men  of  Rome:  she  has  been 
told  of  the  three  Corinnas,  which  equalled,  if  not  excelled,  the  most 
celebrated  poets  of  their  time  :  she  has  been  told  of  the  Empress  Enio- 
cia,  who  composed  poetical  paraphrases  on  divers  parts  of  the  Bible : 
and  of  Rosuida,  who  wrote  the  lives  of  holy  men  ;  and  of  Pamphilia, 
who  wrote  other  histories  unto  the  life  :  the  writings  of  the  most  re- 
nowned Anna  Maria  Schurnian,  have  come  over  unto  her.  But  she  now 
prays,  that  into  such  catalogues  of  authoresses,  as  Beverovicins,  Hottinger. 
and  Voetius,  have  given  unto  the  world,  there  may  be  a  room  now  given 
unto  Madam  An\  Bradstreet,  the  daughter  of  our  governour  Dudley., 
and  the  consort  of  our  governour  Bradstreet,  whose  poems,  divers  time.s 
printed,  have  afforded  a  grateful  entertainment  unto  the  ingenious,  and  a 
monument  for  her  memory  beyond  the  stateliest  7ft«ri/es.  It  was  upon 
these  poems  that  an  ingenious  person  bestowed  this  epigram  : 

Now  I  believe  tradition,  which  doth  call 
The  Muses,  Virtues,  Graces,  females  cJl. 
Only  they  are  not  nine,  eleven,  or  three; 
Our  authWcss  proves  them  but  an  %inity. 
Mankind,  take  up  some  blushes  on  the  score  ; 
Monopolize /?er/ecfio?i  hence  no  more. 
In  your  own  arts  confess  your  selves  outdone  : 
The  moon  hath  totally  eclips'd  the  svn  : 
Not  with  her  sable  mantle  muffling  him, 
But  her  bright  silver  makes  his  gold   look  dim  : 
Just  as  his  beams  force  our  pale  lamps  to  wink, 
And  earthly _^res  within  their  ashes  shrink. 

What  else  might  be  said  of  Mr.  Dudley,  the  reader  shall  const^.e  from 
ihe  ensuing 

E  P  I  T  A  P  H. 

Helltio  Libfonim,  Lectorum  Blhliotheca 

Commmds.  Sacrce  Syllabus  Historive. 
Ad  Mensam  Comes,  hinc  faaindus,  Rnstra  diserlits, 

(Nan  Cumvlna  verbis,  pundus,  Acumen  erat.) 


124  MAGNALIA  CHRISTl  AMERICANA ;  [Book  II. 

Morum  acris  Censor,  validus  Defensor  amansq; 

Et  SuncB  4*  Cance  Catholicos  Jidei. 
Angli-novi  Columen  Summum  Decus  aiq  ;  Senatus  ; 

Thomas   Dudleius,  conditur  hoc  Tumulo.     E.  R. 

§  2.  In  the  year  1635,  at  the  anniversary  election,  the  freemen  of  the 
colony  testified  their  greatful  esteem  of  Mr.  John  Haines,  a  worthy  gen- 
tleman, who  had  been  very  servicable  to  the  interests  of  the  colony,  by 
chusing  him  their  governour.  Of  him  in  an  ancient  manuscript  I  find 
this  testiony  given  ;  to  him  is  New-England  many  ways  beholden ;  had  he 
done  no  more  but  stilled  a  storm  of  dissention,  which  broke  forth  in  the  be- 
ginning of  his  government ;  he  had  done  enough  to  endear  our  hearts  unto  him, 
and  account  that  day  happy  when  he  took  the  reins  of  goverment  into  his  hands. 
But  this  pious,  humble,  well-bred  gentleman,  removing  afterwards  into 
Connecticut,  he  took  his  turn  with  Mr.  Edward  Hopkins,  in  being  every 
other  year  the  governour  of  that  colony.  And  as  he  was  a  great  friend 
of  peace  while  he  lived,  so  at  his  death  he  entred  into  that  peace  which 
attends  the  end  of  the  perfect  and  upright  man,  leaving  behind  him  the 
character  sometimes  given  of  a  greater,  though  not  a  better,  man,  [Fespa- 
sian^  Bonis  Legibus  multa  correxit,  sed  exemplo  proboe  vitceplus  eff'ecit  apud 
populum. 

§  3.  Near  twenty  ships  from  Europe  visited  New-England  in  the  year 
1635,  and  in  one  of  them  was  Mr.  Henry  Vane,  (afterward  Sir  Henry 
Vane)  an  accomplished  young  gentleman,  whose  father  was  much 
against  his  coming  to  Xew- England ;  but  the  King,  upon  information  of 
his  disposition,  commanded  him  to  allow  his  son's  voyage  hither,  with  a 
consent  for  his  continuing  three  years  in  this  part  of  the  woi'ld.  Although 
his  business  had  some  relation  to  the  plantation  ot  Connecticut,  yet  in  the 
year  1636,  the  Massachuset  colony  chose  him  iheir  governour.  And  now, 
reader,  I  am  as  much  a  seeker  for  his  character,  as  many  have  taken  him  to 
be  a  seeker  in  religion,  while  no  less  pei'sons  than  Dr.  Manton  have  not  been 
to  seek  for  the  censure  of  a  wicked  book,  with  uhich  they  have  noted  the 
Alystical  Divinity,  in  the  book  of  this  knight,  entituled,  The  retired  man's 
Meditations.  There  has  been  a  strange  variety  of  translations  bestowed 
upon  the  Hebrew  names  of  some  animals  mentioned  in  the  Bible:  Kippod, 
for  instance,  which  we  translate  a  6ifier«  ;  R.  Salomon  will  have  to  be  an 
ozvl,  but  Luther  will  have  it  be  an  eagle,  while  Paynin  will  have  it  be  an 
hcdg-hog,  but  R.  Kimchi  will  have  it  »  snail ;  suc'i  a  variety  of  opinions 
and  resentments  has  the  name  of  this  gentleman  fallen  under  ;  while 
some  have  counted  him  an  eminent  christian,  and  others  have  counted 
him  almost  an  heretick  ;  some  have  counted  him  a  renowned  patriot,  and 
others  an  infamous  traitor.  If  Barak  signifie  both  to  bless  and  to  curse  ; 
and  EvXoyeiv  be  of  the  same  significancy  with  EA«c-^;;jM.f<ii,  in  such  philo- 
logy as  that  of  Suidas  and  Hesychias  ;  the  usage  which  the  memory  of  this 
gentleman  has  met  withal,  seems  to  have  been  accommodated  unto  that 
indifferency  of  signification  in  the  terms  for  such  an  usage. 

On  the  one  side,  I  find  an  o\A  New  ■English  manuscript  thus  reflecting, 
His  election  will  remain  as  a  blemish  to  their  judgments  who  did  elect  him, 
while  New-England  remains  a  nation  ;  for  he  commgyrom  Old-England,  a 
young  unexperienced  gentleman,(and  as  young  in  judgment  as  he  was  in  years) 
by  the  indiistry  of  some  that  could  do  much,  and  thought  by  him  to  play  their 
own  game,  was  presently  elected  governour  ;  and  before  he  was  scarce  warm 
in  his  seat,  began  to  broach  new  tenets  ;  and  these  were  agitated  with  as  much 
■i-iolence,  as  if  the  welfare  o/ New-England  must  have  been  sacrificed  rather 


Book  II.]     OR,  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND -.  125 

than  these  not  take  place.  But  the  wisdom  of  the  state  put  a  period  to  his 
government ;  necessity  caused  them  to  undo  the  works  of  their  own  hands, 
and  leave  us  a  caveat,  that  all  good  men  are  not  Jit  for  government.  But 
on  the  other  side,  the  historian  who  has  printed,  The  trial  of  Sir  Henry 
Vane,  Ktit.  at  the  King's  Bench.  Westminster,  June  2,  and  tJ,  1662,  with 
other  occasional  speeches ;  also  his  speech  and  prayer  on  the  scaffold,  has 
given  us  in  him  the  picture  of  nothing  less  than  an  heroe.  He  seems  in- 
deed by  that  story  to  have  suffered  hardly  enough,  but  no  man  can  deny 
that  he  sutfered  bravely  :  the  English  nation  has  not  often  seen  more  oi 
Roman  (and  indeed  more  than  Roman)  gallantry,  out-facing  death  in  thf 
most  pompous  terrovrs  of  it.  A  great  royalist,  present,  at  his  decollation, 
swore.  He  died  like  a  prince  :  he  could  say,  /  bless  the  Lord  I  am  so  far 
from  being  affrighted  at  death,  that  I  find  it  rather  shrink  from  me,  than  I 
from  it !  he  could  say,  Ten  thousand  deaths  rather  than  defile  my  conscience  ; 
the  chastity  and  purity  of  which  I  value  beyond  all  this  world  ;  I  would  not 
for  ten  thozisand  worlds  part  with  the,  peace  and  satisfaction  I  have  in  my 
own  heart.  When  mention  was  made  of  the  difficult  proceeding  against 
him,  all  his  reply  was,  Alas  what  ado  do  they  keep  to  make  a  poor  creature 
like  his  Saviour !  On  the  scaftoid  tiiey  did,  by  the  blast  of  trumpets  in 
his  ftice,  with  much  incivility,  hinder  him  from  speaking  what  he  intend- 
ed ;  which  incivility  he  aforehand  suspecting,  committed  a  true  copy  ol 
it  unto  a  friend  before  his  going  thither  ;  the  last  words  whereof  were 
these,  as  my  last  words  I  leave  this  with  you,  that  as  the  present  storm  wc 
now  lye  under,  and  the  dark  clouds  that  yet  hang  over  the  reformed  churches 
of  Chj'ist,  (which  are  coming  thicker  and  thicker  for  a  season)  were  not  un- 
foreseen by  me  for  many  years  past ;  (^as  some  writings  of  mine  declare)  so 
the  coming  of  Christ  in  these  clotuls,  in  order  to  a  speedy  and  sudden  revival 
of  his  cause,  and  spreading  his  kingdom  over  the  face  of  the  zu'liole  earth,  ?'* 
most  clear  to  the  eye  of  my  faith,  even  that  faith  in  xahich  I  die.  His  execu 
tion  was  June  14,  1662,  about  the  fiftieth  year  of  his  age. 

§  4.  After  the  death  of  Mr.  Dudley,  the  notice  and  respect  of  the  colo- 
ny fell  chiefly  on  Mr.  John  Endicot,  who  after  manj'  services  done  for  tht 
colony,  even  before  it  was  yet  a  colony,  as  well  as  when  he  saw  it  grown 
into  a  popxdous  nation,  under  his  prudent  and  equal  government,  expired 
in  a  good  -old  age,  and  was  honourably  interred  at  Boston,  Marck  23, 
1665. 

The  gentleman  that  succeeded  Mr.  Endicot,  was  Mr.  Richard  Belling- 
ham,  one  who  was  bred  a  lawyer,  and  one  who  lived  beyond  eighty. 
well  esteemed  for  his  laudable  qualities,  but  as  the  Thebans  made  the 
statues  of  their  magistrates  without  hands,  importing  that  they  must  be 
no  takers ;  in  this  fashion  must  be  formed  the  statue  for  this  gentleman  , 
for  among  all  his  virtues,  he  was  noted  for  none  more,  than  for  his  nota- 
ble and  perpetual  hatred  of  a  bribe,  which  gave  him,  with  his  country, 
the  reputation  of  old  claimed  by  Pericles,  to  be,  (PiMttoXi^  tc  koh  xF'^f^'^' 
ra<)  Kpeis-irm.  Civitatis  Amans,  4"  ad  pecnnius  Invicins.  And  as  he  nev- 
er took  any  from  any  one  living;  so  he  neither  could  nor  would  have 
given  any  to  death;  but  in  the  latter  end  of  the  year  1672,  he  had  his 
soul  gathered  not  with  sinners,  whose  right  hand  is  full  of  bribes,  but  with 
such  as  walk  in  their  uprightness. 

The  gentleman  that  succeeded  Mr.  Bellingham,  was  Mr.  John  Leveret 
one  to  whom  the  affections  of  the   freemen  were  signalized,  in  bis  quid; 
advances  through  the  lesser  stages  of  office  and  honour  unto  the  highest 
in  the  country  ;  and  one  whose  courage  had  been  as  much  recommended 
by  martial  actions  abroad  in  his  younger  years.  a«  his  y^isdom  and  justice. 


126  MAGNALIA  CHRISTI  AMERICANA ;  [Book  11 

were  now  at  home  in  his  elder.  The  anniversary  election  constantly 
kept  him  at  the  helm  from  the  time  of  his  first  sitting  there,  until  March 
16,  Id78,  when  mortalitij  having  first  put  him  on  severe  trials  of  his 
passive-courage,  (mach  more  difficult  than  the  active)  in  pains  of  the 
stone,  released  him. 


Pater  Patriae  :   or,  the  Life  of  Simon  Bradstreet,  Esq. 

— Extinctus  amahitur  idem. 

The  gentleman  that  succeeded  Mr.  Leveret,  was  Mr.  Simon  Bradstreet, 
the  son  of  a  minister  in  Lincolnshire,  who  was  always  a  non-conformist  at 
home,  as  well  as  when  preacher  at  Middlehurgh  abroad.  Him  the  Aea-- 
Englanders  in  their  addresses  full  of  protbund  respects  unto  him,  have 
with  good  reason  called,  The  venerable  Mordecai  of  his  country.  He  was 
born  at  Horbling,  March  1603.  His  father  (who  was  the  son  of  a  Suffolk 
gentleman  of  a  fine  estate)  was  one  of  the  first  fellows  in  Immamtel  Col- 
ledge,  under  Dr.  Chaderton,  and  one  afterwards  highly  esteemed  by  Mr. 
Cotton,  and  by  Dr.  Preston.  Our  Bradstreet  was  brought  up  at  the  gram- 
mar-school, until  he  was  about  fourteen  years  old  ;  and  then  the  death  of 
his  father  put  a  stop  for  the  present  unto  the  designs  of  his  further  edu- 
cation. But  according  to  the  faith  of  his  dying  father,  that  he  shoidd  be 
well  provided  for,  he  was  within  two  or  three  years  after  this  taken  into 
the  religious  famil}'  of  the  Earl  of  Lincoln,  (the  best  family  of  any  nobleman 
then  in  England.)  where  he  spent  about  eight  years  under  the  direction 
of  Mr.  Tliomas  Dudley,  sustaining  successively  divers  offices.  Dr.  Preston 
then  (who  had  been  my  lord's  tutor)  moved  my  lord,  that  Mr.  Bradstreet 
might  have  their  permission  to  come  unto  //n?na?M/e/-Colledge,  in  the  ca- 
pacity of  governour  to  the  Lord  Rich,  the  son  of  the  Earl  of  War-mick ; 
which  they  granting,  he  went  with  the  Doctor  to  Cambridge,  who  pro- 
vided a  chamber  for  him,  with  advice  that  he  should  apply  himself  to 
study  until  my  lord's  arrival.  But  he  afterwards  in  a  writing  of  his. 
now  in  my  hands,  made  this  humble  complaint ;  J  met  -with  many  obstacles 
to  my  study  in  Cambridge  ;  the  Earl  of  Lincoln  had  a  brother  there,  "who 
often  called  me  forth  upon  pastimes.  Divers  masters  of  art,  and  other 
scholars  also,  constantly  met,  Zi'here  n-e  spent  most  part  of  the  afternoons  ma- 
ny times  in  discourse  to  little  purpose  or  profit ;  but  that  seemed  an  easie  and 
pleasant  life  then,  iz-hich  too  late  I  repented.  My  Lord  Rich  not  coming  to 
the  University,  Mr.  Bradstreet  returned  after  a  year  to  the  Earl  of  Lin- 
coln's; and  Mr.  Di/(//f^  then  removing  to  Boston,  his  place  of  siezi-ard 
unto  the  Earl  was  conferred  on  Mr.  Bradstreet.  Afterwards  he  with  much 
ado  obtained  the  Earl's  leave  to  answer  the  desires  of  the  aged  and  pious 
Countess  of  Warxanck,  that  he  would  accept  the  stewardship  of  her  noble 
family,  which  as  the  former  he  discharged  with  an  exemplary  discretion 
and  fidelity.  Here  he  married  the  daughter  of  Mr.  Dudley,  by  whose 
pcrswasion  he  came  in  company  with  him  to  J\'ezv- England,  where  he 
spent  all  the  rest  of  his  days,  honourably  serving  his  generation.  It  was 
rounted  a  singular  favour  of  heaven  unto  Richard  Chamond,  Esq.  one  of 
England's  zcorthics.  that  he  was  a  Justice  of  Peace  near  threescore  years  ; 
but  of  Simon  Bradstreet,  Esq.  one  of  JVew- England's  rvorthies,  there  can 
more  than  this  be  said  ;  for  he  was  chosen  a  magistrate  of  J^'ew-England 
before  .A'ew- England  it  self  came  into  jXezc- England  :  even  in  their  first 


Book  II.]       OR,  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  127 

great  Toyage  thither  Anno  1630,  and  so  he  continued  annually  chosen  ; 
sometimes  also  their  secretary,  and  at  last  their  governour,  until  the  colo- 
ny had  a  share  in  the  general  shipvvrack  of  charters,  which  the  reign   of 
King  Charles  11.    brought  upon  the  whole  English  nation.     Mr.  Joseph 
Dudley  was  placed,  Amio  1686,  as  president  over  the  territory  for  a  iew 
months,  when  the  judgment  that  was  entred  against  the  charter  ga\e  unto 
the  late  King  James  11.  an  opportunity  to  make  what  alterations  he  pleas- 
ed upon  the  order  of  things,  under  which  the  country  had  so  long  been 
flourishing.     But  when  the  short  presidentship  of  that  JVezi.^- English  and 
well  accomplished  gentleman,  the  son  of  Mr.  Thomas  Dudley  abovemen- 
tioned,  was   expired,  I  am  not  in  a  disposition  here  to  relate  what  was 
the  condition  of  the  colony,  until  the   revolution  whereto  their  condition 
compelled    them.     Only   I   have    sometimes,    not  without   amazement, 
thought  of  the  representation  which  a  celebrated  magician  made  unto 
Catherine  de  Medicis,  the  French  Queen,  whose  impious  curiosity  led  her 
to  desire  of  him  a  magical   exhibition  of  all  the  Kings  that  had  hitherto 
reigned  in  France,  and  yet  were  to  reign.     The  shapes  of  all  the  Kings, 
even  unto  the   hushand  of  that  Queen  successively  showed  themselves, 
in  the  enchanted  circle,  in  which  that  conjurer  had  made  his   invocations, 
and  they  took  as  many  turns  as  there  had  been  years   in  their  govern- 
ment.    The  Kings  that  were  to  come,  did  then  in  like  manner  succes- 
sively come  upon  the  stage,  namely,  Francis  II.   Charles  IX.  Henry  HI. 
Henry  IV.  which  being  done,  then  two  cardinals,  Richlieu  and  Mazarine, 
in  red  hats,   became  visible  in  the  spectacle  :  but  after  those  cardinals, 
there  entred  wolves,  bears,  tygers  and  lions,  to  consummate  the  entertain- 
ment.    If  the  people  of  New-England  had  not  imagined,  that  a  number 
of  as  rapacious  animals  were  at  last  come  into  their  government,  I  sup- 
pose they  would  not  have  made   such  a  revolvtion  as  they  did,  on  April 
18,  1689,  in  conformity  to  the  pattern  which  the  English  nation  was  then 
setting  before  them.     Nevertheless,  I  have  nothing  in  this  paragraph  oi 
our  History  to  report  of  it,  but  that  Mr.  Bradstreet  was  at  this  time  alive: 
whose  paternal  compassions  for  a  country  thus  remarkably  his  orcn,  would 
not  permit  him  to  decline  his  return  unto  his  former  seat  in  the  govern- 
ment, upon  the  unanimous  invitation  of  the  people  thereunto.     It  was  a 
remark  then  generally  made  upon  him,   That  though  he  were  then  Zi'ell  to- 
wards ninety  years  of  age,  his  intellectual  force  was  hardly  abated,  but  hr 
retained  a  vigour  and  wisdom  thai  woidd  have  recommended  a  younger  man 
to  the  government  of  a  greater  colony.     And  the  wonderful  difficulties, 
through  which  the  colony  under  his  discreet  conduct  waded,  until  the 
arrival  of  his  Excellency,  Sir  William  Phips,  with  a  commission  for  the 
government,  and  a  new  charter  in  the  year  1692,  gave  a  remarkable  de- 
monstration of  it.     Yea,  this  honourable  JVestor  of  New-England,  in  the 
year  1696,  was  yet  alive;  and  as  Georgius  Leontinus,  v>'ho  lived  until  he 
was  an  hundred  and  eight  years  of  age,  being  asked  by  what  means  he 
attained  unto  such  an  age,  answered.  By  my  not  living  voluptuously  ;  thus 
this  excellent   person  attained  his  good  old  age,   in  part,   by  living  very 
temperately.     And  the  New-Englanders  would  have  counted  it  their  satis- 
faction, if  like  Arganthonius,  who  had  been  fourscore  years  the  governour 
of  the  Tartessians,  he  might  have  lived  unto  the  age  of  an  hundred  and 
twenty  ;  or,  even  unto  the   age   of  Johannes  de   Temporibus,  who  was 
knighted  by  the  Emperour  Charlemaign,  and  yet  was  living  till  the  Em- 
perour  Conrade,  and  saw,  they  say,  no  fewer  years  than  three  hundred 
threescore  and  one.     Though,  to  be  dissolved  and  be  with  Christ,  was  the 
satisfaction  which  this  our  Macrohins  himself  was  with  a  weary  soul  now 


128  MAGNALIA  CHRISTI  AxMERICANA.  [Book!; 

■waiting  and  longing  for ;  and  Christ  at  length  granted  it  «nto  him,  ori 
March  27,  1697.  Then  it  was,  that  one  of  the  oldest  servants  that  God 
and  the  King  had  upon  e»rth,  drew  his  last,  in  the  very  place  where  he 
drew  his  Jirst,  American  breath.  He  died  at  Salem,  in  a  troublesome 
time,  and  entred  into  everlasting  peace.  And  in  imitation  of  what  the 
Roman  orator  said  upon  the  death  of  Crassus,  I  will  venture  to  say,  Fuit 
hoc,  litctuosiim  suis,  Acerbum  Patriae,  Grave  Bonis  Omnibus:  sed  ii  tamen 
Rempuhlicam  casits'Scciiti  sunt,  ut  mihi  non  Erepta  Bradstreeto  Vita,  sed 
donata  mors  esse  videatur. 

The  epitaph  on  that  famous  lawyer,  Simon  Pistorius,  we  will  now  em- 
ploy for  this  eminently  prudent  and  upright  administrator  of  our  laws. 

EPITAPH. 

SIMON    BRADSTREET. 

QMorf  Mortale  fuit,   Tellus  tenet ;  Inclyta  Fama 
JVominis  haxid  ullo  stat  violanda  Die. 

And  add, 

Extinctum  luget  quern,  tota  JVov-Anglia  Patrem, 
O  quantum  Claudit  parvida  Terra  Virum! 


CHAPTER  VI. 

2^93  ^'?PI3    ^^  ^^t'  ^"^^  Animati :  or,  ASSISTANTS. 

The  freemen  oi  Xeisc- England  had  a  great  varif'ty  of  worthy  men. 
among  whom  they  might  pick  and  chuse  a  number  of  Magistrates  to  be 
the  assistants  of  their  Govern  ours,  both  in  directing  the  general  affairs  of 
the  land,  and  in  dispensing  of  justice  unto  the  people.  But  they  wisely 
made  few  alterations  in  their  annual  elections  ;  and  they  thereby  shewed 
their  satisfaction  in  the  wise  and  good  conduct  of  those  whom  they  had 
elected.  If  they  called  some  few  of  their  inagisti-ates  from  the  plough  to 
the  bench,  so  the  old  Romans  did  some  of  their  dictators ;  yea,  the  great- 
est Kings  in  the  world  once  carried  plouqh-shares  on  the  top  of  their 
scepters.  However,  the  inhabitants  of  .\en:-E7igland  never  were  so  un- 
happy as  the  inhabitants  of  .Yorcia,  a  town  scarce  ten  leagues  from 
Rome  ;  where  they  do  at  this  day  chuse  their  own  mas;istrates,  but  use  an 
exact  care.  That  no  man  n-ho  is  able  to  u-rite.  or  to  read,  shall  be  capable 
of  any  share  in  the  government.  The  magistrates  of  .iVezv- England  have 
been  of  a  better  education.  Indeed,  several  deserving  persons,  who 
were  joined  as  associates  and  co7nmissioners  unto  these,  for  the  more  ef- 
fectual cxucution  of  the  laws  in  s<  me  emergencies,  cannot  be  brought  into 
cur  catalogue  ;  but  the  names  of  all  our  magistrates,  with  the  times  whep. 
I  find  their  tirst  advancement  unto  that  character,  are  these, 

MAGISTRATES  OF  THE  MASSACHUSET-COLONV. 


John  Winthrop,  Gov. 
Thomas  Dudley,  Deputy  Gov. 
Matthew  Cradock,  1629. 


Thojuas  Goff,  1629. 

Sir  Richard  Saltonstal.  1629. 

Isaac  Johnson.  1629 


Book  II.]       OR,  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW -ENGLAND. 


12f> 


Samuel  Aldersley. 

1629 

Edward  Gibbons, 

1650. 

John  Venn, 

1629. 

John  Glover, 

1652. 

John  Humfrey, 

1629. 

Daniel  Gookin, 

1652. 

Simon  Whercomb, 

1629. 

Daniel  Denison, 

1654. 

Increase  jVowel, 

1629. 

Simon  Willard, 

1654. 

Richard  Perry, 

1629. 

Humphrey  Atherton, 

1654. 

Nathanael  Wright, 

1629. 

Richard  Russel, 

1659. 

Samuel  Vassal, 

1629. 

Thomas  Danforth, 

1659. 

Theophilus  Eaton, 

1629 

William  Hazcthorn, 

1662. 

Thomas  Adams, 

1629. 

Eleazer  Lusher, 

1662. 

Tho mas  Hu tch ins, 

1629. 

John  Leveret, 

1665. 

George  Foxcroft, 

1629. 

John  Pinchon, 

1666. 

William  Vassal, 

1629, 

Edward  Tyng, 

1668. 

William  Pinchon, 

1629. 

William  Stmighton, 

1671. 

John  Pocock, 

1629. 

Thomas  Clark, 

1673. 

Cliristopher  Cowl  son. 

1629. 

Joseph  Dudley, 

1676. 

William  Coddington, 

1629. 

Peter  Bulkley, 

1677. 

Simon  Bradstreet, 

1629. 

jYathanael  Saltonstal, 

1679. 

Thomas  Sharp, 

1629. 

Humphrey  Davy, 

1679. 

Roger  Ludlow, 

1630. 

James  Russel, 

1680. 

Edward  Rossiter, 

1630. 

Samuel  A''owel, 

1680. 

John  Endicot, 

1630. 

Peter  Tilton, 

1680. 

John  Winthrop,  Jun. 

1632. 

John  Richards, 

1680. 

John  Haines, 

1634. 

John  Hull, 

1680. 

Richard  Billingham, 

1635. 

Bartholomew  Gidney, 

1680. 

Atterton  Hough, 

163,5. 

Thomas  Savage, 

1680. 

Richard  Dummer, 

1635. 

William  Brown, 

1680, 

Henry  Vane, 

1636. 

Samuel  Appleton, 

1681. 

Roger  Hartackenden, 

1636. 

Robert  Pike, 

1682. 

Israel  Stoughton, 

1637. 

Daniel  Fisher, 

1683. 

Richard  Saltonsial, 

1637. 

John  Woodbridge, 

'      168.*3. 

Thomas  Flint, 

1643. 

Elisha  Cook, 

1684. 

Samuel  Symons, 

1643. 

William  Jolmson, 

1684. 

William  Hibbons, 

1643. 

John  Hawthorn, 

1684. 

William  Tynge, 

1643. 

Elisha  Hutchinson, 

1684. 

Herbert  Pelham, 

1645. 

Samuel  Sewal, 

1684. 

Robert  Bridges, 

1647. 

Isaac  Addington, 

1686. 

Francis  Willoughby, 

1650. 

John  Smith, 

1686. 

Thomas  Wiggan, 

1660. 

MAJOR- GENERALS   OF  THE  MILITARY  FORCES  IN  THE   COLONY,  SUCCESS- 
FULLY CHOSE.V. 


Thomas  Dudley, 
John  Endicot. 
Edward  Gibbons. 
Robert  Seds^wick. 


Humfry  Atherton. 
Daniel  Denison. 
John  Leveret. 
Daniel  Gookin. 


SECRETARIES  OF  THE  COLONY, SUCCESSFULLY  CHOSEN. 

William  Burgis.  I     Increase  A''oweL 

Simon  Bradstreet.  j    Edward  Rawson. 

That  these  names  are  proper  and  worthy  to  be  found  in  our  Church' 
History,  will  be  acknowledged,  when  it  is  considered,  not  onlv  that  they 
Vol.  I.  17  '  ' 


130  MAGNALIA  CHRISTI  AMERICANA :  [Book  II. 

were  the  members  of  Congregational  churches,  and  by  the  members  of  the 
churches  chosen  to  be  the  rulers  of  the  Commonwealth ;  and  that  their  ex- 
emplary behaviour  in  their  magistracy  was  generally  such  as  to  adorn 
the  doctrine  of  God  our  Saviour,  and  according  to  the  old  Jewish  wishes, 
prohibitum  est  Homini,  instar  principis  Dominari  sniper  populum,  4'  cum 
clatione  Spiritus,  sed,  DXT*!  nU73  ^""''  m.ansuetudine  ac  Timore  :  but 
also  that  their  love  to,  and  zeal  for,  and  care  of  these  churches,  was  not 
the  least  part  of  their  chai^acter. 

The  instances  of  their  concern  for  the  welfare  of  the  churches  were 
innumerable.  I  will  single  out  but  one  from  the  rest,  because  of  some 
singular  subserviency  to  the  designs  of  our  Church-History,  therein  to  be 
proposed.  I'll  do  it  only  by  transcribing  an  instrument,  pubhshed  Anno 
1668,  in  such  terms  as  these. 

To  the  Elders  and  Ministers  of  every  town  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
Massachusets  in  New-England,  the  Governour  and  Council  sendetk 
Greeting. 

REVEREND  AND  BELOVED  IN  THE  LORD, 

'  We  find  in  the  examples  of  holy  scripture,  that  magistrates  have  not 
'  only  excited  and  commanded  all  the  people  under  their  government,  to 
'  seek  the  Lord  God  of  their  fathers,  and  do  the  law  and  commandment. 
'  (2  Chron.  xiv.  2,  3,  4.  Ezra  vii.  25,  26,  27,)  but  also  stirred  up  and 
'  sent  forth  the  Levites,  accompanied  with  other  principal  men,  to  teach 
'  the  good  knowledge  of  the  Lord  throughout  all  the  cities,  (2  Chron.  xvii. 
'  6,  7,  8,  9,)  which  endeavours  have  been  crowned  with  the  blessing 
^of  God. 

*  Also  we  find  that  our  brethren  of  the  Congregational  perswasion  in 

*  England,  have  made  a  good  profession  in  their  book,  entituled,^  decla- 
'■  .ration  of  their  faith  and  order,  (page  59,  sect.  14,)  where  they  say, 
'•  That  although  pastors  and  teachers  stand  especially  related  unto  their 
'  particular  churches,  yet  (hey  ought  not  to  neglect  others  living  within  their 

*  parochial  bounds ;  but  besides  their  constant  public  preaching  to  them. 
'  they  ought  to  enquire  after  their  profiting  by  the  word,  instructing  them 
'  in,  and  pressing  upon  them,  (^whether  young  or  old)  the  great  doctrines  of 
'  the  gospel,  even  personally  and  particularly,  so  far  as  their  strength  and 
'  time  will  permit. 

'  We  hope  that  sundry  of  you  need  not  a  spur  in  these  things,  but  are 
'  conscientiously  careful  to  do  your  duty.  Yet,  forasmuch  as  we  have 
'  cause  to  fear  that  there  is  too  much  neglect  in  many  places,  notwith- 
'  standing  the  lazes  long  since  provided  therein,  we  do  therefore  think  it 
'  our  dwty  to  emit  this  declaration  unto  you,  earnestly  desiring,  and,  in 

*  the  bowels  of  our  Lord  Jesus,  requiring  you  to  be  very  diligent  and 
'  careful  to  catechise  and  instruct  all  people  (especially  the  youth)  under 
'  your  charge,  in  the  sound  principles  of  christian  religion  ;  and  that  not 
'  only  in  publick,  but  privately  yVo?n  house  to  house,  as  blessed  Paul  did  ; 
'  (^Acts  XX.  20,)  or  at  least,  three,  four,  or  more  families  meeting  together, 
'  as  time  and  strength  may  permit ;  taking  to  your  assistance  such  godly 
'  and  grave  persons  as  to  you  may  seem  most  expedient :  and  also  that 
'  you  labour  to  inform  your  selves  (as  much  as  may  be  meet)  how  your 
'  hearers  do  profit  by  the  word  of  God,  and  how  their  conversations  do 
"  agree  therewith  ;  and  whether  the  youth  are  taught  to  read  the  English 
'  tongue  :  taking  all  occasions  to  apply  suitable  exhortations  particularly 


JiooK  II.]      OR,  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  131 

'  unto  them,  for  the  rebuke  of  those  that  do  evil,  and  the  encouragement  of 
'  them  that  do  well. 

'  The  effectual  and  constant  prosecution  hereof,  we  hope  will  have  a 
'  tendency  to  promote  the  salvation  of  soids ;  to  suppress  the  growth  of 
'  sin  and  profaneness  ;  to  beget  more  love  and  nnity  among  the  people, 
•  and  more  reverence  and  esteem  of  the  7ninis!ry :  and  it  will  assuredly 
'  be  to  the  enlargement  of  your  croum,  and  rocompence  in  eternal  glory. 

Given  at  Boston,  the  lOth  of  March,  1668,  by  the  governour  and  covn- 
oil,  and  by  them  ordered  to  be  printed,  and  sent  accordingly. 

Edward  Rawson.  Secretary, 


CHAPTER  VII. 
Publicola  Christianus.     The  Life  of  Edward  Hopkins,  Esq.  Gouernour 

of  CoNNECTICUT-Co/.ONY. 

Superiores  mit,  qui  superiores  esse  sciunt. 

§  1.  When  the  great  God  of  heaven  had  carried  his  peculiar  people 
into  a  wilderness,  the  theocracy,  wherein  he  became  (as  he  was  for  that 
reason  stiled)  the  Lord  of  Hosts,  unto  them  and  the  four  squadrons  of 
their  army,  was  most  eminently  displayed  in  his  enacting  of  their  lari's^ 
his  directing  of  their  wars,  and  his  electing  and  inspiring  of  their  JHc/^es. 
In  some  resemblance  hereunto,  when  four  colonies  of  christians  had 
marched  like  so  many  hosts  under  the  conduct  of  the  good  spirit  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  into  an  American  wilderness,  there  were  several  in- 
stances wherein  that  army  of  cotfessors  was  under  a  theocracy:  for  their 
laws  were  still  enacted,  and  their  wars  were  still  directed  by  the  voice  of 
God,  as  far  as  they  understood  it,  speaking  from  tlie  oracle  of  the  scrip- 
tures: and  though  ihelv  judges  were  still  elected  by  themselves,  and  not 
inspired  with  such  extraordinary  influences  as  carried  them  of  old,  yet 
these  also  being  singularly  furnished  and  oifered  by  ihe  special  providence 
of  God  unto  the  government  of  his  A''eW'English  people,  were  so  emi- 
nently acted  by  his  graces,  and  his  precepts,  in  the  discharge  of  their 
government,  that  the  blessed  people  were  still  sensibly  governed  by  the 
Lord  of  all.  Now  among  the  iicsi  judges  of  JVew-England,  was  Edward 
Hopkins,  Esq.  in  whose  time  the  colony  oi  Connecticut  was  favoured  with 
judges  as  at  the  first ;  and  put  under  the  power  of  those  with  whom  it 
was  a  maxim,  Gratius  est  pielatis  Nomen,  quam  potestatis. 

§  2.  The  descent  and  breeding  of  Mr.  Edward  Hopkins,  (who  was 
born,  I  think  near  .S/irows6M77/,  about  the  year  1600,)  first  fitted  him  for 
the  condition  of  a  Turkey-Merchard ,  in  London  ;  where  he  lived  several 
years  in  good  fashion  and  esteem,  until  a  powerful  party  in  the  Church 
of  England,  then  resolving  not  only  to  separate  from  the  communion  of 
all  the  faithful  that  were  averse  to  certain  confessedly  vnscriptural  and 
nninstituted  rites  in  the  worship  of  God,  but  also  to  persecute  with  destroy- 
ing severities  those  that  were  7ion-conf or  mists  ihcrcnaio ,  compelled  a  con- 
siderable number  of  good  men  to  seek  a  shelter  among  the  salvages  of 
America.  Among  these,  and  with  his  excellent  father-in-law,  Mr.  The- 
ophilus  Eaton,  he  came  to  New-England ;  where  then  removing  from 
the  Massachsuet-h^y  unto  Hartford  upon  Connecticut  River,  he  became  a 


132  MAGNALIA  CHRISTI  AMERICANA :  [Book  II. 

ruler  and  pi'/^fl?- of  that  colony,  during  the  time  of  his  abode  in  the  coun- 
try. 

§  3.  In  his  government  he  acquitted  himself  as  the  Solomon  of  his 
colony,  to  whom  God  gave  wisdom  and  knowledge,  that  he  might  go  out 
and  come  in  before  the  people  ;  and  as  he  was  the/iearf,  so  he  was  the /tearf 
of  the  people,  for  the  resolution  to  do  well,  which  he  maintained  among 
them.  An  unjust  judge  is,  as  one  says,  a  cold  fire,  a  dark  sun,  a  dry  sea, 
an  ungood  God,  a  contradictio  in  adjecto.  Far  from  such  was  our  Hop- 
kins ;  no,  he  was,  h^uiov  ^tf^^i^vx.ov,  a  meer  piece  of  living  justice.  And 
as  he  had  no  separate  intercuts  ol  his  own,  so  he  pursued  their  interests 
with  such  an  unspotted  and  successful  fidelity,  that  they  might  call  him 
as  the  tribe  o{  Benjamin  did  their  leader  in  the  wilderness,  Abidan,  that 
is  to  say,  our  father  is  judge.  New- England  saw  little  daicnings,  and  em- 
blems, and  earnests  of  the  day,  that  the  greatness  of  th  kingdom  ander  the 
whole  heaven  shall  be  given  unto  the  people  of  the  saints  vfthe  Most  High,  when 
such  a.  saint  as  our  Hopkins  was  one  of  its  governours.  And  the  felici- 
ty which  a  great  man  has  prognosticated  for  Europe,  that  God  will  stir  up 
some  happy  governour  in  some  country  in  Christendom,  indited  with  wisdom 
and  consideration,  ivho  shall,  discern  tlte  true  nature  of  Godliness  and  clii'is- 
tianity,  and  the  necessity  and  excellency  of  serious  religion,  and  shall  place  his 
hono%ir  andfe/icity  in  pleasing  God  and  doing  good,  and  atlai7iing  everlasting 
happi7iess,  and  shall  subject  all  worldly  respects  unto  these  high  and  glorious 
ends:  this  was  now  exemplified  in  America. 

§  4.  Most  exemplary  was  his  piety  and  his  charity;  and  while  he 
governed  others  by  the  laiva  of  God,  he  did  hirnself  yield  a  profound  sub- 
jection unto  those  laws.  He  was  exemplarily  watchful  over  his  own  be- 
haviour, and  made  a  continual  contemplation  of,  -awA  prepar alien  for  deaths 
to  be  the  character  of  his  life.  It  was  his  manner  to  rise  early,  even  be- 
fore day,  to  enjoy  the  devotions  of  his  closet  :  after  which  he  spent  a  con- 
siderable time  in  reading,  and  opening,  and  applying  the  word  of  God 
unto  \\ii  family,  M\A  then  praying  with  them  :  and  he  had  one  particular 
way  to  cause  attention  in  the  people  of  his  family,  which  was  to  ask  any 
person  that  seemed  careless  in  the  midst  of  his  discourse,  JVhat  was  if 
that  I  read,  or  spoke  last  ?  wereby  he  habituated  them  unto  such  an  atten- 
tion, that  they  were  still  usually  able  to  give  a  ready  account.  But  as  for 
his  prayers,  they  were  not  only  frequent,  but  so  fervent  also,  that  he  fre- 
quently fell  a  bleeding  at  the  nose  through  the  agony  of  spirit  with  which 
he  laboured  in  them.  And  especially  when  imploring  such  spiritual  bles- 
sings as,  that  God  would graiit  in  the  end  (f  our  lives,  the  end  of  our  hopes, 
even  the  salva,tion  of  our  souls,  he  would  be  so  transported,  that  the  observ- 
ing and  judicious  hearers  would  say  sometimes  upon  it,  Surely  this  man 
cannot  be  long  out  of  heaven.  Moreover,  in  his  neighbourhood  he  not 
only  set  himself  to  encourage  and  countenance  real  Godliness,  but  also 
would  himself  kindly  visit  the  JVfee^^j^-s  that  the  religious  neighbours  pri- 
vately kept  for  the  exercisies  of  it ;  and  where  the  least  occasion  for  con- 
■^chtion  was  offered,  he  would,  with  a  prudent  and  speedy  endeavour,  ex- 
tinguish it.  But  the  poor  he  so  considered,  that  besides  the  daily  reliefs 
which  with  his  own  hands  he  dispenccd  unto  them,  he  would  put  consid- 
•;^rable  sums  of  money  into  the  hands  of  his  friends,  to  be  by  them  employ- 
ed as  they  saw  opportunity  to  do  good  unto  all,  especially  the  houshold  of 
faith.  In  tliis  thing  he  was  like  tliat  noble  and  worthy  English  General, 
of  whom  'tis  noted,  he  never  tlioughl  he  had,  any  thing  but  what  he  gave 
away;  and  yet  after  all,  with  much  humility  he  would  profess,  ass  one  of 
the  most  liberal  men  that  ever  was  in  the  world  often  would, //(are  often 


Book  II.]      OR,  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  133 

turned  over  my    books   of  accounts,  but  I  could  never  find  the  great  God 
charged  a  debtor  there. 

§  5.  But  suffering  as  well  as  doing  belongs  to  the  compleat  character 
of  a  christian  ;  and  there  were  several  trials  wherein  our  Lord  called  this 
eminently  patient  servant  of  his  to  suffer  the  will  of  God.  He  contacted 
with  bodily  infirmities,  but  especially  with  a  wasting  and  a  bloody  cough^ 
which  held  him  for  thirty  years  together.  He  had  been  by  persecutions 
driven  to  cross  an  ocean,  to  which  he  had  in  his  nature  an  antipathy  ;  and 
then  a  wilderness  full  of  such  crosses  a'i  attend  the  beginning  of  a  jilan- 
tation,  exercised  him.  Nevertheless  there  was  one  aflliction  which  cox 
tinually  droptM^on  him  above  all  the  rest,  and  that  was  this,  he  married 
a  daughter  which  the  second  wife  of  Mr.  Eaton  had  by  a  former  hus- 
band ;  one  that  from  a  child  had  been  observable  for  desirable  quali- 
ties. But  some  time  after  she  was  married,  she  fell  into  a  distempered 
melancholy,  which  at  last  issued  in  an  incurable  distraction,  with  such 
illshaped  ideas  in  her  brain,  as  use  to  be-  formed  when  the  animal 
spirits  are  fired  by  irregular  panicles,  fixed  with  acid,  bilious,  vea- 
emous  ferments  in  the  blood.  Very  grievous  was  this  affliction  unto  this 
her  worthy  consort,  who  was  by  temper  a  very  affectionate  person  ;  and 
who  now  left  no  part  of  a  tender  husband  undone,  to  case,  and,  if  it 
were  possible,  to  cure  the  lamentable  desolation  thus  come  upon,  tht 
desire  of  his  eyes  ;  but  when  the  physician  gave  him  to  understand,  that 
no  means  would  be  likely  to  restore  her  sense,  but  such  as  would  be  also 
likely  to  hazard  her  life,  he  replied  with  teai-s,  I  had  rather  bear  my  cross 
unto  the  end  that  the  Lord  shall  give  !  but  upon  this  occasion  he  said  unto 
her  sister,  who,  with  all  the  rest  related  unto  her,  were  as  dear  unto  him 
as  his  own  ;  I  have  often  thought,  what  should  be  the  meaning  of  the  Lord, 
in  chastising  of  me  with  so  sharp  a  rod,  and  with  so  long  a  stroke  ;  where- 
to, when  she  replied,  Sir, nothing  singular  has,  in  this  case,  befallen  you: 
God  hath  afflicted  others  in  the  like  icay  ;  and  we  must  be  content  loith  oui 
portion;  he  answered,  Sister,  this  is  among  the  Lord's  rarities.  For  my 
part  I  cannot  tellivhat  sore  to  lay  my  hii.nd  vpon:  hoioever,  in  general,  my 
sovereign  Lord,  is  just,  and  I  ivill  justifie  him  for  ever  :  but  in  particular,  [ 
have  thought  the  matter  might  lye  here  :  /  promised  my  self  too  much  corv- 
tent  in  this  relation  and  enjinpntnt ;  and  the  Lord  will  make  me  to  kuinv 
that  this  ivorld  shall  not  ap'nrd  it  me.  So  he  wisely,  meekly,  fruitfully 
bore  this  heavy  affiicfion  unto  liis  dying  day;  having  been  taught  b}'  the 
affliction  to  die  daily,  as  long  as  he  lived. 

§  G.  About  governour  Eaton,  his  father-ia  law,  he  saw  cause  to  say 
unto  a  sister-in-hnv,  whom  he  much  valued  5  I  have  often  wondrcd  at  my 
father  and  your  father :  I  have  heard  him  say.  That  he  never  had  a  repent- 
ing, or  a  repining  thought,  about  /r/y  coming  to  New-England  :  surely,  in 
this  matter  he  hath  a  grace  far  out-shining  mine.  Bui  he  is  our  father  !  I 
cannot  say,  as  he  can,  I  have  had  hard  work  with  my  own  heart  about  it.  But 
upon  the  death  of  his  elder  brother,  who  was  warden  of  the  fleet,  it  was 
necessary  for  him  to  return  into  England,  that  he  might  look  after  the 
estate  which  then  fell  unto  him  ;  and  accordingly,  after  a  tempestuous 
and  a  terrible  voyage,  wherein  they  were  eminentlj^  endangered  hyfirt, 
accidentally  enkindled  on  the  ship  as  well  as  by  water,  which  tore  it  so 
to'pieces,  that  it  was  towed  in  by  another  ship,  he  at  length. 

Per  Vartos  Casus  ;  per  tot  Discriniina  Reruni. 

arrived  there.      T'[frc  a  crent  notice  was  nuicAlv  taken  of  him  :   he  was 


134  MAGNALIA  CHRISTI  AMERICANA;  [Book  1L 

made  warden  of  the  Jleet,  coaimissioner  of  the  admiralty,  and  the  nav}'- 
office,  a  parhaonent-inan  ;  and  he  was  placed  in  some  other  considerabll 
stations  :  in  all  which  he  more  than  answered  the  expectations  of  those 
who  took  him  to  he  a  person  eminently  quabjied  for  public  serrice.  Bv 
these  employments,  his  design  of  returning  to  j\ew-England,  with  which 
he  left  it,  was  diverted  so  far,  that  he  sent  for  his  family  ;  and  about  the 
time  that  he  looked  for  them,  he  being  advantaged  by  his  great  places  to 
employ  certain  frigots  for  their  safety  on  the  coast,  by  that  means  had 
them  safely  brought  unto  him.  When  they  were  with  him  in  London, 
one  of  them  told  him  how  much  his  friends  in  Ne-iv-England  wished  and' 
prayed  for  his  return  :  and  how  that  passage  had  been  used  in  our  pub- 
lick  supplications  for  that  mercy,  Lord,  if  zve  may  win  him  in  heaven,  we 
shall  yet  have  him  on  earth  :  but  he  replyed, //jare  had  many  thoughts 
about  my  return,  and  jny  aj/^ccdons  have  bee7i  bent  very  strongly  that  way ; 
and  though  I  have  now,  blessed  be  God,  received  my  family  here,  yet  that 
shall  be  no  hindrance  to  my  return.  I  will  tell  you,  though  I  am  little  worth, 
yet  I  have  that  love  which  will  dispose  me  to  serve  the  Lord,  and  that  peoph 
of  his.  But  as  to  that  matter,  I  incline  to  think  they  will  not  win  it  in  heaven ; 
and  I  knQ-<:}  not  whether  the  terrors  of  my  dreadful  voyage  hither  might  not 
be  ordered  by  the  divine  providence,  to  stake  me  iyi  this  land,  being  in  my 
spirit  sufficiently  loth  to  run  the  hazard  of  such  another.  I  must  also  say  to 
you,  I  mourn  exceedingly,  and  I  fear,  I  fear,  the  sins  of  New-England  will 
e'?e  long  be  readin  its  punishments.  The  Lord  has  planted  that  land  with 
a  noble  vine  :  and  blessed  hast  thou  been,  O  land,  in  thy  rulers  !  Btit, 
alas  !  for  the  generality  they  have  not  considered  how  they  were  to  honour  the 
rules  of  God.  in  honouring  of  those  whom  God  made  rulers  over  them;  and 
J  fear  they  will  come  to  smart  by  having  them  set  over  them,  that  it  will  be  an 
hard  work  to  honour,  and  that  will  hardly  be  capable  to  manage  their  af- 
fairs. 

§  7.  Accordingly  he  continued  in  Englandthe  rest  of  his  days,  in  seve- 
ral places  of  great  honour  and  burden  faithfully  serving  the  nation  ;  but 
in  the  midst  of  his  publick  employments  most  exactly  maintaining  the 
zeal  and  watch  of  his  own  private  walk  with  God.  His  mind  kept  con- 
tinually mellowing  and  ripening  for  heaven;  and  one  expression  of  his 
heavenly  mind,  among  many  others,  a  little  before  his  end,  was,  How  often 
have  I  pleased  my  self  with  thoughts  of  a  joyfid  meeting  with  my  father 
Eaton  !  /  remember  with  what  pleasure  he  woxdd  come  down  the  street, 
that  he  might  meet  me  when  I  came  from  Hartford  unto  New-Haven  :  hut 
with  how  much  greater  jjlcasnre  shall  we  shortly  meet  one  another  in  heaven  ! 
But  as  an  heavenly  mind  is  oftentimes  a  presaging  mind,  so  he  would 
sometimes  utter  this  presage  unto  some  that  were  near  and  dear  unto 
him  ;  God  will  shortly  take  the  Protector  away,  and  sooji  after  that  you  will 
see  great  changes  overturning  the  present  constitution,  and  sore  troubles 
eome  upon  those  (hat  now  promise  better  things  unto  themselves.  However, 
he  did  not  live  to  see  the  fulfilment  of  this  prediction. 

§  8.  For  the  time  now  drew  near  that  this  Israelite  was  to  die  !  He  had 
been  in  his  life  troubled  with  many /ears  of  death;  and  after  he  fell  sick, 
even  when  he  drew  very  near  his  death,  he  said  with  tears.  Oh!  pray 
far  me,  for  J  am  in  exiream  darkness!  But  at  length,  on  a  Lord's  day, 
about  the  very  time  when  Mr.  Caryl  was  publickiy  praying  for  him,  his 
darkness  all  vanished,  and  he  broke  forth  into  these  expressions,  Oh! 
Lord,  ihou  hast  kcpi  the  best  wine  until  the  last !  Oh  !  friends,  coidd  you 
believe  this  ?  1  shall  be  blessed  for  ever,  I  shall  quickly  be  in  eternal  glory. 
vVorc  le'  ihc  whoh  world  count  me  vile,  and  ccdl  me  an  hypocrite,  or  what 


Book  II.]      OR,  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAXD.  135 

they  will,  I  matter  it  not;  I  shall  be  blessed;  there  is  reserved  for  me  a 
crown  of  glory.  Oh!  blessed  be  God  for  Jesus  Christ  I  1  have  heretofore 
thought  it  an  hard  thing  to  die,  but  now  I  find  that  it  is  not  so.  If  I  might 
have  my  choice,  I  would  now  chuse  to  die  ;  Oh  !  my  Lord,  I  pray  thee  send 
me  not  back  again  into  this  evil  world,  I  have  enough  of  it ;  no,  Lord,  now 
take  me  to  glory,  and  the  kingdom  that  is  prepared  for  me !  Yea,  the 
standers  by  thought  it  not  possible  for  them  to  utter  exactly  after  him, 
the  heavenly  words  which  now  proceeded  from  him;  and  when  one  of 
them  said.  Sir,  the  Lord  hath  enlarged  your  faith  ;  he  replied.  Friend,  this 
is  sense  ;  the  Lord  hath  even  satisfied  my  sense  ;  I  am  sensibly  satisfied  of 
everlasting  glory !  Two  or  three  days  he  now  spent  in  prayers  and  prai- 
ses, and  in  inexpressible  joys:  in  which  time,  when  some  eminent  per- 
sons of  a  very  pnblick  station  and  imployment  came  to  visit  him,  unto 
them  he  said,  Sirs,  take  heed  of  your  hearts  while  you  are  in  your  work  for 
God,  that  there  be  no  root  of  bitterness  within  you.  It  may  be  pretended 
your  desires  are  to  serve  God,  but  if  there  are  in  you  secret  aims  at  advanc- 
ing of  your  selves,  and  your  own  estates  and  interests,  the  Lord  will  not  ac- 
cept your  services  as  pure  before  him. 

But  at  length  in  the  month  of  March,  1657,  at  London  he  expired  ; 
when  being  opened,  it  was  found  that  his  heart  had  been  unaccountably, 
as  it  were,  boiled  and  wasted  in  water,  until  it  was  become  a  little  brit- 
tle skin,  which  being  touched,  presently  dropped  in  pieces.  He  had 
often  wished,  upon  some  great  accounts,  that  he  might  live  till  the  be- 
ginning of  this  year  ;  and  now  when  he  lay  a  dying,  he  said.  Lord  !  thou 
hast  fulfilled  my  desires  according  to  thy  zvord,  that  thou  wilt  fulfil  the  de- 
sires of  them,  that  fear  thee. 

Now  from  the  tombstone  of  another  eminent  person,  we  will  fetch 
what  shall  here  be  a  proper 

EPITAPH. 

Part  of  Edward  Hopkins,  Esq. 

But  heaven,  not  brooking  that  the  earth  should  share 
In  the  least  atom  of  a  piece  so  rare, 
Intends  to  sue  out,  by  a  new  revise. 
His  habeas  corpus  at  the  grand  assize. 


CHAPTER  VIII, 

SUCCESSORS. 

§  1.  Altf.rnately,  for  the  most  part  every  other  year,  Mr.  Hams, 
whom  we  have  already  mentioned  elsewhere,  took  a  turn  with  Mr.  Hop- 
kins in  the  chief  place  of  government.  And  besides  these,  (reader,  the 
oracle  that  once  predicted  government  unto  a  ©,  would  now  and  here 
predict  it  unto  a  W,)  there  were  Mr.  Willis,  Mr.  Wells,  and  Mr.  Web- 
ster, all  of  whom  also  had  opportunity  to  express  their  liberal  and  gene- 
rous dispositions,  and  the  governing  virtues  of  wisdom,  justice  and  cour- 
age, by  the  election  of  the  freemen  in  the  colony  before  its  being  united 
with  JVew-Haven.  Had  the  surviving  relations  of  these  worthy  men  sent 
in  unto  me  a  tenth  part  of  (he  considerable  and  imifo.ble  things  which  or- 


136  MAGNALIA  CHRISTI  AMERICANA :  [Book  II. 

curred  in  their  lives,  they  might  have  made  more  of  a  figure  in  this  our 
historij ;  whereas  I  must  now  sum  up  all,  with  assuring  my  reader,  that 
it  is  the  want  of  knowledge  in  7ne,  and  not  of  desert  in  tlicm,  that  has  con- 
fined us  unto  this  brevity. 

§  2.  After  the  union  of  Connecticut  with  New-Haven,  there  were  in 
chief  government  Mr.  Leet,  whom  we  have  already  paid  our  dues  unto  ; 
and  Mr.  Treat,  who  is  yet  living,  a  pious  and  a  valiant  man,  and  (if  even 
Annosa  Qiiercus  be  an  honourable  thing!)  worthy  to  be  honoured  for  an 
hoary  head  found  in  the  "way  of  righteousness  :  besides,  Mr.  IVinlhrop,  of 
whom  anon,  reader,  expect  a  compleater  history. 


CHAPTER  IX. 


Humllitas  ITonorata.     The  Life  of  Theophilus  Eaton,  Esq.  Governour 
of  New-Haven  Colony. 

Justitia;  Cultor,  Rigidi  Servator  Honesti, 
In  Commune  Bonum. 

§  1.  It  has  been  enquired,  why  the  evangelist  LwA;e  in  ihe first  sacred  his- 
tory which  he  addressed  unto  his  fellow-citizen,  gave  him  the^title  of 
The  most  excellent  Theophilus,  but  in  the  next  he  used  no  higher  a  stile 
than  plain  Theophilus!  And  though  several  other  answers  might  be  given  to 
that  enquiry,  'tis  enough  to  say,  that  neither  the  civility  of  Luke,  nor  no- 
hility  of  Theophilus,  were  by  age  abated  ;  but  Luke  herein  considered  the 
disposition  of  Theophilus,  as  well  as  his  own,  with  whom  a  reduced  age 
had  rendered  all  titles  of  honour  more  disagreeable  superfiuities.  Indeed 
nothing  would  have  been  more  unacceptable  to  the  governour  of  our 
New-Haven  colony,  all  the  time  of  his  being  so,  than  to  have  been  advan- 
ced and  applauded  above  the  rest  of  mankind  ;  yet  it  must  be  now  pub- 
lished unto  the  knowledge  of  mankind,  that  New-England  could  not  of 
hip  quality  show  a  more  excellent  person,  and  this  was  Theophilus  Eaton, 
Esq.  the  first  governour  of  that  colony.  Humility  is  a  virtue  whereof 
Amyraldus  observes,  There  is  not  so  much  as  a  shadow  of  commendation  in 
all  the  pagan  writers.  But  the  reader  is  now  concerned  with  writings 
which  will  commend  a  person  for  humility ;  and  therefore  our  Eaton,  in 
whom  the  shine  of  every  virtue  was  particularly  set  off  with  a  more 
than  ordinary  degree  of  humility,  must  now  be  proposed  as  commend- 
able. 

§  2.  'Tis  reported,  that  the  earth  taken  from  the  banks  of  Nilus,  will 
ver}^  strangely  sympathize  with  the  place  from  whence  it  was  taken,  and 
grow  moist  or  dry  according  to  the  increase  and  the  decrease  of  the 
river.  And  in  spite  of  that  Popish  lie  which  pretends  to  observe  the 
contrary,  this  thing  has  been  signally  moralized  in  the  daily  observation, 
that  the  sons  of  ministers,  though  betaking  themselves  to  other  imploy- 
ments,  do  ordinarily  carry  about  with  them  an  holy  and  happy  savour  oi 
their  ministerial  education.  'Twas  remarkably  exemplified  in  our  Theoph- 
ilus Eaton,  who  was  born  at  Stony -Stratford  in  Oxfordshire,  the  eldest  son 
to  the  faithful  and  famous  minister  of  the  place.  But  the  words  of  old 
used  by  Philostratus  concerning  the  son  of  a  great  man.  As  for  his  son  I 
have  nothing  else  to  say,  hut  that  he  was  his  soii;  they  could  not  be  used 
concerning  our  Theophilus,  who  having  received  a  good  education  from 


Book  II.]     OR,  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  137 

his  pious  parents,   did  live  many  years  to  tuiswer  that  education  in  his 
own  pietij  and  usefulness. 

§  3.  His  father  being  removed  unto  Coventry,  be  there  at  school  fell 
into  the  intimate  acquaintance  of  that  worthy  John  Davenport,  with 
whom  the  providence  of  God  many  years  after  united  in  the  great  under- 
taking of  settling  a  colony  of  chrij^tian  and  reformed  churches  on  the 
American  strand.  Here  his  ingenuity  and  proficiency  rendered  him  no- 
table ;  and  ?o  vast  was  his  memory,  that  although  he  wrote  not  at  the 
church,  yet  when  he  came  home,  he  would,  at  his  father's  call,  repeat 
unto  those  that  met  in  his  father's  house,  the  sermons  vshich  had  been 
publickly  preached  by  others,  as  well  as  his  own  father,  with  such  ex- 
actness, as  astonished  all  the  neighbourhood.  But  in  their  after  improve- 
ments, the  hands  of  divine  providence  were  laid  across  upon  the  heads  of 
Theophilus  Eaton,  and  John  Davenport :  for  Davenport,  whose  father  was 
the  mayor  oi  Coventry,  became  a  minister  ;  and  Eaton,  whose  father  was 
minister  of  Coventry,  contrary  to  his  intentions,  became  r  merchant.  His 
parents  were  very  loth  to  have  complied  with  his  inclinations  ;  but  their 
compliance  therewithal  did  at  last  appear  to  have  been  directed  by  a 
special  favour  of  heaven  unto  the  family,  when  after  the  death  of  his 
father,  he,  by  this  means,  became  the  Joseph,  by  whom  his  mother  was 
maintained  until  she  died,  and  his  orphan  brethren  s.ad  sisters  had  no  small 
part  of  their  subsistence. 

§  4.>  During  the  time  of  his  hard  apprenticeship  he  behaved  himself 
wisely ;  and  his  nisdom,  with  God's  favour,  particularly  appeared  in  his 
chaste  escape  from  the  snares  of  a  young  woman  in  the  house  where  he 
lived,  who  would  fain  have  taken  him  in  the  pits  by  the  -vise  man  cau- 
tioned against,  and  who  was  herself  so  taken  only  with  his  most  comely 
person,  that  she  dyed  for  the  love  of  him,  when  she  saw  him  gone  too 
far  to  be  obtained  :  whereas,  by  the  like  snares,  the  apprentice  that  next 
succeeded  him  was  undone  for  ever.  But  being  a  person  herewithal 
most  signally  diligent  in  his  business,  it  was  not  long  before  the  maxim  of 
the  zvise  man  was  most  literally  accomplished  in  his  coming  to  stand  be- 
fore princes ;  for  being  made  a /reema«  of  Ln«c?o/?,  he  applied  himself 
unto  the  East-Country  trade,  and  was  publickly  chosen  the  deputy-go- 
vernour  of  the  company,  wherein  he  so  acquitted  himself  as  to  become 
considerable.  And  afterwards  going  himself  into  the  East-Country,  he 
not  only  became  so  well  acquainted  with  the  afl'airs  of  the  Baltick-sca, 
but  also  became  so  well  improved  in  the  accomplishments  of  a  man  of 
business,  that  the  King  of  England  imployed  him  as  an  agent  unto  the 
King  of  Denmark.  The  concerns  of  his  agency  he  so  discreetly  man- 
aged, that  as  he  much  obliged  and  engaged  the  East-Land  company,  (who 
in  token  thereof  presented  his  wife  with  a  bason  and  ewer  double  giit, 
and  curiously  wrought  with  gold,  and  weighing  above  sixty  pound,)  so' 
•he  found  much  acceptance  with  the  King  oi  Denmark,  and  was  afterwards 
used  by  that  prince  to  do  him  no  little  services.  Nevertheless  he  kept 
bis  integrity  amongst  the  temptations  of  that  court,  whereat  he  was  now 
a  resident ;  and  not  seldom  had  he  most  eminent  cause  to  acknowledge 
the  benignity  and  interposal  of  heaven  for  his  preservations  ;  once  par- 
ticularly, when  the  King  of  Denmark  was  beginning  the  King  of  Eng- 
land's health,  Avhile  Mr.  Eaton,  who  disliked  such  heahh- drinking,  was 
in  his  presence  ;  the  King  fell  down  in  a  sort  of  a  fit,  with  the  cup  in  his 
hand,  whereat  dl  the  nobles  and  courtiers  wholly  applied  themselves  to 
convey  the  King  into  his  chamber,  and  there  wit«  no  notice  taken  who 

YoL.  I,  18 


133  MAGNALIA  CHRISTI  AMERICANA  .  [Book  11 

was  to  pledge  his  health  ;  whereby  Mr.  Eaton  was  the  more  easily  de- 
livered I'rorn  any  share  in  the  debauch. 

§  5.  Having  arrived  unto  a  fair  estate,  (which  he  was  Jirst  willing  to 
do,)  he  married  a  most  virtuous  gentlewoman,  to  whom  he  had  first  es- 
poused himself  after  he  had  spent  three  years  in  an  absence  from  her  in 
the  East-Country.  But  this  dearest  and  greatest  of  his  temporal  enjoy- 
ments proved  but  a  temporal  one  ;  for  living  no  longer  with  him  than  to 
render  him  the  father  of  two  children,  she  almost  killed  him  with  her 
own  death ;  and  yet  at  her  death  she  expressed  herself  wondrous  willing 
to  be  dissolved,  and  to  be  Teith  Christ,  from  whom  (she  said)  /  would  not  be 
detained  one  hour  for  all  the  enjoyments  upon  earth.  He  afterwards  mar- 
vied  a  prudent  and  pious  widow,  the  daughter  of  the  bishop  of  Chester ; 
unto  the  three  former  children  of  which  widow,  he  became  a  most  exem- 
plar}', living  and  f  lithful  father,  as  well  as  a  most  worthy  husband  unto 
herself,  by  whom  he  afterwards  had  ^re  children,  two  sons  and  three 
daughters.  But  the  second  of  hischilt^ren  by  his  latter  wife  dying  some 
v.'hile  before,  it  was  not  long  before  his  two  children  by  his  former  wif<-: 
were  smitten  with  the  plague,  whereof  the  elder  died,  and  his  house 
thereupon  shut  up  with  a,  Lord  have  mercy!  However  the  Lord  had 
this  mercy  on  the  family,  to  let  the  distemper  spread  no  further  ;  and  so 
Mr.  Eaton  spent  many  years  a  merchant  of  great  credit  and  fashion  in 
the  city  of  London. 

§  6.  At  length  conformity  to  ceremonies  humanely  invented  and  impos- 
ed in  the  worship  of  God,  was  urged  in  the  Church  of  £/(^'-/a?u/  with  so 
much  rigour,  that  Mr.  Davenport  was  thereby  driven  to  seek  a  refuge 
from  the  storm  in  the  cold  and  rude  corners  of  America.  Mr  Eaton  had 
already  assisted  the  new  Massachuset- colony,  as  being  one  of  {he  patentees 
for  it ;  but  had  no  purpose  of  removing  thither  himself,  until  Mr.  Dav- 
enport-, under  whose  excellent  ministry  he  lived,  was  compelled  unto  a 
share  in  this  removal.  However,  being  fully  satisfied  in  his  own  con- 
science, that  unlawful  things  were  now  violently  demanded  of  him,  he 
was  willing  to  accompany  his  persecuted  pastor  in  the  retreat  from  vio- 
lence now  endeavoured,  and  many  eminent  Londoners chaninWy  engaged 
with  him  in  this  undertaking.  Unto  New- England  this  company  of  good 
men  came  in  the  year  1637,  where  chusing  to  be  a  distinct  colony  by 
themselves,  more  accommodated  unto  the  designs  of  merchandize  than  of 
kusbandry,  they  sought  and  bought  a  large  territory  in  the  southern  parts 
of  the  country  for  their  habitations.  In  the  prosecution  hereof,  the 
chief  care  was  devolved  upon  Mr.  Eaton,  who  with  an  unexempled  pa- 
tience took  many  tedious  and  hazardous  journies  through  a  desolate  wil- 
derness full  of  barbarous  Indians,  until  upon  mature  deliberation  he 
pitched  upon  a  place  now  called  New-Haven,  where  they  soon  formed  a 
very  regular  town  ;  and  a  number  of  other  towns  along  the  sea  side  were 
quickly  added  thereunto.  But  by  the  difficulties  attending  these  journies. 
Mr.  Eaton  brought  himself  into  an  extream  sickness  ;  from  which  he 
recovered  not  without  a  fistula  in  his  breast,  whereby  he  underwent 
much  affliction.  When  the  chirurgeon  came  to  inspect  the  sore,  he  told 
him.  Sir,  I  know  not  hozv  to  go  about  what  is  necessary  for  your  cure;  but 
Mr.  Eaton  answered  him,  God  calls  you  to  do,  and  me  to  suffer'.  And  God 
accordingly  strengthened  him  to  bear  miserable  cuttings  and  launcings  of 
his  flesh  with  a  most  invincible  patience.  The  chirurgeon  indeed  made 
so  many  wounds,  that  he  was  not  able  to  cure  what  he  had  made  ;  anoth- 
er, and  a  better,  hand  was  necessarily  imployed  for  it ;  but  in  the  mean 


Book  II.]       OR,  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  1^9 

while  great  were  the  trials  with  which  the  God  of  heaven  exercised  ihe 
faith  of  this,  liis  holy  servant. 

§  7.  Mr.  Eaton  and  Mr.  Davenport  v.'  re  the  Moses  and  Jiaron  of  the 
christian  colony  now  erected  in  the  south-west  parts  of  Kev:  -  England ; 
and  Mr.  Eaton  being  yearhj  and  ever  rhosen  their  governour,  it  was  the 
admiration  of  all  spectators  to  behold  the  discrstion,  the  gravity,  the 
eqnity  with  which  he  still  managed  all  their  publick  affairs.  He  carried 
in  his  very  countenance  a  majesty  which  cannot  be  described  ;  and  in 
his  dispensations  of  justice  he  was  a  mirrovr  for  the  most  imitable  inipar- 
tiality,  but  ungainsayable  authority  of  his  proceedings,  being  awfully 
sensible  of  the  obligations  which  the  oath  of  a  judge  lays  upon  him, 
Jls  so7it  plus  tenus  de  i-aiso}i  de  garder  Leur  Serinent,  doubter  mart,  ou  cw- 
ctitie  forfeiture :  and  hence  he,  »vho  would  most  patiently  bear  hard 
things  offered  unto  his  person  in  private  cases,  jet  would  never  pass  by 
any  publick  affronts,  or  neglects  offered,  when  he  appeared  under  the 
character  of  a  magistrate.  But  he  still  was  the  guide  of  the  blind,  the 
staff  of  the  lame,  the  helper  of  the  -icidoxv  and  the  orphan,  and  all  the 
distressed  ;  none  that  had  a  good  cause  was  afraid  of  coming  before  him  : 
on  the  one  side,  in  his  days  did  ihe  righteous  Jlourish  ;  on  the  other  side. 
he  was  the  terroxir  of  evil  doers.  As  in  his  government  of  the  common- 
wealth, so  in  the  government  of  his  family,  he  was  prudent,  serious. 
happy  to  a  wonder;  and  albeit  he  sometimes  had  a  large  family,  consist- 
ing of  no  less  than  thirty  persons,  yet  he  managed  them  with  such  an 
even  temper,  that  observers  have  athrmed,  They  never  saw  an  house  or- 
dered uith  more  zi-isdom  !  He  kept  an  honourable  and  hospitable /a6Ze  ; 
but  one  thing  that  still  made  the  entertainment  thereof  the  better,  was 
the  continual  presence  of  his  aged  mother,  by  feeding  of  whom  with  an 
exemplary  piety  till  she  died,  he  ensured  his  own  prosperity  as  long  as  he 
lived.  His  children  and  servants  he  would  mightily  encourage  unto  the 
study  of  the  scriptures,  and  countenance  their  addresses  unto  himself 
with  any  of  their  enquiries  ;  but  when  he  discerned  any  of  them  sinfully 
negligent  about  the  concerns  either  of  their  general  or  particular  callings, 
he  would  admonish  them  with  such  a  penetrating  efficacy,  that  the}" 
could  scarce  forbear  falling  down  at  his  feet  with  tears.  A  word  of  his 
was  enough  to  steer  them ! 

§  8.  So  exemplary  was  he  for  a  christian,  that  one  who  had  been  a  ser- 
vant unto  him,  could  many  years  after  say.  Whatever  difficulty  in  my  daily 
walk  I  now  meet  withal,  still  something  that  J  either  saw  or  heard  in  my 
blessed  master  E.;\ton''s  conversation,  helps  me  through  it  all ;  I  have  reason 
to  bless  God  that  ever  I  knew  him  !  It  was  his  custom  when  he  first  rose  in  a 
morning,  to  repair  unto  his  study  ;  a  study  well  perfumed  with  the  medi- 
tations and  supplications  of  an  holy  soul.  After  this,  calling  his  family 
together,  he  would  then  read  a  portion  of  the  scripture  among  them,  and 
after  some  devout  and  useful  reflections  upon  it,  he  would  make  a  prayer 
not  long,  but  extraordinary  pertinent  and  reverent ;  and  in  the  evening 
some  of  the  same  exercises  were  again  attended.  On  the  Saturday 
morning  he  would  still  take  notice  of  the  approaching  sabbath  in  hts 
prayer,  and  ask  the  grace  to  be  remembring  of  it,  and  preparing  for  it  ; 
and  when  the  evening  arrived,  he,  besides  this,  not  only  repeated  a  ser- 
mon, but  also  instructed  his  people,  with  putting  of  questions  referring  to 
the  points  of  religion,  which  would  oblige  them  to  study  for  an  answer  ; 
and  if  their  answer  were  at  any  time  insufficient,  he  would  wisely  and 
gently  enlighten  their  understandings  ;  all  which  he  concluded  with  sing- 
ins  of  a  psalm.    When  the  Lord's  day  came,  he  called  his  family  togeth- 


110  MAGNALIA  CHRISTI  AMERICANA  :         [Book  11. 

er  at  the  time  for  the  ringing  of  the  first  bell,  and  repeated  a  sermon, 
ivhereunto  he  added  a  fervent  ^raj/er,  especially  tending  unto  the  sanctifi- 
cation  of  the  day.  At  noon  he  sang  a  psalm,  and  at  night  he  retired  an  hour 
into  his  closet;  advising  those  in  his  house  to  improve  the  same  time  for  the 
good  of  their  own  souls.  He  then  called  his  family  together  again,  and 
in  an  obliging  munner  conferred  with  them  about  the  things  with  which 
they  had  been  entertained  in  the  house  of  God,  shutting  up  all  with  a 
prayer  for  the  blcj^sing  of  God  upon  them  all.  For  solemn  days  of  hu- 
miliation, or  of  thanJisgiving,  he  took  the  same  course,  and  endeavoured 
still  to  make  those  that  belonged  unto  him,  understand  the  meaning  of 
the  services  before  them.  He  seldom  used  any  recreations,  but  being  a 
great  reader,  all  the  time  he  could  spare  from  company  and  business,  he 
commonly  spent  in  his  beloved  study  ;  so  that  he  merited  the  name  which 
was  once  given  to  a  learned  rider  of  the  English  nation,  the  name  of 
Beanclerk :  in  conversing  with  his  friends,  he  was  affable,  courteous, 
and  generally  pleasant,  but  grave  perpetually  ;  and  so  cautelous  and  cir- 
cumspect in  his  discourses,  and  so  modest  in  his  expressions,  that  it  be- 
came a  proverb  for  incontestable  truth,  Governour  Ruton  said  it. 

But  .iftcr  ail,  his  humility  ai)peared  in  his  having  always  but  Ion:  erpecta- 
tions,  looking  for  little  regard  and  reward  from  any  men.  after  he  had 
merited  as  highly  as  was  possible  by  his  universal  serviceableness. 

§  9.  His  eldest  son  he  maintained  at  the  Colledge  until  he  proceeded 
master  of  arts  ;  and  he  was  indeed  the  son  of  his  vozcs,  and  a  son  of  great 
hopes.  But  a  severe  catarrh  diverted  this  young  gentleman  from  the 
work  of  the  ministry  whereto  his  f  ither  had  once  devoted  him  ;  and  a 
malignant  fever  then  raging  in  those  parts  of  the  country,  carried  oft 
him  with  his  wife  within  two  or  three  days  of  one  another.  This  was 
counted  the  sorest  of  all  the  trials  that  ever  befel  his  father  in  the  days  of 
the  years  of  his  pilgrimage ;  but  he  bore  it  with  a  patience  and  compo- 
sure of  spirit  which  was  truly  admirable.  His  dying  son  looked  earnestly 
on  him,  and  said,  Sir,  u-hat  shall  rt-e  do!  Whereto,  with  a  well-ordered 
countenance,  he  replied,  Look  vp  to  God!  And  when  he  passed  by  his 
daughter  drowned  in  tears  on  this  occasion,  to  her  he  said,  Remember  the 
si.rth  commandment,  hurt  not  your  self  zcith  immoderate  grief;  remember 
.Job,  zi-ho  said.  The  Lord  hath  given,  and  the  Lord  hath  taken  away, 
blessed  be  the  name  of  the  Lord  !  You  may  mark  zi-hat  a  note  the  spirit 
of  God  put  upon  it ;  in  all  this  Job  sinned  not.  nor  charged  God  foolish- 
ly :  God  accounts  it  a  charging  of  him  foolishly,  when  tii'e  donH  submit 
unto  his  xi-ill  patiently.  Accordingly  he  now  governed  himself  as  one  that 
had  attained  unto  the  rule  of  u-eeping  as  if  zee  ZL-ept  not ;  for  it  being  the 
Lord'^s  day,  he  repaired  unto  the  church  in  the  afternoon,  as  he  had  been 
there  in  the  forenoon,  though  he  was  never  like  to  see  his  dearest  son 
alive  any  more  in  this  world.  And  though  before  the  first  prayer  began, 
a  messencer  came  to  prevent  Mr.  Da-venport'' s  praying  for  the  sick  per- 
son, who  was  now  dead,  yet  his  affectionate  father  altered  not  his  course, 
but  zcrote  after  the  preacher  as  formerly  ;  and  when  he  came  home  he 
held  on  hi*  former  methods  of  divine  worship  in  his  family,  not  for  the 
exi'use  of  Aaron,  omitting  any  thing  in  the  service  of  God.  In  like  sort, 
Avhen  the  people  had  been  at  the  solemn  interment  of  this  his  worthy 
son,  he  did  with  a  very  unpassionate  aspect  and  carriage  then  say, 
F.  lends.  I  thank  you  all  for  your  love  and  help,  and  for  this  testimony  of 
respect  unto  me  and  mine  :  the  Lord  hath  given,  and  the  Lord  hath  taken  ; 
hlessnj^  he  the  name  of  the  Lord!  Nevertheless,  retiring  hereupon 
into  the  chamber  where  his  daughter  then  lay  sick,  some  tears  were 


Book  11]      OR,  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  141 

observed  falling  from  him  while  he  uttered  these  words,  There  is  a  dif- 
ference between  a  sullen  silence  or  a  stupid  senselessness  imder  the  hand  of 
God,  aiid  a  child  like  submission  thereunto. 

§  10.  Thus  continually  he,  for  about  a  score  of  years,  was  the  glory 
and  pillar  of  JVexn'-IIaven  colony.  He  would  often  say,  .Some  count  it  a 
great  matter  to  die  well,  but  1  arn  sure  'tis  a  great  matter  to  live  well. 
.4//  our  care  should  be  xvliile  n:e  have  our  life  to  use  it  well,  and  so  when 
death  puts  an  end  unto  that,  it  will  put  an  end  unto  all  our  cares.  But  hav- 
ing excellently  managed  his  care  to  live  well,  God  would  have  him  to  die 
well,  without  any  room  or  time  then  given  to  take  any  care  at  all  ;  for  he 
enjoyed  a  death  sudden  to  every  one  but  himself!  Having  worshipped 
God  with  his  family  after  his  usual  manner,  and  upon  some  occasion  with 
much  solemnity  charged  all  the  famil}'  to  carry  it  well  unto  their  mis- 
tress who  was  now  confined  bj' sickness,  he  supped,  and  then  took  a  turn 
or  two  abroad  for  his  meditations.  After  that  he  came  in  to  bid  his  wife 
good-night,  before  he  left  her  with  her  zaatcliers;  which  when  he  did, 
she  said,  Methinks  yo%i  look  sad!  Whereto  he  replyed,  The  differences 
risen  in  the  church  of  Hartford  make  me  so  ;  she  then  added.  Let  us  even 
go  back  to  our  native  country  again ;  to  which  he  answered,  You  may, 
[and  so  she  did]  but  I  shall  die  here.  This  was  the  last  word  that  ever 
she  heard  him  speak  ;  for  now  retiring  unto  his  lodging  in  another  cham- 
ber, he  was  overheard  about  midnight  fetching  a  o-;-oaH  ;  and  unto  one, 
sent  in  presently  to  enquire  how  he  did,  he  answered  the  enquiry  with 
only  saying,  Very  ill !  and  without  saying  any  more,  he  fell  asleep  in  Je. 
sus,  in  the  year  1657.  loosing  anchor  from  JVew-Haven  for  the  better. 


-Sedes,  ubi  Fata,  Quietas 


Ostendunt. 

Xow  let  his  gravestone  wear  at  least  the  following 

EPITAPH. 

New-England's  glory,  full  of  warmth  and  light, 
Stole  away  {and said  nothing)  in  the  night. 


CHAPTER  X. 

SUCCESSORS. 

§  1.  When  the  day  arrived  in  the  f/?!/irte>-sar»/ co?<rse  for  tlie  freeman  oi 
the  colony  to  elect  another  governour  in  the  place  of  the  deceased  Ea 
ton,  Mr  Davenport  preached  on  that  passage  of  the  divine  oracle,  in  Josh. 
i.  1,2,  JVow  after  the  death  of  Moses,  the  servant  of  the  Lord,  it  camc-tr, 
pass  that  the  Lord  spake  unto  Joshua,  the  son  of  N'un,  Moses'  minister,  saiiino-. 
A''ow  arise  thou  and  all  this  people.  The  colony  was  abundantiv  sensible 
that  their  Eaton-  had  been  a  man  of  a  Mosaic  spirit ;  and  that  while  thev 
chose  him,  as  they  did  every  year  of  his  life  among  them  to  be  their  gov- 
ernour, they  could  not  chuse  a  better.  But  they  now  considered  tiiaf 
Mr.  Francis  JVewman,  who  had  been  for  many  years  the  secretary  of  tIir 
colony,  was  there  a  minister  to  their  Moses,  as  he  had  bren  otherwisr. 
his  intimate  friend,  neighbour,  companion  and  counsellor      For  this  can=f 


142  MAGNALIA  CHlllSTI  j\]\IEKICANA.  [Book  II, 

the  unanimous  choice  of  the  freemen  fell  upon  this  gentleman  to  succeed 
in  the  government.  And  1  shall  here  give  a  suflBcient  history  of  his  gov- 
ernment ;  which  through  death  was  not  sitffered  to  continue  above  three 
or  four  years,  by  only  saying,  That  he  malked  exactly  in  the  steps  of  his 
predecessor. 

§  2.  Upon  the  setting  of  Mr.  Francis  JVewman,  there  arose  Mr.  Wil- 
liam Leet,  of  whom  let  not  the  reader  be  displeased  at  this  brief  account. 
This  gentleman  was  by  his  education  a  lainTjer,  and  by  his  imployment  a 
register  in  the  Bishop's  Court.  In  that  station,  at  Cambridge,  he  observed 
that  there  were  summoned  before  the  court  certain  persons  to  answer 
for  the  crime  of  going  to  hear  sermons  abroad,  when  there  were  7i07ie  to 
be  heard  in  their  own  parish  churches  at  home  ;  and  that  when  any  were 
brought  before  them  for  fornicaiion  or  adultery,  the  court  only  made  them- 
selves merry  with  their  Peccadillos  ;  and  that  these  latter  transgressions 
were  as  favourably  dealt  withal,  as  ever  the  tc-oZ/'was  when  he  came  with 
an  auricular  confession  of  his  murders  to  his  hroiher  fox  for  absolutio7i : 
but  the  former  found  as  hard  measure  as  ever  the  poor  ass,  that  had  only 
taken  a  stram^  by  mistake  out  of  a  pilgrim's  pad,  and  yet  upon  confession, 
was  by  Chancellour  Fox  pronounced  unpardonable.  This  observation 
extreamly  scandalized  Mr.  Lee/,  who  always  thought,  that  hearing  a  good 
sermon  had  been  a  lesser  fault  than  lying  iicith  one^s  neighbour''s  rvife  :  and 
had  the  same  resentments  that  Austin  sometimes  had  of  the  iniquity 
which  made  the  transgression  of  a  ceremony  more  severely  reprehended  than 
a  transgression  of  the  law  of  God ;  but  it  made  an  everlasting  impres- 
sion upon  his  heart,  when  the  judge  of  the  court  furiously  demanded  of 
one  then  to  be  censured,  How  he  durst  be  so  bold  as  to  break  the  laws  of 
the  church,  in  going  from  his  own  parish  to  hear  sermons  abroad  ?  And  the 
honest  man  answered,  .Sir,  how  should  I  get  faith  else?  For  the  apostle 
-mith,  Faith  comes  by  hearing  the  word  preached  ;  which  faith  is  necessary  to 
salvation  ;  and  hearing  the  word  is  the  means  appointed  by  God  for  the  ob- 
taining and  encreasing  of  it :  and  these  meaiis  I  must  use,  whatever  I  suffer 
for  it  in  this  world.  These  words  of  that  honest  man  were  blessed  by 
God  with  such  an  effect  upon  the  mind  of  Mr.  Leet,  that  he  presently 
left  his  office  in  the  Bishop's  Court,  and  forsaking  that  untoward  genera- 
tion of  men,  he  associated  himself  with  such  as  would  go  hear  the  word, 
that  they  might  get  faith  ;  and  in  hearing  he  did  happily  get  the  like  pre- 
cious faith.  On  this,  and  for  this,  he  was  exposed  unto  the  persecution, 
which  caused  him  to  retire  into  New-England  with  many  worthy  minis- 
ters and  other  christians,  in  the  year  1639.  In  that  country  he  settled 
himself  under  the  ministry  of  the  excellent  Mr.  Whitfield  at  Guilford, 
where  being  also  chosen  a  magristrate,  and  then  governour  of  the  colony  ; 
and  being  so  at  the  juncture  of  time,  when  the  Royal  Charter  did  join 
Connecticut  and  New-Haven,  he  became  next  unto  Governour  Winthrop, 
the  deputy-gnvernour  of  the  whole  ;  and  after  the  death  of  3Ir.  Winthrop, 
even  until  his  own  death,  the  annual  election  for  about  a  decad  of  years 
together,  still  made  him  governour.  But  in  his  whole  government  he  gave 
continual  demonstrations  of  an  excellent  spirit,  especially  in  that  part  of 
it  where  the  reconciliation  and  the  coalition  of  the  spirits  of  the  people 
under  it  was  to  be  occomplished.  Mr.  Robert  Treat  is  the  follower  of 
his  example,  as  well  as  the  successor  in  his  government. 


Book  II.]     OR,  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND:  Ui 


CHAPTER  XI. 

Hermes  Christianns.     The    Life    of   John  Winthrop,  Es^.    Governour 
of  CoNxVECTicuT  and  New-Haven   united. 

— Et  jYos  aliquod  Komenq  ;  Decnsq  ; 
Gessimus. — 

§  1.  If  the  historian  coukl  give  that  character  of  the  best  Roman  Em- 
peror, that  he  was  Bonus  a  Bono,  Pius  a  Pio,  the  son  ot  a  father  like  hitn- 
selfjOur  history  may  affirm  concerning  a  very  good  JVezn'- English  govern- 
our also,  that  he  was  the  father  of  a  son  like  himself.  The  proverb  of 
the  Jezi^s  which  doth  observe,  That  vinegar  is  the  son  of  zvine  ;  and  the 
proverb  of  the  Greeks,  which  doth  observe,  That  the  sons  of  heroes  arc 
trespassers,  has  been  more  than  once  contradicted  in  the  happy  experi- 
ence of  the  A'cw-AVig/anc/ej-s  :  but  none  of  the  least  remarkable  contra- 
dictions given  to  it  has  been  in  the  honourable  family  of  our  JVinthrops. 

§  2.  The   eldest  son    of  John  Winthrop,   Esq;  the  governour  of  one 
colony,  was  Jo/t?i  Winthrop,  Esq;  the  governour  of  another,  in,  therefore 
happy,  JS'exi)- England,  born  Feb.  12,  1605,  at  Groton  in  England.     His 
glad  father  bestowed  on  him  a  liberal  education  at  the  university,  tirstof 
Cambridge  in  England,  and  then  o'[  Dublin  in  Ireland ;  and  because  travel 
has  been  esteemed  no  little  accomplisher  of  a  i/om«o- o-eni/ema^,   he  then 
accomplished  himself  by  travelling  into  France,  Holland,  Flanders,  Italy, 
Germany,  and  as  far  as  Turky  it  self;  in  which  places  he  so  improved  his 
opportunity  of  conversing  with  all  sorts  of  learned  men,  that  he  return- 
ed home  equally  a  subject  of  much  experience,  and  of  great  expectation. 
•^  3.   The  son  of  Scipio  Africamis  proving  a  degenerate  person,   the 
people  forced  him  to  pluck  oil'  a  signet-ring,    which  he  wore   with   his 
father's  face  engraven  on  it.     But  the  son  of  our  celebrated  Governour 
Winthrop,  was  on  the  other  side  so  like  unto  his  excellent  father  for  early 
wisdom  and  virtue,  that  arriving  Ki  Xexv- England  with  his  father's  fami 
ly,  Nov.  4,  1631,  he  was,  though  not  above  twenty-three  years  of  age, 
by  the  unanimous  choice  of  the  people,  chosen  a  magistrate  of  the  colo- 
ny, whereof  his  father  was  the  governour.     For  this  colony  he  afterwards 
did  many  services,  yea,  and  he  did  them  abroad  as  well  as  at  home  ;  very 
particularly  in  the  year  1634,  when  returning  for  England,  he  was  by  bad 
weather  forced  into  Ireland,  where  being  invited  unto  the  house  of  Sir 
John  Cloixscorthy,  he  met  with  many  considerable  persons,  by  conferring 
with  whom,  the  affairs  of  Xew-England  were  not  a  little  promoted  ;  but 
it  was  another  colony  for  which  the  providence  of  heaven  intended  him 
to  be  such  another /ft?/ier,  as  his  own  honourable/fl/Zter  had  been  to  this. 
§  4.  In  the  year  1635,  Mr.  Winthrojj  returned  nn\.o  Kc-^-England,  with 
powers  from  the  Lord  Say  and  the  Lord  Brook,  to  settle  a  plantation  yp- 
on  the  Long  River  of  Connecticut,  and  a  commission  to  be  himself  the  ^ou- 
cr7iOMr  of  that  plantation.     But  inasmuch  as  many  good  people  of  the  Mas- 
sachuset-c\ony   had  just  before  this  taken  possession  of  land  for   a  nexv- 
colony  thereabouts,  this  courteous  and  peaceable  gentleman  gave  them 
no  molestation  ;  but  having  wisely  accommodated  the  matter  with  them. 
he  sent  a  convenient  number  of  men,  with  all  necessaries,  to  erect  a  forti 
fication  at  the  mouth  of  the  river,  where  a  torvn,  with  nfort,  is  now  dis 
tioguished  bv  the  name  of  Say-Brook  :  by  which  happy  action,  the  plan 


144  MAGNALIA  CHIUSTI  AMERICANA :  [Book  II, 

ters  further  up  the  river  hail  no  small  kindness  done  unto  them  ;  and  the 
hidians,  which  might  else  have  been  more  troublesome,  were  kept  in  awe. 

§  5.  The  sell-denying  gentleman,  who  had  imployed  his  commission 
of  governour  so  little  to  the  disadvantage  of  the  infant-colony  at  Connect- 
icut, was  himself,  e're  long,  by  election  made  governour  of  that  colony. 
And  upon  the  restoration  of  King  Charles  11.  he  willingly  undertook  an- 
other voyage  to  England,  on  the  behalf  of  the  people  under  his  govern- 
ment, whose  aflairs  he  managed  with  such  a  successful  prudence,  that  he 
obtained  a  royal  charter  for  them,  which  incorporated  the  colony  of  JVevj- 
Haven  with  them,  and  invested  both  colonies,  now  happily  united,  with  a 
firm  grant  of  priviledges,  beyond  those  of  the  plantations  which  had  been 
settled  before  them.  I  have  been  intbrmed,  that  while  he  was  engaged 
in  this  negotiation,  being  admitted  unto  a  private  conference  with  the 
King,  he  presented  his  majesty  with  a  ring,  which  King  Charles  I.  had 
upon  some  occasion  given  to  his  grandfather  ;  and  the  King  not  only  ac- 
cepted his  present,  but  also  declared,  that  he  accounted  it  one  of  his 
richest  jewels  ;  which  indeed  was  the  opinion  that  New-England  had  of 
the  hand  that  carried  it.  But  having  thus  laid  his  colony  under  everlast- 
ing obligations  of  gratitude,  they  did,  after  his  return  to  New-England, 
express  of  their  gratitude,  by  saying  to  him  as  the  Israelites  did  unto 
Gideon,  Rule  thou  over  us  for  thou  hast  delivered  us  ;  chusing /liwi  for  their 
govenwur  twice  seven  years  together. 

§  6.  When  the  governour  of  Athens  was  a  philosopher,  namely  Deme- 
trius, the  common- wealth  so  flourished,  that  no  less  than  three  hundred 
brazen  statues  were  afterward  by  the  thankful  people  erected  unto  his 
memory.  And  a  blessed  land  was  New-England,  when  there  was  over 
part  of  it  a  governour,  who  was  not  only  a  christian  and  a  gentleman,  but  also 
an  eminent  philosopher  :  for  indeed  the  government  of  the  stale  is  then 
most  successfully  managed,  when  the  measures  of  it  are,  by  a  xcise  observ- 
er, taken  from  the  government  of  the  world  ;  and  very  unreasonable  is 
the  JcKHsh  proverb,  Ne  Habites  in  nrbe  uhi  caput  urbis  est  Medicus  :  but 
highly  reasonable  the  sentence  of  Aristotle,  Ubi  prcesesfuerit  Phdosophus, 
ibi  Civitas  erit  Foclix  ;  and  this  the  rather  for  what  is  truly  noted  by  Thu- 
cydides,  Magistratus  est  Civitatis  Medicus.  Such  an  one  was  our  fVin- 
ihrop,  whose  genius  and  faculty  for  experimental  philosophy,  was  advan- 
ced in  his  travels  abroad,  by  his  acquaintance  with  many  learned  DiV^i/os/. 
One  effect  of  this  disposition  in  him,  was  his  being  furnished  with  noble 
medicines,  which  he  most  charitably  and  generously  gave  away  upon  all 
occasions  ;  insomuch  that  where-ever  he  came,  still  the  diseased  flocked 
about  him,  as  if  the  healing  angel  of  Bethesda  had  appeared  in  the  place; 
and  so  many  were  the  cures  which  he  wrought,  and  the  lives  that  he 
saved,  that  if  Scanderbeg  might  boast  of  his  having  slain  in  his  time 
two  thousand  men  with  his  own  hands,  this  worthy  person  might 
have  made  a  far  more  desirable  boast  of  his  having  in  his  time 
healed  more  than  so  many  thousands  ;  in  which  beneficence  to  man- 
kind, there  are  of  his  worthy  children,  who  to  this  day  do  follow  his  di- 
rection and  example.  But  it  was  not  unto  New-England  alone  that  the 
respects  of  this  accomplished  philosopher  were  confined.  For,  whereas 
in  pursuance  of  the  methods  begun  by  that  immortally  famous  advancer 
of  learning,  the  most  illustrious  Lord  Chancellor  Bacon,  a  select  compa- 
ny of  eminent  persons,  usuing  to  meet  in  the  lodgings  of  Dr.  Wilkins  of 
Wadhain  CoUedge  in  Oxford,  had  laid  the  foundation  of  a  celebrated  socie- 
ty, which  by  the  year  1G63,  being  incorporated  with  a  Royal  Charter,  hath 
since  been  among  the  glories  of  England,  yea.  and  of  mankind ;  and  their 


Book  II.]      OR,  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  I45 

design  was  to  make  faithful  records  of  all  the  works  of  nature  or  of  url, 
which  might  come  under  their  observation,  and  correct  what  had  been 
false,  restore  what  should  be  true,  preserve  what  should  be  rare,  and 
render  the  knowledge  of  the  world,  as  well  more  perfect  as  more  useful ; 
and  by  multiplied  experiments  both  of  light  and  fruit,  advance  the  em- 
pire of  man  over  the  whole  visible  creation  ;  it  was  the  honour  of  Mr. 
Winlhrop  to  be  a  member  of  this  Royal  Society.  And  accordingly  among 
the  philosophical  transactions  published  by  Mr.  Oldenbutgh,  there  are 
some  notable  communicatiuns  from  this  inquisitive  and  intelligent  person, 
whose  insight  into  many  parts  of  the  creation,  but  especially  of  the  rniiie- 
ral  kingdom,  was  beyond  what  had  been  attained  by  the  most  in  many 
parts  of  America. 

§  7.  If  one  would  therefore  desire  an  exact  picture  ©f  this  worthy 
man,  the  description  which  the  most  sober  and  solid  writers  of  the  great 
philosophick  work  do  give  of  those  persons,  who  alone  are  qualified  for 
the  smiles  of  heaven  upon  their  enterprizes,  would  have  exactly  fitted 
him.  He  was  a  studiius,  humb/e,  patient,  reserved  and  mortified  person, 
and  one  in  whom  the  love  of  God  vv'as  fervent,  the  love  of  man  sincere  : 
and  he  had  herewithal  a  certain  extension  of  soid,  which  disposed  him  to 
a  generous  behaviour  towards  those,  who  by  learning,  breeding  and  vir- 
tue, deserve  respects,  though  of  a  persvvasion  and  profession  in  religioa 
very  ditTerent  from  his  ozvn ;  which  was  that  of  a  reformed  Protestant, 
and  a  J^'ezv- English  Puritan.  In  sum,  he  was  not  more  an  adoptisl  in 
those  noble  and  secret  medicines,  which  would  reach  the  roots  of  the  dis- 
tempers that  annoy  humane  bodies,  and  procure  an  universal  rest  unto 
the  archaius  on  all  occasions  of  disturbance,  than  he  was  in  those  christian 
qualities,  which  appear  upon  the  cure  of  the  distempers  in  the  minds  of 
men,  by  the  effectual  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

§  8.  In  the  year  1643,  after  divers  essays  made  in  some  former  years 
the  several  colonies  of  JVen:- Engl  and  became  in  fact,  as  well  as  name, 
u^•ITED  coLOMES.  And  an  instrument  was  formed,  wherein  having  de- 
clared. That  zve  all  came  into  these  parts  of  America  xcith  the  same  end 
and  aim,  namely,  to  advance  the  glory  of  our  Lord  Jesiis  Christ,  and  enjoy 
the  liberties  of  the  gospel  m-i'h  purity  and,  peace,  it  was  firmly  agreed  be* 
tween  the  several  jurisdictions,  that  there  should  yearly  be  chosen  too 
commissioners  out  of  each,  who  should  meet  at  fit  places  appointed  for 
that  purpose,  with  full  powers  from  the  General  Courts  in  each,  to  con- 
cert and  conclude  matters  of  general  concernment  for  peace  or  Zk;ar  of  the 
several  colonies  thus  confederated.  In  pursuance  of  this  laudable  con- 
federacy, this  most  meritorious  ;^overnour  of  Connecticut  colony  accepted 
the  trouble  of  appearing  as  a  commissioner  for  that  colony,  with  the  res*: 
met  at  Boston,  in  the  year  1676,  when  the  calamities  of  the  Indian-war 
were  distressing  the  whole  country  :  b\it  here  fdling  sick  of  a  fever,  he 
dyed  on  April  5,  of  that  year,  and  was  honourably  interred  in  the  same 
tomb  with  his  honourable  father. 

§  9.  His  father,  as  long  ago  as  the  year  1643,  had  seen  cause  to  write 
unto  him  an  excellent  letter,  wherein  there  were  these  among  other 
passages. 

'  You  are  the  chief  of  two  families  ;  I  had  by  your  mother  three  sens 

*  and  three  daughters,  and  I  had  with  her  a  large  portion  of  outward  es- 

*  tate.     These  now  are  all  gone ;  mother  gone  ;  brethren  and  sisters 
'  gmie  ;  you  only  are  left  to  see  the  vanity  of  these  temporal  things,  and 

*  ieara  wisdom  thereby,  which  may  be  of  more  use  to  you,  through  the 
'  Lord's  blessing,  than  all  that  inheritance  which  might  h»ve  befallen  you  : 

Vol.  I.  19 


146 


MAGKALIA  CHRISTI  AMERICANA 


[Book  1L 


and  for  which  this  may  stay  and  qui&t  your  heart.  That  God  is  able  to 
give,  you  more  than  this ;  and  that  it  heing  spent  in  the  furtherance  of  his 
work,  which  hath  here  prospered  so  well,  through  his  power  hitherto, 
you  and  yours  may  certainly  expect  a  liberal  portion  in  the  prosperity  and 
blessing  thereof  hereafter  ;  and  the  rather,  because  it  was  t)0\  forced  from 
you  by  a  father's  power,  but  freely  resigned  by  your  self,  out  of  a  liv- 
ing and  filial  respect  unto  me,  and  your  own  readiness  unto  the  work 
it  self.  From  whence  as  I  do  often  take  occasion  to  bless  the  Lord  for 
you,  so  do  I  also  commend  you  and  yours  to  his  fatherly  blessing,  for  a 
plentiful  reward  to  be  rendred  unto  you.  And  doubt  not,  my  dear  son, 
but  let  your  faith  be  built  upon  his  promise  and  faithfulness,  that  as  he 
hath  carried  you  hitherto  through  many  perils,  and  provided  liberally  for 
you,  so  he  will  do  for  the  time  to  come,  and  u  ill  never  fail  you,  nor  forsake 

you. J\iy  son,  the  Lord  knozi-s  how  dear  thou  art  to  me,  and   that  my 

care  has  been  more  for  thee  than  for  my  self.  But  I  know  thy  pros- 
perity depends  not  on  my  care,  nor  on  thine  ott-n,  but  upon  the  blessing 
of  our  Heavenly  Father ;  neither  doth  it  on  the  things  of  this  world,  but 
on  the  light  of  God^s  countenance,  through  the  merit  and  mediation  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ.  It  is  that  only  which  can  give  us  peace  of  conscience 
with  conientation ;  which  can  as  w"ell  make  our  lives  happy  and  com- 
fortable in  a  mean  estate,  as  in  a  great  abundance.  But  if  you  weigh 
things  aright,  and  sum  up  all  the  turnings  of  divine  providence  together, 
yoa  shall  find  great  advantage. — The  Lord  hath  brought  us  to  a  good 
land ;  a  land,  where  we  enjoy  outward  peace  and  liberty,  and  above  all, 
the  blessings  of  the  gospel,  without  the  burden  of  impositions  in  matters 
of  religion.  Many  thousands  there  are  who  would  give  great  estates  to 
enjoy  our  condition.  Labour  therefore,  my  good  son,  to  increase  our 
than'kfidness  to  God  for  all  his  mercies  to  thee,  especially  for  that  he 
hath  revealed  his  everlasting  good-will  to  thee  in  Jesus  Christ,  and  join- 
ed thee  to  the  visible  body  of  his  church,  in  the  fellowship  of  his  peo- 
ple, and  hath  saved  thee  in  all  thy  travails  abroad,  from  being  infected 
with  the  fzces  of  these  countries  where  thou  hast  been,  (a  rnercy  vouch- 
safed but  unto  few  young  gentlemen  travellers.)  Let  him  have  the  ho- 
nour of  it  who  kept  thee.  He  it  was  who  gave  thee  favour  in  the  eyes 
of  all  with  whom  thou  hadst  to  do,  both  by  sea  and  land  ;  he  it  was  who 
saved  thee  in  all  perils  ;  and  he  it  is  who  hath  given  thee  a  gift  in  un- 
derstanding and  art ;  and  he  it  is  who  hath  provided  thee  a  blessing  in 
marriage,  a  comfortable  help,  and  many  sweet  children;  and  hath  hith 
erto  provided  liberally  for  you  all  :  and  therefore  I  would  have  you  to 
love  him  again,  and  serve  him,  and  trust  him  for  the  time  to  come.  Love 
and  prize  that  zc^ord  of  truth,  which  only  makes  known  to  you  the  pre- 
cious and  eternal  thoughts  and  councils  of  the  light  inaccessible.  Deny 
your  own  zfisdom,  that  you  may  find  his  ;  and  esteem  it  the  greatest 
honour  to  lye  under  the  simplicity  of  the  gospel  of  Christ  crucified, 
without  which  you  can  never  enter  into  the  secrets  of  his  tabernacle,  nor 
enjoy  those  sweet  things  which  Eye  hath  not  seen,  nor  ear  heard,  nor  can 
the  heart  of  man  conceive  ;  but  God  hath  granted  unto  some  few  to  know 
them  even  in  this  life.  Study  well,  my  son,  the  saying  of  the  apostle, 
Knozi-ledge puJJ'eth  up.  It  is  a  good  gift  of  God,  but  when  it  lifts  up  the 
n)ind  above  the  cross  of  Christ,  it  is  the  pride  of  life,  and  the  highw-ay 
to  apostacy,  wherein  many  men  of  great  learning  and  hopes  have  perish- 
ed.— In  all  the  exercise  of  your  gifts,  and  improvement  of  your  talents, 
have  an  eye  to  your  master's  end,  more  than  your  ozam ;  and  to  the  day 
of  your  account.,  that  you  may  then  have  your  Q^vAeius  est,  even,   Well 


Book  ll.j      OR,  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND. 


147 


*  dotie,  gooil  and  faithful  servant .'     But  my  last  and  chief  request  to  you, 

*  is,  that  you  be  cai-el'ul  to  have  your  children  brought  up  in  the  knowl- 
'  edge  and  fear  of  God,  and  in  the  faith  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.     This 

*  will  give  you  the  best  comfort  of  them,  and  keep  them  sure  from  any 
'■  zi'ant  or  miscarriage  :  and  when  you  part  from  them,  it  will  be  no  small 
'joy  to  3'our  soul,  that  you  s'.iall  meet  them  again  in  heaven!^ 

Doubtless,  the  reader  considers  the  historical  passages  in  this  extract 
of  the  letter  thus  recited.  Now,  but  by  making  this  reflection  upon  the 
rest,  that  as  the  prophetical  part  of  it  was  notably  fultilled  in  the  estate, 
whereto  the  good  providence  of  God  recovered  this  worthy  gentleman 
and  his  family,  so  the  monitory  part  of  it  was  most  exemplarily  attended 
in  his  holy  and  useful  conversation.  1  shall  therein  brielly  sum  up  the 
life  of  a  person  whom  we  shall  call  a  second  unto  none  of  our  worthies, 
but  as  we  call  him  o\iv  second  Winthrop. 

E  P  I  T  A  P  H  I  U  M. 

Abi  Viator  ; 

Et  Lvge  plvres  magist7-atns  in  Uno  periisse, 

Redi  Viator. 

JVon  Periit,  sed  ad  Coclestem  Societatem 

Regia  Mag  is  Regiam, 

Vere  Adeplus, 

Jibiit: 

WiN'THROPus,  JVon  minor  magnis  Majorihus. 


CHAPTER  XH. 

ASSISTENTS. 

Magistrates  of  Connecticut-colony ,  before  Kew-tiaveji  colony  was  ac- 
tually annexed  unto  it,  were,  (besides  the  two  alternately,  for  the  most 
part,  elected  governours,  Hopkins,  and  Hains.) 


Roger  Ludlow, 

1636. 

Henry  Woolcoi, 

1643. 

John  Steel, 

1636. 

George  Fenwick, 

1644. 

William  Phelps, 

1636. 

Cosmore. 

1647. 

William  Westzvood, 

1636. 

John  Howel, 

1647. 

Andrew  Ward, 

1636. 

John  Cullick, 

1648. 

Thomas  Wells, 

1637. 

Henry  Clark, 

1650. 

William  Swayn, 

1637. 

John  Winthrop,' 

1651. 

Matthew  Mitchel, 

1637. 

Thomas  Topping, 

1651. 

George  Hull, 

1637. 

John  Talcot, 

1654. 

Williariii  Whiting, 

1637. 

John  Ogden, 

16.56. 

John  Mason, 

1637. 

JVathan  Gold, 

1657. 

George  Willis, 

1639. 

Matthew  Allyn, 

1658. 

John  Webster, 

1639. 

Richard  Treat, 

1658. 

William  Ludlow, 

1640. 

Thomas  Baker, 

1658. 

William  Hopkim, 

1642, 

Mnlford, 

1668, 

i48 


MAGNALIA  CHRISTI  AMERICANA  :  [Book  II. 


Alexander  Knowles, 

1668. 

John  Allyn, 

1662 

John  Wells, 

I608. 

Daniel  Clark, 

1662 

Robert  Band, 

1659. 

Samuel  Sherman, 

1662 

Rayner, 

Ib6l. 

John  Young, 

1664 

Magistrates  of  New-Haven  colony,  before  Connecticut-coXoiiy  could  ac- 
complish its  coalition  therewith,  were,  (besides  the  governours  else- 
where mentioned.") 


Stephen  Goodyear, 

1637. 

Astwood, 

1653. 

Thomas  Grigson, 
Richard  Malbon, 

1637. 

Samuel  Eaton, 

1654 

1637. 

Benjamin  Fen, 

1654 

William  Leet, 

1637. 

Matthezi!  Gilbert, 

1638 

John  Desborough, 

1637. 

Jasper  Crane, 

1658 

Tapp, 

1637. 

Robert  Treat, 

1659 

William  Fowler, 

1637. 

William  Jones, 

1662 

Francis  Ne-u!;7nan, 

1663. 

Magistrates  after  the  two  colonies  were  content,  according  to   their 
charter,  to  become  oke,  were, 


John  Winthrop,  Gov. 

1665. 

James  Bishop, 

1668 

Joh7i  Mason, 

1665. 

Anthony  Hawkins, 

1668 

Matthew  Allyn, 

1665. 

Thomas  Wells, 

1668 

Samuel  Willys, 

1665. 

John  Nash, 

1672 

Nathan  Gold, 

1665. 

Robert  Treat, 

1673 

John  Talcot, 

1665. 

Thomas  Topping, 

1674 

Henry  Woolcoty 

1665. 

Matthew  Gilbert, 

1677 

John  Allyn, 

1665. 

Andrew  Leet, 

1678 

Samuel  Sherman, 

1665. 

John  Wadsworth, 

1679 

James  Richards, 

1665. 

Robert  Chapman, 

1681 

William  Leet, 

1665 

James  Fitch, 

1681 

William  Jones, 

1665. 

Samuel  Mason, 

1683 

Benjamin  Fen, 

1665. 

Benjamin  Newbury, 

1685 

Jasper  Crane, 

1665. 

Samuel  Talcot, 

1685 

Daniel  Clark, 

1666. 

Giles  Hamlin, 

1685 

Alexander  Bryans, 

1668. 

While  the  colonies  were  clusters  of  rich  grapes,  which  had  a  blessing 
in  them,  such  leaves  as  these  (which  is  in  the  proverbs  of  the  Jewish 
nation,  a  name  for  magistrates)  happily  defended  them  from  the  storms 
that  molest  the  world. 

Those  of  the  least  character  among  them,  yet  came  up  to  what  the 
Roman  commonwealth  required  in  their  magistrates. 

Populus  Romanus  delegit  Magistraius,  quasi  Reipublicai  Villicos,  in  qui- 
bus,  si  qua  prceterea  est  Ars,  facile  patitur  ;  sin  minus,  virtute  eorum  4" 
Jnnocentia  Contentus  est.     Cic.  Orat.  Pro  Plan. 


PIETAS  IN  PATRIAM 


LIFE 

OF  HIS  EXCELLENCY 

SIR  WILLIAM  PHIPS,  KNT. 

LATE  CAPTAIN    GENKRAL,    AND  GOV^ERNOUR  IN  CHIEF  OF   THE    PROVINCE  O* 

THE     MASSACHUSET-BAY,    NEW-ENGLAND. CONTAINING  THE    MEMORABLF. 

CHANGES  UNDERGONE,    AND  ACTIONS   PERFORMED  BY    HIM. 

WRITTEN  BY  ONE  INTIMATELY  ACQUAINTED  WITH  HIM. 

PUcite  Virtutem  ex  Hoc,  verumque  Lahorem. 


The  author  of  the  following  narrative,  is  a  person  of  such  well 
known  integrity,  prudence  and  veracity,  that  there  is  not  any  cause 
to  question  the  truth  of  what  he  here  relates.  And  moreover,  this 
writing  of  his  is  adorned  with  a  very  grateful  variety  of  learning, 
and  doth  contain  such  surprizing  workings  of  providence,  as  do 
well  deserve  due  notice  and  observation.  On  all  which  accounts, 
it  is  with  just  confidence  recommended  to  the  publick  by 

Natii.  Mather. 
John  Howe, 
Matth.  Mead. 
April  27,   1697. 


To  his  Excellency  the  Earl  of  Bellomont,  Baron  of  Coloony  in  Ireland, 
General  Governour  of  the  Province  of  Massachusets  in  New-England, 
and  the  Provinces  annexed. 

MAY  IT  PLEASE  YOUR  EXCELLENCY, 

The  station  in  which  the  hand  of  the  God  of  heaven  hath  disposed  his 
Majesty's  heart  to  place  your  honour,  doth  so  manifestly  entitle  your 
Lordship  to  this  ensuing  narrative,  that  its  being  thus  presented  to  your 
Excellency's  hand,  is  thereby  both  apologized  for  and  justified.  I  be- 
lieve, had  the  writer  of  it,  when  he  penned  it,  had  any  knowledge  of 
your  Excellency,  he  would  himself  have  done  it,  and  withal,  would  have 
amply  and  publickly  congratulated  the  people  of  jVcv:-Kn<il(ind,  on  ac 


150  MAGNALIA  CHRISTI  AMERICANA :  [Book  II. 

count  of  their  having  such  a  governour,  and  3'our  Excellency,  on  ac- 
count of  your  being  made  governour  over  them.  For  though  as  to 
some  other  things  it  may  possibly  be  a  place  to  some  persons  not 
so  desirable,  yet  I  believe  this  character  may  be  justly  given  of 
them,  that  they  are  the  best  people  under  heaven ;  there  being 
among  them,  not  only  less  of  open  profaneness,  and  less  of  lewd- 
ness, but  also  more  of  the  serious  profession,  practice,  and  power 
of  Christianity,  in  proportion  to  their  number,  than  is  among  any  other 
people  upon  the  face  of  the  whole  earth.  Not  but  I  doubt,  there  are 
many  bad  persons  among  them,  and  too  many  distempered  humours,  per- 
haps even  among  those  Avho  are  truly  good.  It  would  be  a  wonder  if  it 
should  be  otherwise  ;  for  it  hath  of  late  years,  on  various  accounts,  and 
some  very  singular  and  unusual  ones,  been  a  day  of  sore  temptation  with 
that  whole  people.  Nevertheless,  as  I  look  upon  it  as  a  favour  fi'om 
God  to  those  plantations,  that  he  hath  set  your  Excellency  over  them,  so 
I  do  account  it  a  favour  from  God  to  your  Excellency,  that  he  hath  com^ 
niitted  and  trusted  in  your  hand  so  great  a  part  of  his  peculiar  treasure 
and  precious  jewels,  as  are  among  that  people.  Besides,  that  on  other 
accounts  the  Lord  Jesus  hath  more  of  a  visible  interest  in  New-England, 
than  in  any  of  the  outgoings  of  the  English  nation  in  America.  They 
have  at  their  own  charge  not  only  set  up  schools  of  lower  learning  up 
and  down  the  country  ;  but  have  also  erected  an  University,  which  hath 
been  the  happy  nursery  of  many  useful,  learned,  and  excellently  accom- 
plished persons.  And  moreover,  from  them  hath  the  blessed  gospel 
been  preached  to  the  poor,  barbarous,  savage  heathen  there  ;  and  it  hath 
taken  such  root  among  them,  that  there  were  lately  four  and  twenty  as- 
semblies in  which  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus  was  constantly  called  on, 
and  celebrated  in  their  own  language.  In  these  things  New-England 
outshineth  all  the  colonies  of  the  English  in  those  goings  down  of  the 
sun.  I  know  your  Excellency  will  favour  and  countenance  their  Uni- 
versity, and  also  the  propagating  of  the  gospel  among  the  natives  ;  for 
the  interest  of  Christ  in  that  part  of  the  earth  is  much  concerned  in 
them.  That  the  God  of  the  spirits  of  all  flesh  would  abundantly  re- 
plenish your  Excellency  with  a  suitable  spirit  for  the  service  to  which  he 
hath  called  your  Lordship,  that  he  would  give  your  honour  a  prosperous 
voyage  thither,  and  when  there,  make  your  Excellency  a  rich  blessing 
to  that  people,  and  theoi  a  rejoicing  to  your  Excellency,  is  the  prayer  of, 

My  Lord, 

Your  Excellency'' s  most- 
Humble  servant, 

Natii.   Matheu. 
April  27,  1697. 


LIFE 


OF  nis  excellf:\cy 
SIR  WIILLIAiM  PHIPS,  KN'i 


^  1.  If  such  a  renowned  chymist,  as  (^uerceianus,  with  a  whole  tribe  of 
labourers  in  the.  fire,  since  that  learned  man,  find  it  no  easie  thing  to  make 
the  common  part  of  mankind  believe,  that  they  can  take  a  plant  in  its 
more  vigorous  consistence,  and  after  a  due  maceration,  fermentatuni  and 
separation,  extract  the  salt  of  that  plant,  which,  as  it  were,  in  a  chaos,  in- 
visibly reserves  the  form  of  the  whole,  with  its  vital  principle  ;  and, 
that  keeping  the  salt  in  a  glass  hermetically  sealed,  they  can,  by  f^pply- 
ing  a  soft  fire  to  the  glass,  make  the  vegetable  rise  by  little  and  little  out 
of  its  ashes,  to  surprize  the  spectators  with  a  notable  illustration  of  that 
resurrection,  in  the  fliith  whereof  the  Jen-s  returning  from  the  graves  of 
their  friends,  pluck  up  the  grass  from  the  earth,  using  those  words  of 
the  scripture  thereupon,  Ymtr  hones  shall  fiovrish  like  an  herb  :  'tis  likely, 
tliat  all  the  observations  of  such  writers,  as  the  incomparable  Borellus, 
will  find  it  hard  enough  to  produce  our  belief,  that  the  essential  salts  of 
ctnimals  may  be  so  prepared  and  preserved,  that  an  ingenious  man  may 
have  the  whole  ark  of  jVoah  w  his  own  study,  and  raise  the  line  shape  of 
an  animal  out  of  its  ashes  at  his  pleasure  :  and,  that  by  the  like  method 
from  the  essential  salts  of  humane  dust,  a  philosopher  may,  without  any 
criminal  necromancy,  call  up  the  shape  of  any  dead  ancestor  from  the 
tlust  whereinto  his  body  has  been  incinerated.  The  resurrection  of  the 
dead,  will  be  as  just,  as  great  an  article  of  our  creed,  although  the  rela- 
tions of  these  learned  men  should  pass  for  incredible  romances  :  but  yet 
there  is  an  anticipation  of  that  blessed  resurrection,  carrying  in  it  some 
resemblance  of  these  curiosities,  which  is  performed,  when  we  do  in  a 
book,  as  in  a  glass,  reserve  the  history  of  our  departed  friends  ;  and  by 
bringing  our  ti-a/v/i  affections  unto  such  an  history,  we  revive,  as  it  were, 
out  of  their  ashes,  the  true  shape  of  those  friends,  and  bring  to  a  fresh 
view,  what  was  memorable  and  imitable  in  them.  Now,  in  as  much  as 
7no7-talityhns  done  its  part  upon  a  considerable  person,  with  whom  I  had 
the  honour  to  be  well  acquainted,  and  a  person  as  memorable  for  the 
wonderful  changes  which  befel  him,  as  imitable  for  his  virtues  and  actio7is 
under  those  changes ;  I  shall  endeavour,  with  the  chymistry  of  an  impar- 
tial historian,  to  raise  my  friend  so  far  out  of  his  ashes,  as  to  shew  him 
again  unto  the  world  ;  and  if  the  character  of  heroick  virtue  be  for  a  man 
to  deserve  well  of  mankind,  and  he  great  in  the  purj>osc  and  success  of  es- 
says to  do  so,  I  may  venture  to  promise  my  reader  such  example  of  hero- 
ick virtue,  in  the  story  whereto  I  invite  him,  that  he  shall  say,  it  would 
have  been  little  short  of  avice  in  me,  to  have  withheld  it  from  him.  Nor 
is  it  any  partiality  for  the  memory  of  my  deceased  friend,  or  any  other 
sinister  design  whatsoever,  that  has  invited  me  to  this  undertaking  ;  but  I 


152  MAGNALIA  CHRIST!  AMERICANA  [Book  Ix 

have  undertaken  this  matter  from  a  sincere  desire,  that  the  ever-glorious 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  may  have  the  glory  of  his  pozccr  and  goodness,  and  of 
his  providence,  in  what  he  did  for  such  a  person,  and  in  what  he  disposed 
and  assisted  that  person  to  do  for  hira.  Now,  may  he  assist  my  writing, 
even  he  that  prepared  the  subject,  whereof  I  am  to  xa-rite  ! 

§  2.  So  ubscwe  was  the  original  of  that  memorable  person,  whose  ac- 
tions I  am  going  to  relate,  that  I  must,  in  a  way  of  writing,  like  that  of 
Plutarch,  prepare  ray  reader  for  the  intended  relation,  by  first  searching 
the  archives  of  antiquity  for  a  parallel.  Now,  because  we  will  not  parallel 
him  with  Eumenes.  who,  though  he  were  the  son  of  a  poor  carrier,  be- 
came a  governour  of  mighty  provinces  ;  nor  with  Mariim,  whose  mean 
parentage  did  not  hinder  his  becoming  a  glorious  defender  of  his  country, 
and  seven  times  the  chief  magistrate  of  the  chiefest  city  in  the  universe  : 
nor  with  Ijjhicrates,  who  became  a  successful  and  renowned  general 
of  a  great  people,  though  his  father  were  acobler:  nor  with  Dioclesian, 
the  son  of  a  poor  scrixaner  :  nor  with  Bonosus,  the  son  of  a  poor  sc/iuoZ- 
inaster,\s\\o  jet  came  to  sway  the  scepter  of  \.\\e  Ruman  empire:  nor, 
lastly,  will  I  compare  him  to  the  more  late  example  of  the  celebrated  Maz- 
arini,  who  though  no  gentleman  by  his  extraction,  and  one  so  sorrily  edu- 
cated, that  he  might  have  wrote  man  before  he  could  write  at  all  ;  yet 
ascended  unto  that  grandeur,  in  the  memory  of  many  yet  living,  as  to 
umpire  the  most  important  affairs  of  Christendom :  we  will  decline  look- 
ing any  farther  in  that  hemisphere  of  the  world,  and  make  the  hue  and 
cry  throughout  the  regions  of  America.,  the  New  World,  which  lie,  that 
is  becoming  the  subject  of  our  history,  by  his  nativity,  belonged  unto. 
And  in  Amrica,  the  tirst  that  meets  me,  is  Francisco  Pizarro,  who,  though 
a  spurious  offspring,  exposed  when  a  babe  in  a  church-porch,  at  a  sorry 
village  of  JVavarre,  and  afterwards  enfiployed  while  he  was  a  boy,  in 
keeping  of  cattel,  yet,  at  length,  stealing  into  America-  he  so  thrived 
upon  his  adventures  there,  that  upon  some  discoveries,  which  with  an 
handful  of  men  he  had  in  a  desperate  expedition  made  of  Peru,  he  obtain- 
ed the  King  of  Spain's  commission  for  the  conquest  of  it,  and  at  last  so 
incredibly  enriched  himself  by  the  conquest,  that  he  was  made  the  first 
Vice-roy  of  Perv,  and  created  Marquess  of  Anatilla. 

To  the  latter  and  highest  part  of  that  story,  if  any.  thing  hindred  his 
Excellency  Sir  William  Phips,  from  affording  of  a  parallel,  it  was  not  the 
want  either  of  design,  or  of  courage,  or  of  conduct  in  himselll  but  it  was 
the  fate  of  a  premature  mortcdity.  For  my  reader  now  being  satisfied, 
that  a  person's  being  obscure  in  his  original,  is  not  always  a  just  preju- 
dice to  an  expectation  of  considerable  matters  from  him  ;  I  shall  now  in- 
form him.  that  this  our  Phips  was  born  Feb.  2,  A.  D.  1630,  at  a  despicable 
plantation  on  the  river  of  Kennebeck,  and  almost  the  furthest  village  of 
the  eastern  settlement  of  .Yezi'-Englayid.  And  as  [he  father  of  that  man, 
which  was  as  great  a  blessing  as  Enghyid  had  in  the  age  of  that  man,  was 
a  smith,  so  a  gun-smith,  namely,  James  Phips,  once  of  Bristol,  had  the 
honour  of  being  the  father  to  him,  whom  we  shall  presently  see, 
made  by  the  God  of  Heaven  as  great  a  blessing  to  Neu-- England,  ns 
that  country  could  have  had,  if  they  themselves  had  pleased.  His 
fruitful  mother,  yet  living,  had  no  less  than  t-tvcnty-six  children,  whereof 
txicenty-one  were  sons  ;  but  equivalent  to  them  all  was  William,  one  of 
the  youngest,  whom  h'x'i  father  dying,  left  young  with  his  mother,  and  with 
her  he  lived,  keeping  of  sheep  in  the  tvilderness,  until  he  was  eighteen 
years  old  ;  at  which  time  he  began  to  feel  some  further  dipositions  of  mind 
from  that  providence  of  God  which  took  him  from  th"  xJicepfolds,  from  fnl- 


UooK  II.J       OR,  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  153 

lowing  the  ewes  great  tunth  yGung,  and  brought  him  to  feed  his  people.  Rea- 
der, enquire  no  farther  who  was  his.  father  i^  Thou  shall  anon  see,  that 
he  was,  as  the  Italians  express  it,  a  son  to  his  ozun  labours  ! 

§  3.  His  friends  earnestl}-  solicited  him  to  settle  among  them  in  a 
plantation  of  the  east ;  but  he  had  an  unaccountable  impulse  upon  his  mind, 
preswading  him  as  he  would  privately  hint  unto  some  of  them,  that  he 
was  born  to  greater  matters.  i  o  come  at  those  greater  matters,  his  first 
contrivance  was  to  bind  himself  an  apprentice  unto  a  slu'p  carpenter  for 
four  3'ears  ;  in  which  time  he  became  a  master  of  the  trade,  that  once 
in  a  vessel  of  more  than  foity  thousand  tuns,  repaired  the  ruins  of  the 
earth  ;  J\~oah's,  I  mean  ;  he  then  betook  himself  an  hundred  and  Miy  miles 
further  a  field,  even  to  Boston,  the  chief  town  of  JVezi)-England  ;  which 
being  a  place  of  the  most  business  and  resort  in  those  parts  of  the  world, 
he  expected  there  more  commodiously  to  pursue  the  Spes  Majorum  4* 
Meliorum,  hopes  which  had  inspired  him.  At  Boston,  where  it  was  that 
he  now  learned,  first  of  all  to  read  and  write,  he  followed  his  trade  for 
about  a  year  ;  and  by  a  laudable  deportment,  so  recommended  himself, 
that  he  married  a  young  gentlewoman  of  good  repute,  who  was  the  wid- 
ow of  one  Mr.  John  Hull,  a  well-bred  merchant,  but  the  daughter  of  one 
Captain  Roger  Spemer,  a  person  of  good  fashion,  who  having  suffered 
much  damage  in  his  estate,  by  some  unkind  and  unjust  actions,  which  he 
bore  with  such  patience,  that  for  fear  of  thereby  injuring  the  publick, 
he  would  not  seek  satisfaction,  posterity  might  afterward  sea  the  reward 
of  his  patience,  in  what  providence  hath  now  done  for  one  of  his  own 
posterity.  Within  a  little  while  after  his  marriage,  he  indented  with  sev- 
eral persons  in  Boston,  to  build  them  a  ship  at  Sheeps-coat  River,  two 
or  three  leagues  eastward  of  Kennebeck  ;  where  having  launched  the  ship, 
he  also  provided  a  lading  of  lumber  to  bring  with  him,  which  would 
have  been  to  the  advantage  of  all  concerned.  But  just  as  the  ship  wap 
hardly  finished,  the  barbarous  Indians  on  that  river,  broke  forth  into 
an  open  and  cruel  war  upon  the  English  ;  and  the  miserable  people,  sur- 
prized by  so  sudden  a  storm  of  blood,  had  no  refuge  from  the  infidels, 
but  the  ship  now  finishing  in  the  harbour.  Whereupon  he  left  his  in- 
tended lading  behind  him,  and  instead  thereof,  carried  with  him  his  old 
neighbours  and  their  families,  free  of  all  charges  to  Boston;  so  the  first 
action  that  he  did,  after  he  was  his  own  man,  was  to  save  his  father's 
house,  with  the  rest  of  the  neighbourhood,  from  ruin  ;  but  the  disap- 
pointment which  befel  him  from  the  loss  of  his  other  lading,  plunged  his 
affairs  into  greater  embarasments  with  such  as  had  employed  him. 

§  4.  But  he  was  hitherto  no  more  than  beginning  to  make  scaffolds  for 
further  and  higher  actions !  He  would  frequently  tell  the  gentlewoman 
his  wife,  that  he  should  yet  be  captain  of  a  King''s  ship  ;  that  he  should 
come  to  have  the  command  of  better  men  than  he  was  now  accounted  him- 
self; and,  that  he  should  be  owner  of  a  fair  brick-house  in  the  Green- 
lane  of  North-Boston;  and,  that,  it  may  be,  this  would  not  be  all  that 
the  providence  of  God  would  bring  him  to.  She  entertained  these  pas- 
sages with  a  sufficient  incredulity  ;  but  he  had  so  serious  and  positive  an 
expectation  of  them,  that  it  is  not  easie  to  say,  what  was  the  original 
thereof.  He  was  of  an  enterprizing  genius,  and  naturally  disdained  lit- 
tleness :  but  his  disposition  for  business  was  of  the  Dutch  mould,  where, 
with  a  little  shew  of  wit,  there  is  as  much  wisdom  demonstrated,  as  can 
be  shewn  by  any  nation.  His  talent  lay  not  in  the  airs  that  serve  chiefly 
for  the  pleasant  and  sudden  turns  of  conversation  :  but  he  might  say,  as 
Themistocles ^  Though  he  could  not  play  upon  a  fiddle^  yet  he  knew  hore:  tt> 
Vol.  I.  20 


154  MAGNALIA  CHRISTI  AMERICANA :  [Book  II. 

make  a  Utile  city  become  a  great  one.  He  would  prudent}])  contrive  a 
weighty  undertaking,  and  then  patiently  pursue  it  unto  the  end.  He 
was  of  an  inclination,  cutting  rather  like  a  hatchet,  than  like  a  razor ;  he 
would  propose  very  considerable  matters  to  himself,  and  then  so  cut 
through  them,  that  no  diiFiculties  could  put  by  the  edge  of  his  resolutions. 
Being  thus  of  the  true  temper,  for  doing  of  great  things,  he  betakes  him- 
self to  the  sea,  the  right  scene  for  such  things  ;  and  upon  advice  of  a 
Spanish  wreck  about  the  Bahumcis,  he  took  a  voyage  thither  ;  but  with 
little  more  success,  than  what  just  served  him  a  little  to  furnish  bim  for 
a  voyage  to  England;  whither  he  went  in  a  vessel,  not  much  unlike  that 
which  the  Dutchmen  stamped  on  their  j^rsi  com,  with  these  words  about 
it,  Inccrtum  quo  Fata  fcrant.  Having  lirst  informed  himself  that  there 
was  another  Spanish  u-reck,  wherein  was  lost  a  mighty  treasure,  hitherto 
undiscovered,  he  had  a  strong  impression  upon  his  mind  that  he  must  be 
the  discoverer ;  and  he  made  such  representations  of  his  design  at 
White-Hall,  that  by  Ihe  year  1683,  he  became  the  captain  of  «  King'^ 
ship,  and  arrived  at  JVezv-England  commander  of  the  Algier-Rose,  a  frig- 
ot  of  eighteen  guns,  and  ninety-live  men. 

§  6.  To  relate  all  the  dangers  through  which  he  passed,  both  by  sea 
and  land,  and  all  the  tiresome  trials  of  his  patience,  as  well  as  of  his 
courage,  while  j'ear  after  year  the  most  vexing  accidents  imaginable  de- 
layed the  success  of  his  design,  it  would  even  tire  the  patience  of  the 
reader  :  for  very  great  was  the  experiment  that  captain  Phips  made  of 
the  Italian  observation.  He  that  cannot  suffer  both  good  and  evil,  will  never 
come  to  any  great  preferment.  Wherefore  I  shall  supersede  all  journal 
of  his  voyages  to  and  fro,  with  reciting  one  instance  of  his  conduct,  that 
showed  him  to  be  a  person  of  no  contemptible  capacity.  While  he  was 
captain  of  the  Algier-Rose,  his  men  growing  weary  of  their  unsuccess- 
ful enterprize,  made  a  mutiny,  wherein  they  approached  him  on  the 
quarter-deck,  with  drawn  swords  in  their  h^nds,  and  re(iuired  him  to 
join  with  them  in  running  away  with  the  ship,  to  drive  a  trade  of  piracy 
on  the  South  Seas.  Captain  Phips,  though  he  had  not  so  much  of  a 
weapon  as  an  ox-goad,  or  ixjazc-bone  in  hi?  hands,  yet  like  another  57(a?»- 
gar  or  Samson,  with  a  most  undaunted  fortitude,  he  rushed  in  upon  them, 
and  with  the  blows  of  his  bare  hands,  felled  many  of  them,  and  quelled 
all  the  rest.  But  this  is  not  the  instance  which  I  intended  :  that  which 
I  intend  is,  that  (as  it  has  been  related  unto  me)  one  day  while  his  frigot 
lay  careening,  at  a  desolate  Spanish  island,  by  the  side  of  a  rock,  from 
wlience  they  had  laid  a  bridge  to  the  shear,  the  men,  whereof  he  had 
about  an  hundred,  went  all,  but  about  eight  or  ten,  to  divert  themselves, 
as  they  pretended,  in  the  woods:  where  they  all  entred  into  an  agree- 
ment, which  they  signed  in  a  ring,  That  about  seven  o'clock  that  eve- 
ning they  would  seize  the  captain,  and  those  eight  or  ten,  wliich  they 
knew  to  be  true  unto  him,  and  leave  them  to  perish  on  this  island,  and 
so  be  gone  away  unto  the  South  Sea  to  seek  their  fortune.  Will  tlie  read- 
er now  imagine,  that  Captain  Phips  having  advice  of  this  plot  but  about 
an  hour  and  half  before  it  was  to  be  put  in  execution,  yet  within  two 
hours  brought  ail  these  rogues  down  upon  their  knees  to  beg  for  their 
lives  ?  But  so  it  \vh<«  !  for  these  knaves  considering  that  they  should  want 
a  carpenter  with  them  in  their  villanous  expedition,  sent  a  messenger  to 
fetch  unto  them  the  carpenter,  who  was  then  at  work  upon  the  vessel  ; 
and  unto  him  they  shewed  their  articles;  telling  him  what  he  must  look 
for  if  he  did  not  subscribe  among  them.  The  carpenter  being  an  honest 
fellow,  did  with  much  importunity  prevail  for  one   half  hour's  time  to 


Book  II.]     OR,  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND:  155 

consider  of  the  matter  ;  and  returning  to  work  upon  the  vessel,  with  a 
spy  by  them  set  upon  him,  he  feigned  himself  taken  with  a  fit  of  the  chol- 
ick,  for  the  relief  whereof  he  suddenly  run  unto  the  captain  in  the  great 
cabbin  for  a  dram ;  where,  when  he  came,  his  business  was  only  in  brief, 
to  tell  the  captain  of  the  horrible  distress  which  he  was  fallen  into  ;  but 
the  captain  bid  him  as  briefly  return  to  the  rogues  in  the  luoods,  and  sign 
their  articles,  and  leave  him  to  provide  for  the  rest.  The  carpenier  was 
no  sooner  gone,  but  Captain  Phips  calhng  together  the  few  friends  (it 
may  be  seven  or  eight)  that  were  left  him  aboard,  whereof  the  gunner 
was  one,  demanded  of  them,  whether  they  would  stand  by  him  in  the 
extremity,  which  he  informed  them  was  now  come  upon  him  ;  whereto 
they  replied,  They  zsould  stand  by  him,  if  he  could  save  them;  and  he  an- 
swered, By  the  help  of  God  he  did  not  fear  it.  All  their  provisions  had  been 
carried  ashoar  to  a  tent,  made  for  that  purpose  there  ;  about  which  they 
had  placed  several  great  guns  to  defend  it,  in  case  of  any  assaidt  from 
Spaniards,  that  might  happen  to  come  that  way.  Wherefore  Captain 
Phips  immediately  ordered  those  guns  to  be  silently  drawned  and  turn- 
ed ;  and  so  pulling  up  the  bridge,  he  charged  his  great  guns  aboard, 
and  brought  them  to  bear  on  every  side  of  the  tent.  By  this  time  the 
army  of  rebels  comes  out  of  the  woods  ;  but  as  they  drew  near  to  the 
tent  of  provisions,  they  saw  such  a  change  of  circumstances,  that  they 
cried  out,  JVe  are  betrayed !  And  they  were  soon  confirmed  in  it,  wheu 
they  heard  the  captain  with  a  stern  fury  call  to  them,  Stavd  off,  ye 
wretches,  at  your  peril .'  He  quickly  saw  them  cast  into  a  more  than  or- 
dinary confusion,  when  they  saw  him  ready  to  fire  his  great  guns  upoa 
them,  if  they  offered  one  step  further  than  he  permitted  them  :  and 
when  he  had  signified  unto  them  his  7-esolveio  abandon  them  unto  all  the 
desolation  which  they  had  purposed  for  him,  he  caused  the  bridge  to  be 
again  laid,  and  his  men  begun  to  take  the  provisions  aboard.  When  the 
wretches  beheld  what  was  coming  upon  them,  they  fell  to  very  humble 
entreaties  ;  and  at  last  fell  down  upon  their  knees,  protesting.  That  they 
never  had  any  thing  against  him,  except  only  his  unwiUingness  to  go  away 
with  the  King's  ship  upon  the  South-Sea  design;  but  upon  all  other  accounts, 
they  woidd  chuse  rather  to  live  and  die  with  him,  than  with  any  man  in  the 
world  :  however,  since  they  saw  how  much  he  was  dissatisfied  at  it,  they 
would  insist  upon  it  no  mofe,  and  humbly  begged  his  pardon.  And  when 
he  judged  that  he  had  kept  them  on  their  knees  long  enough,  he  having 
first  secured  their  arms,  received  them  aboard  ;  but  he  immediately 
weighed  anchor,  and  arriving  at  Jamaica,  he  turned  them  off.  Now 
with  a  small  company  of  other  men  he  sailed  from  thence  to  Hispaniola, 
where  by  the  policy  of  his  address,  he  fished  out  of  a  very  old  Spaniard, 
(or  Portuguese)  a  little  advice  about  the  true  spot  where  lay  the  wreck 
which  he  had  been  hitherto  seeking,  as  unprosperoiisly,  as  the  chymists 
have  their  aurisick  stone  :  that  it  was  upon  a  reef  of  shocds,  a  few  leagues 
to  the  northward  of  Port  de  la  Plata,  upon  Hispaniola,  a  port  so  called, 
it  seems,  from  the  landing  of  some  of  the  shipwrecked  company,  with  a 
boat  full  of  plate,  saved  out  of  their  sinking  frigot :  nevertheless,  when 
he  had  searched  very  narrowly  the  spot,  whereof  the  old  Spaniard  had 
advised  him,  he  had  not  hitherto  exactly  lit  upon  it.  Such  thorns  did 
vex  his  affairs  while  he  was  in  the  Rose-frigot ;  but  none  of  all  these 
things  could  relund  the  edge  of  his  expectations  to  find  the  wreck ;  with 
such  expectations  he  returned  then  into  Ejigland,  that  he  might  there 
better  furnish  himself  to  prosecute  a  new  discovery;  for  though  he  judged 


156  MAGNALIA  CHRISTI  AMERICANA;  [Rook  II 

he  might,  by  proceeding  a  little  further,  have  come  at  the  right  spot^  yet 
he  found  his  present  company  too  ill  a  crew  to  be  confided  in. 

§  6.  So  inoper  was  his  behaviour,  that  the  best  noble  men  in  the  king- 
dom now  admitted  him  into  their  conversation  ;  but  yet  he  was  opposed 
by  powerful  enemies,  that  clogged  his  affairs  with  such  demurrages,  and 
tiUch  disappointments,  as  would  have  wholly  discouraged  his  designs,  if 
his  patience  had  not  been  invincible.  He  who  can  wait,  hath  what  he  de- 
iireth.  This  his  indefatigable  patience,  with  a  proportionable  diligence, 
at  length  overcame  the  dithculties  that  had  been  thrown  in  his  way  ;  and 
prevailing  with  the  Duke  of  Alhcmarle,  and  some  other  persons  of  quali- 
ty to  fit  him  out,  he  set  sail  for  the  fishing-ground,  which  had  been  so 
well  baited  half  an  hundred  years  before  :  and  as  he  had  already  discov- 
ered his  capacity  for  bnsitiess  in  many  considerable  actions,  he  now  added 
Tinto  those  discoveries,  by  not  only  providing  all,  but  also  by  inventing 
many  of  the  instruments  necessary  to  the  prosecution  of  his  intended 
fishery.  Captain  Phips  arriving  with  a  ship  and  a  tender  at  Port  de  la 
Plata,  made  a  stout  canoo  of  a  stately  cotton  tree,  so  large  as  to  carry  eight 
or  ten  oars,  for  the  making  of  which  periaga  (as  they  call  it)  he  did, 
with  the  same  industry  that  he  did  everv  thing  else,  employ  his  own  hand 
and  adse,  and  endure  no  little  hardship,  lying  abroad  in  the  woods  many 
nights  together.  This  periaga,  with  the  tender,  being  anchored  at  a 
place  convenient,  the  periaga  kept  busking  to  and  again,  but  could  only 
discover  a  reef  of  rising  shoals  thereabouts,  called,  The  Boilers,  Avhich 
rising  to  be  within  tv»'o  or  three  foot  of  the  surface  of  the  sea,  were  yet 
so  steep,  that  a  ship  striking  on  them,  would  immediately  sink  down, 
who  could  say,  how  many  fathom  into  the  ocean  ?  Here  they  could  get 
no  other  pay  for  their  long  peeping  among  the  boilers,  but  only  such  as 
caused  them  to  think  upon  returning  to  their  captain  with  the  bad  news 
of  their  total  disappointment.  Nevertheless,  as  they  were  upon  the  re- 
turn, one  of  the  men  looking  over  the  side  of  the  periaga,  into  the  calm 
water,  he  spied  a  sea  feather,  growing,  as  he  judged,  out  of  a  rock  ; 
whereupon  they  bad  one  of  their  Indians  to  dive  and  fetch  this  feathery 
that  they  might  however  carry  home  something  with  them,  and  make,  at 
least,  as  fair  a  triumph  as  Caligvlah.  The  diver  bringing  up  the /ea^/ier, 
brought  therewithal  a  surprizing  story,  tlint  he  perceived  a  number  of 
great  guns  in  the  zcatry  world  where  he  had  found  his  feather  ;  the  report 
of  which,  great  guns  exceedingly  astonished  the  whole  company  ;  and  at 
once  turned  their  despondencies  for  their  ill  success  into  assurances,  that 
they  had  now  lit  upon  the  true  spot  of  ground  which  they  had  been  look- 
ing for  ;  and  they  v/ere  further  confirmed  in  these  assurances,  when  upon 
further  diving,  the  Indian  fetcht  up  a  sow,  as  they  stiled  it,  or  a  lump 
of  silver,  worth  perhaps  two  or  three  hundred  pounds.  Upon  this  they 
prudently  buoyed  the  place,  that  they  might  readily  find  it  again  ;  and 
they  ^vent  back  unto  their  captain  whom  for  some  while  they  distressed 
with  nothing  but  such  bad  nezDS,  as  they  formerly  thought  they  must 
have  carried  him  :  nevertheless,  they  so  slipt  in  the  sow  of  silver  on 
one  side  under  the  table,  where  they  were  now  sitting  with  the  captain, 
and  hearing  him  express  his  resolutions  to  wait  still  patiently  upon  the 
providence  of  God  under  these  disappointments,  that  when  he  should 
look  on  one  side,  he  might  see  ih;\t  odd  thing  before  him.  At  last  he  saw 
it ;  seeing  it,  he  cried  out  with  some  agony,  PVhy  F  what  is  this?  whence 
comes  this  ?  And  then,  with  chaiiged  countenances,  they  told  him  how, 
and  ti'A.cre  they  got  it :  TAcn,  said  he,  thanks  beta  God!  wc  are  made ; 
and  so  away  they  veent,  all  hand"  to  work  :  wherein  they  hf«d  this  one 


DooK  11.]       OR,  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  i:.7 

further  piece  of  remarkable  prosperity,  that  whereas  if  they  had  first 
fallen  upon  that  part  of  the  Spanish  wreck,  where  the  pieces  of  eight  had 
heen  stowed  in  bags  among  the  ballast,  they  had  seen  a  more  laborious, 
and  less  enriching  time  of  it  :  now,  most  happily,  they  fir<t  fell  upon 
that  room  in  the  wreck  where  the  bullion  had  been  stored  up  ;  and  they 
so  prospered  in  this  new  fishery,  that  in  a  little  uhile  they  had,  without 
the  loss  of  any  man's  life,  brought  up  thirty-two  tuns  of  silver  ;  for  it  was 
now  come  to  measuring  of  silver  by  tuns.  Besides  which,  one  Adderly 
of  Providence,  who  had  formerly  been  ver}'^  helpful  to  Captain  Fhips  in 
the  search  of  this  wreck,  did  upon  former  agreement  meet  him  now  with 
a  little  vessel  here  ;  and  he,  with  his  few  hands,  took  up  .ibout  six  tuns  of 
silver  ;  whereof  nevertheless  he  made  so  little  use,  that  in  a  year  or 
two  he  died  at  Bermudas,  and  as  I  have  heard,  he  ran  distracted  some 
while  betbre  he  died.  Thus  did  there  once  again  comn  into  the  light  of 
the  sun,  a  treasure  which  had  been  half  au  hundred  years  groa^iing  un- 
der the  waters:  and  in  this  time  there  was  grown  upon  the  plate  a  crust 
like  limestone,  to  the  thickness  of  several  inches  ;  Avhich  crust  being  bro- 
ken open  by  irons  contrived  for  that  purpose^  they  knocked  out  whole 
bushels  of  rusty  pieces  of  eight  which  were  grown  thereinto.  I3esides 
that  incredible  treasure  of  plate  in  various  forms,  thus  fetched  up,  from 
seveTi  or  eight  fathom  under  water,  there  were  vast  riches  of  gold,  and 
pearls,  and  jen^els,  which  they  also  lit  upon  ;  and  indeed,  for  a  more  com- 
prehensive invoice,  I  must  but  summarily  say.  Ml  that  a  S\)7ini'h  fn'got 
■uses  to  i!c  enriched  withal.  Thus  did  they  continue  j^s/ii*^^;  till  their  pro- 
visions failing  them,  'twas  time  to  be  gone  ;  but  before  they  went.  Cap- 
tain Piiips  caused  Adderly  and  his  folk  to  swear,  that  they  would  none 
of  them  discover  the  place  of  the  wreck,  or  come  to  the  place  any  more 
till  the  next  year,  when  he  expected  again  lo  be  there  himself  And  it 
was  also  remarkable,  that  tliough  the  sows  came  up  still  so  fast,  that  on 
the  very  last  day  of  their  being  there,  they  took  up  twenty,  yet  it  was  af- 
terwards found,  that  they  had  in  a  manner  wholly  cleared  that  room  of 
the  ship  where  those  massy  things  were  stowed. 

But  there  was  one  extraordinary  distress  which  Captain  Pliips  now^ 
found  himself  plunged  into  :  for  his  men  were  come  out  with  him  upon 
seamens'  wages,  at  so  much  per  month  ;  and  when  they  saw  such  vast  lit- 
ters of  silver  sows  and  pigs,  as  they  call  them,  come  on  board  them  at  the 
captain's  call,  they  knew  not  how  to  bear  it,  that  they  should  not  share 
all  among  themselves,  and  be  gone  to  lead  a  short  life  arid  a  merry,  in  a 
idimate  where  the  arrest  of  those  that  had  hired  them  should  not  reach 
them.  In  this  terrible  distress  he  made  his  vows  unto  Almighty  God,  (bat 
if  the  Lord  would  carry  him  safe  home  to  England  with  what  he  had  now 
given  him,  to  suck  of  the  abundance  of  the  seas,  and  of  the  treasures  hid  i.7i 
the  sands,  he  would  for  ever  devote  himself  unto  the  interests  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  and  of  his  people,  especially  in  the  country  which  he  did  him 
self  originally  belong  unto.  And  he  then  used  all  the  obliging  ai-ts  ima- 
ginable to  make  his  men  true  unto  him.^  especially  by  assuring  them,  that 
besides  their  wages,  they  should  have  ample  requitals  made  unto  them  ; 
which  if  the  rest  of  his  employers  would  not  agree  unto,  he  would  him- 
self distribute  his  own  share  among  them.  Relying  upon  the  word  of  one 
whom  they  had  ever  found  worthy  of  their  love,  and  of  their  trust,  they 
declared  themselves  content :  but  still  keeping  a  most  careful  eye  upon 
them,  he  hastened  back  for  England  with  as  much  money  as  he  thought 
he  could  then  safely  trust  his  vessel  withal  ;  not  counting  it  safe  to  sup- 
ply himself  with  necessary  provieipns  at  any  nearer  port,  and  «o  return 


158  MAGNALIA  CHRISTI  AMERICANA :  [Book  11. 

unto  the  -otrecfc,  by  which  delays  he  wisely  feared  lest  all  might  be  lost, 
more  ways  than  one.  'Jhough  he  also  left  so  much  behind  him,  that 
many  from  divers  parts  made  very  considerable  voyages  of  gl€ani7igs 
after  his  harvest:  which  came  to  pass  by  certain  Btrmudiuns,  compel- 
ling of  Adderly's  boy,  whom  they  spirited  away  with  them,  to  tell  them 
the  exact  place  where  the  ttrfct  was  to  be  found.  Captain  Pliips  now 
coming  up  to  London  in  the  year  1687,  with  near  three  hundred  thousand 
pounds  sterling  aboard  him,  did  acquit  himself  with  such  an  exemplary 
honesty,  that  partly  by  his  fulfilling  his  assurances  to  the  seamen,  and 
partly  by  his  exact  and  punctual  care  to  have  his  employers  defrauded 
of  nothing  that  might  conscienciously  belong  unto  them,  he  had  l.ess  than 
sixteen  thousand  ponnds  left  unto  himself;  as  an  acknowledgment  of  which 
honesty  in  him,  the  Duke  of  Albemarle  made  unto  his  wife,  whom  he  never 
saw,  a  present  of  a  golden  cup^  near  a  thousand  pound  in  value.  The 
character  of  an  honest  man  he  had  so  merited  in  the  whole  course  of  his 
life,  and  especially  in  this  last  act  of  it,  that  this  in  conjunction  with  his 
other  serviceable  qualities,  procured  him  the  favours  of  the  greatest  per- 
sons in  the  nation  ;  and  he  that  had  been  so  diligent  in  his  business,  must 
norc  stand  before  Kings,  and  not  stand  before  mean  men.  There  were  in- 
deed certain  mean  men,  if  base,  little,  dirty  tricks,  will  entitle  men  to 
meanness,  who  urged  tiie  King  to  seize  his  m-hole  cargo,  instead  of  the 
tenths,  upon  his  first  arrival ;  on  this  pretence,  that  he  had  not  been  right- 
ly informed  of  the  true  state  of  the  case,  when  he  granted  the  patent,  under 
the  protection  whereof  these  paW/czt/ar  men  had  made  themselves  masters 
of  all  this  mighty  treasure  ;  but  the  King  replied,  that  he  had  been  right- 
ly informed  by  Captain  Phips  of  the  wliole  matter,  as  it  now  proved  ;  and 
that  it  was  the  slanders  of  one  then  present,  which  had,  unto  his  damage, 
hmdred  him  from  hearkning  to  the  inl'ormation  :  wherefore  he  would 
give  them,  he  said,  no  disturbance  ;  they  might  keep  what  they  had  got  : 
but  Captain  Phips,  he  saw,  was  a  person  of  that  honesty,  tidelit}'  and  abili- 
ty, that  he  should  not  want  his  countenance.  Accordingly  the  King,  in 
consideration  of  the  service  done  by  him,  in  bringing  such  a  treasure  in- 
to the  nation,  conferred  upon  him  the  honour  of  knighthood ;  and  if  we 
now  reckon  him,  a  knight  of  the  golden  fleece,  the  stile  might  pretend  unto 
some  circumstances  that  would  justifie  it.  Or  call  him,  if  you  please^ 
the  knight  of  honesty ;  for  it  was  honesty  with  industry  that  raised  him  ; 
and  he  became  a  mighty  river,  without  the  running  in  of  muddy  water  to 
make  him  so.  Reader,  now  make  a  pause,  and  behold  one  raised  by  God  ! 
§  7.  1  am  willing  to  employ  the  testimonies  of  others,  as  much  as  may 
be,  to  support  the  credit  of  my  history  :  and  therefore,  as  I  have  hither- 
to related  no  more  than  what  there  are  others  enongh  to  avouch  ; 
thus  1  shall  chuse  the  words  of  an  ingenious  person  printed  at  London 
some  years  ago,  to  express  the  sum  of  what  remains,  whose  words  are 
these  ;  'It  has  always  been  Sir  IVilliam  Phips'  disposition  to  seek  the 
'  ZL-calih  of  his  people  with  as  great  zeal  and  unweariedness,  as  our  puhli- 
'  cans  use  to  seek  their  loss  and  ruin.     At  first  it  seems  they  were  in  hopes 

■  to  gain  this  gentleman  to  their  party,  as  thinking  him  good  natured  and 

•  easie  to  be  flattered  out  of  his  understanding  ;  and  the  more,  because 
■'  they  had  tlie  advantage  of  some,  no  very  good,  treatment  that  Sir  Wil- 
liam had  formerly  met  with  from  the  people  and  government  o{ Neu--Eng- 

•  land.     But  Sir  Willinm  soon  shewed  them,   that  what  they  expected 

■  would  be  liis  temptation  to  lead  them  into  their  little  tricks,  be  emljraced 
'  as  a  glorious  opportunity  to  shew  his  generosity  and  greatness  of  mind; 
'  for  in  imitation  of  ihe  greatest  worthies  that  have  ever  been,  he  rather 


Book  II.]      OR,  THE  HISTORY  Oi^  >;EW-ENGLAND.  159 

'  chose  to  join  in  the  defence  of  his  country,  with  sonae  persons  who 
'  formerly  were  none  of  his  friends,  than  become  the  head  of  a  faction, 
'  to  its  ruin  and  desolation.  It  seems  this  nobie  disposition  of  bir  f'Vil- 
'  Ham,  joined  with  that  capacity  and  good  success  wherewitli  he  hath 
'  been  attended,  in  raising  himself  by  such  an  occasion,  as  it  may  be,  all 
'  things  considered,  has  -never  happened  to  any  before  liim,  makes  these  men 

*  apprehensive  ; — and  it  must  needs  heighten  their  trouble  to  see,  that 
'  he  neither  hath,  nor  doth  spare  himself,  nor  any  thing  that  is  near  and 

•  dear  unto  him,  in  promoting  the  good  of  his  native  country. 

When  Sir  V/illiain  Phips  was  per  ardua  4'  aspera,  thus  raised  into  an 
higher  orb,  it  tfjight  easily  be  thought  thar  he  could  not  be  without  charm- 
ing temptations  to  take  the  ziaij  on  the  left  hand.  But  as  the  grace  of  God 
kept  him  in  the  midst  of  none  of  the  strictest  company,  unto  which  his 
afiairs  daily  led  him,  from  abandoning  himself  to  the  lewd  vices  of  gam- 
ing, drinking,  sixearing,  and  zichoring,  which  the  m&n  that  made  England  to 
sin,  debauched  so  many  of  the  gentry  into,  and  he  deserved  the  salutations 
of  the  Roman  poet : 

Cmot  Tu,  inter  scabiem  tantam,  4'  Contagia  Lucri, 
Nil parvum  sapjias,  4'  cidhuc  Sublimia  cures. 

Thus  he  w'as  worthy  to  pass  among  the  instances  of  heroick  verfne  for 
that  humilily  that  still  adorned  him  :  he  was  raised,  and  though  he  pru- 
dently accommodated  himself  to  the  qiialiiy  whereto  he  was  now  raised, 
yet  none  could  perceive  him  to  be  lifted  up.  Or,  if  this  were  not  hero- 
ick, yet  I  will  relate  one  thing  more  of  him  that  must  certainly  be  ac- 
counted so.  He  had  in  his  own  country  of  Nen'- England,  met  with 
provocations  that  were  enough  to  have  alienated  any  man  living,  that  had 
no  more  than  flesh  and  blood  in  him,  from  the  service  of  it  ;  and  some 
that  were  enemies  to  that  country,  now  lay  hard  at  him  to  join  with  them 
in  their  endeavours  to  ravish  away  their  ancient  liberties.  But  this  gen- 
tleman  had  studied  another  way  to  revenge  himself  upon  his  country,  and 
that  was  to  serve  it  in  all  its  interests,  with  all  of  his,  even  with  his  estate, 
his  tim£,  his  care,  his  friends,  and  his  very  life  !  The  old  heathen  virtue 
of  PiETAS  i.v  PATRiAM,  OT,  Lovc  to  ouss  coinitry ,  he  turned  into  christian  ; 
and  so  notably  exemplitied  it,  in  all  the  rest  of  his  life,  that  it  will  be  an 
essential  thread  which  is  to  be  now  interwoven  into  all  that  remains  of 
his  history,  and  his  character.  Accordingly  though  he  had  the  oQ'ers  of  a 
very  gainful  place  among  the  commissioners  of  the  navy,  u'ith  many  other 
invitations  to  settle  himself  in  England,  nothing  but  a  return  to  New- 
England  would  content  him.  And  whereas  the  charters  of  Nezu-Eng- 
Icnd  being  taken  away,  there  was  a  governour  imposed  upon  the  territo- 
ries with  a?  arbitrary  and  as  treasonable  a  commission,  perhaps,  as  ever 
was  heard  of;  a  commission,  by  which  the  governour,  with  three  or  four 
more,  none  of  whom  were  chosen  by  the  people,  had  power  to  make 
what  laws  iht-y  would,  and  levy  taxes,  according  to  their  own  humours, 
upon  the  people  ;  and  he  himself  had  power  to  send  the  best  men  in  the 
land  more  than  ten  thousand  miles  out  of  it,  as  he  pleased  :  and  in  the 
execution  of  his  power,  the  country  was  every  day  suffering  intolle- 
rable  invasions  upon  iheir  proprieties,  yea,  and  the  lives  of  the  best  men 
in  the  territory  began  to  be  practised  upon  :  Sir  William  Phips  applied 
himself  to  consider  what  was  the  most  significant  thing  that  could  be 
done  by  him  far  that  poor  people  in  their  present  circumstances.  In- 
deed, when   King  James  offered,   as  he  did,  unto  Sir   William  Phips  an 


IbU  MAGNALIA  CHRISTI  AMERICAMA  ;  Book  li 

opportunity  to  ask  what  he  plased  of  him,  Sir  William  generously  prayed 
for  nothing  but  this,  That  ISiew- England  might  have  its  lost  priviledges  re- 
stored. The  King  then  replied,  Arty  thing  bvt  that !  Whereupon  he  set 
himself  to  consider  what  was  the  next  thing  that  he  might  ask  for  the  ser- 
vice, not  of  himself,  hut  of  his  conntri/.  The  result  of  his  considera- 
tion was,  that  by  petition  to  the  King,  he  obtained,  with  expence  of  some 
hundreds  of  guineas,  a  Patent,  which  constituted  him  the  high  sheriff  of 
'hat  country  ;  hoping,  by  his  deputies  in  that  oflice,  to  supply  the  country 
still  with  consciencious  juries,  which  was  the  only  method  that  the  Ack- 
Englanders  had  left  them  to  secure  any  thing  that  was  dear  unto  them. 
Furnished  with  this  ;5o<e//<,  after  he  had,  in  company  with  Sir  John  JVarbo- 
rough,  made  a  second  visit  unto  the  -wreck,  (not  so  advantageous  as  the 
former  for  a  reason  already  mentioned)  in  his  way  he  returned  unto 
Kew-England  in  the  summer  of  the  year  1688,  able,  after  tive  years  ab- 
sence, to  entertain  his  lady  with  some  accomplishment  of  his  predictions  ; 
and  then  built  himself  a /ajV  brick  house  in  the  very  place  which  we  fore- 
told, the  reader  can  tell  how  many  sections  ago.  But  the  infamous  gov- 
ernment  then  rampant  there,  found  a  way  wholly  to  put  by  the  execution 
of  this  patent ;  yea,  he  was  like  to  have  had  his  person  assassinated  in  the 
face  of  the  sun,  before  his  own  door,  which  with  some  further  de- 
signs then  in  his  mind  caused  him  within  a  few  weeks  to  take  another 
voyage  for  England. 

§  8.  It  would  require  a  long  summer's  day  to  relate  the  miseries 
which  v.ere  come,  and  coming  in  upon  poor  J\'ew-England,  by  reason  of 
the  arbitrary  government  then  imposed  on  them  ;  a  government  wherein, 
as  old  Wendover  says  of  the  time,  when  strangers  were  domineering  over 
subjects  in  England,  Judicia  committcbantur  Injustis,  Leges  Exlegibus,  Pax 
Discordantibus,  Justitia  Injiiriosis ;  and  foxes  were  made  the  administra- 
tors of  justice  to  the poidtrey  ;  yet  some  abridgment  of  them  is  necessary 
for  the  better  understanding  of  the  matters  yet  before  us.  Now  to  make 
this  abridgment  impartial,  I  shall  only  have  recourse  unto  a  little  book, 
printed  at  London,  under  the  title  of  The  Revolution  of  New-England 
.Justified  ;  wherein  we  have  a  narrative  of  the  grievances  under  the  male 
administrations  of  that  government,  written  and  signed  by  the  chief 
gentlemen  of  the  governours''s  council ;  together  with  the  sworn  testimo- 
nies of  many  good  men,  to  prove  the  several  articles  of  the  declaration , 
which  the  jyezc-Englanders  published  against  their  oppressors.  It  is  ii; 
that  book  demonstrated. 

That  the  governour  neglecting  the  greater  number  of  his  council,  did 
adhere  pricipally  to  the  advice  of  a  few  slrangers,  who  were  persons 
without  any  interest  in  the  country,  but  of  declared  prejudice  against  it, 
and  had  plainly  laid  their  designs  to  make  an  unreaouable  pi'ofit  of  the 
poor  people  :  and  four  or  five  persons  had  the  absolute  rule  ov  er  a 
tenitory.  the  most  considei  able  of  any  belonging  to  the  crotvn. 

That  whenlaws  were  proposed  in  the  council,  though  the  major  part  at 
any  time  dissented  from  them,  yet  if  the  governour  were  positive,  there 
was  no  fiir  counting  the  number  of  councellors  consenting,  or  dissenting, 
but  the  laws  were  immediately  engrossed,  published  and  executed. 

That  this  Ju7rto  made  a  lazo,  which  prohibited  the  inhabitants  of  any 
toji^n  to  meet  about  their  toxsm-affairs  above  once  in  a  year  ;  for  fear,  you 
must  note,  of  their  having  any  opportunity  to  complain  of  grievances. 

That  they  made  another /aw,  requiring  all  masters  of  vessels,  even  shal- 
lops and  wood-boats,  to  give  security,  that  no  man  should  be  transported  in 
them,  except  his  name  had  been  so  many  days  posted  up  :  whereby  the 


Book  II.]      OR,  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEVV-ENGLAInD.  it;! 

pockets  of  a  few  leechcx  had  been  filled  withyees,  but  the  whole  trade  of 
the  country  destroyed  ;  and  all  attempts  to  obtain  a  redress  of  thctet- 
things  obstructed  ;  and  when  this  net  had  been  strenuously  opposed  iu 
council  at  Boston,  they  carried  it  as  far  as  A''€Xi:-York,  where  a  crew  oi 
them  enacted  it. 

That  without  any  asscmhly,  they  levied  on  the  people  a  penny  in  the 
pound  of  all  their  estates,  and  twenty-pence  per  head,  i\s pot/.- money,  with  ' 
a  penny  in  the   pound  for  goods  imported,  besides  a  vast  excise  on  wine,, 
rum,  and  other  liguors. 

That  when  among  the  inhabitants  of  Ipsn^kh,  some  of  the  principal 
persons  modestly  gave  reasons  why  they  could  not  chuse  a  commissioner 
to  tax  ihe  town,  until  the  King  should  tirst  be  petitioned  for  the  liberty  of 
an  assemblji,  they  were  committed  unto  goal  for  it,  as  an  high  misdemean- 
ovr,  and  were  denied  an  habeas  corpus,  and  were  dragged  many  miles  out 
of  their  own  county  to  answer  it  at  a  court  in  Boston  ;  where  jwrors  were 
pickt  for  the  turn,  that  were  not  freeholders,  nay,  that  were  meer  sn- 
journers ;  and  when  the  prisoners  pleaded  the  priviledges  of  Englishmen^ 
That  they  should  not  be  taxed  xtoithont  their  ozan  consent ;  they  were  told, 
That  those  things  zmoidd  not  follow  them  to  the  ends  of  the  earth;  as  it  had 
been  before  told  them  in  open  council,  no  one  in  the  council  contradicting 
it,  You  have  no  more  priviledges  left  you,  but  this,  that  you  are  not  bought  and 
ioldfor  slaves  :  and  in  tine,  they  were  all  fined  severely,  and  laid  under 
great  bonds  for  their  good  behaviour  ;  besides  all  which,  the  hungry  qffi- 
r-ers  extorted/ees  from  them  that  amounted  unto  an  hundred  and  three- 
score pounds  ;  whereas  in  England,  upon  the  like  prosecution,  iheyees 
would  not  have  been  ten  pounds  in  all.  After  v.'hich  lashion  the  towns- 
men of  many  other  places  were  also  served. 

That  these  men  giving  out,  that  the  charters  being  lost,  all  the  title  that 
the  people  had  unto  their  lands  was  lost  with  them  ;  they  began  to  com 
pel  the  people  every  where  to  take  patents  lor  their  lands  :  and  accord- 
iogl}'  -writs  of  intrusion  were  issued  out  against  the  chief  gentiemen,.in  the 
territory,  by  the  terror  whereof,  many  were  actually  driven  to  petition 
for  patents,  that  they  might  quietly  enjoy  the  lands  that  had  been  tit\y  ov 
sixty  years  in  their  possession;  but  for  these  pafen^s  there  were  such 
exorbitant  prices  demanded,  that  fifty  pounds  could  not  purchase  for  its 
owner  an  estate  not  worth  two  hundred,  nor  could  all  the  money  and 
moveables  in  the  territory  have  defrayed  the  charges  of  patenting  the 
lands  at  the  hands  of  these  crocodiles  :  besides  the  considerable  quit-rents 
for  the  King.  Yea,  the  governour  caused  the  lands  of  particular  persons 
to  be  measured  out,  and  given  to  his  creatures  :  and  some  of  his  council 
petitioned  for  the  commons  belonging  to  several  towns  ;  and  the  agetits  of 
the  towns  going  to  get  a  voluntary  subscription  of  the  inhabitants  to 
maintain  their  title  at  law,  they  have  been  dragged  forty  or  fifty  miles 
to  answer  as  criminals  at  the  next  assizes  ;  the  officers  in  the  mean  time 
isxtorting  three  pounds  per  man  for  fetching  them. 

That  if  these  harpies^  at  any  time,  were  a  little  out  of  money,  they  found 
ways  to  imprison  the  best  men  in  the  country  ;  and  there  appeared  not 
the  least  in/br/naJioH  of  any  crime  exhibited  against  them,  yet  they  were 
put  unto  intollerable  expences  by  these  greedy  oppressors,  and  the  ben- 
efit of  an  habeas  corpus  not  allowed  unto  them. 

That  packt  and  pickt  juries  were  commonly  made  use  of,  when  under 
a  pretended  form  o/" /aro,  the  trouble  of  some  honest  and  worthy  men 
was  aimed  at  ;  and  these  also  were  hurried  out  of  their  own  counties  to 
be  tried,  when  iuries  for  the  turn  were  not  like  to  be  found  there.     The 

Vo}..  I.  ?l 


162  MAGNALIA  CHRiSTl  AMERICANA  .  [Book  II. 

greatest  ?;i;oi/r  being  used  still  touards  the  soberest  sort  of  people,  whilst 
in  the  merin  time  the  most  hoiiid  enorinilies  in  the  world,  committed  bv 
others,  were  overlooked. 

That  the  publick  ministry  of  the  gospel,  and  all  schools  of  learning 
were  discountenanced  unto  the  utmost. 

And  several  more  such  abominable  things,  too  notorious  to  be  be  deni- 
ed, even  by  a  iio /w/oZ/z/i/a^j  impudence  it  self,  are  in  that  book  proved 
against  ihni  unhappy  guvernmeut  }sor  did  that  most  ancient  set  of  the 
Fhanician  shepherds ,  who  scrued  the  government  oi Egypt  into  their  hands, 
as  old  Ahuiethon  tells  us,  by  their  villanies,  during  the  reigns  of  those  ty- 
rants, make  a  shepherd  more  of  an  ahoinination  to  the  Egyptians  in  all  af- 
ter ages,  than  these  n-o!ves  under  the  name  o[ shepherds  have  made  the 
remembrance  of  their /"re/zc/i  goz;errt?/je«f  an  abomination  to  all  posterity 
among  the  Xe-a-Englanders  :  a  government,  for  which,  now,  reader,  as  fast 
as  thou  wilt,  get  ready  this  epitaph  : 

\uUa  qucesita  Scclcre  Fotentia  diulurnu. 

It  was  under  the  resentments  of  these  things  that  Sir  I'Villiam  Fhipa  re- 
turned into  England  in  the  year  1688,  in  which  tmiice  ui:onderful-year  such 
a  rgvolution  was  wonderfully  accomplished  upon  the  whole  government 
of  the  English  nation,  that  J\'ezv- England,  which  had  been  a  specimen  of 
what  the  whole  nation  was  to  look  for,  might  justly  hope  for  a  share  in 
the  general  deliverance.  Upon  this  occasion  Sir  Williatn  ottered  his  best 
HSsistances  unto  that  eminent  person,  who  a  little  before  this  revolution 
betook  himself  unto  TVkilc-IIall,  that  he  might  there  lay  hold  on  all  op- 
portunities to  procure,  some  relief  unto  the  oppressions  of  that  afflicted 
country.  But  seeing  the  JW.Xi}- English  aflairs  in  so  able  an  hand,  he 
thought  the  best  stage  o{  action  for  him  would  now  be  New-England  it 
self;  and  so  with  certain  instructions  from  none  of  the  least  considerable 
persons  at  White- Ilall,  what  service  to  do  for  his  country,  in  the  spring 
of  the  year  1689,  he  hastened  back  unto  it.  Before  he  left  London,  a 
messenger  from  the  abdicated  king  tendered  him  the  government  of  A'eu- 
England,  if  he  would  accept  it  ;  but  as  that  excellent  attorney  general. 
Sir  tVilliani  Jones,  when  it  was  proposed  that  the  plantations  might  be 
governed  without  assemblies,  told  the  King,  that  he  could  no  more  grant  a 
commission  to  levy  money  on  his  subjects  there,  tsithout  their  consent  by  an 
assembly,  than  they  could  discharge  themselves  from  their  allegiance  to  the 
English  cro.i-n.  So  Sir  JVilliam  Phips  thought  it  his  duty  to  refuse  n  gov- 
ernment ZL-iihoui  an  assembly,  as  a  thing  that  was  treason  in  the  very  es- 
sence of  it  ;  and  instead  of  petitioning  the  succeeding  princes,  that  his  patent 
for  high  slheriff"  might  be  r^ndred  efl'ectual,  he  joined  in  petitions,  that 
JVexv-Eiigland  might  have  its  own  old  patent  so  restored,  as  to  render 
ineffectual  that,  and  all  other  grants  that  might  cut  short  any  of  its  ancient 
priviledges.  But  when  Sir  fI7//ia/?i  arrived  at  A''en.'-England,  he  found 
a  new  lace  of  things  ;  for  about  an  hundred  Indians  in  the  eastern  parts 
of  the  country,  had  unaccountably  begun  a  war  upon  the  Englisli  in  Jw/;/. 
1688,  and  though  the  governour  \hen  in  the  ivestern  parts  had  immedi 
ate  advice  of  it,  yet  he  not  only  delayed  and  neglected  all  that  was  nc- 
cc&i-nvy  Uir  the  publick  defence,  hut  also  when  he  at  last  returned,  he 
manifested  a  most  furious  displeasure  against  those  of  the  council,  and  r1! 
others  that  had  forwarded  any  one  thing  for  the  security  of  the  inhabitants  ; 
while  at  the  same  time  he  dispatched  some  of  his  creatures  upon  secret 


Book  II.J      OR,  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  163 

errands  unto  Canada,  and  set  at  liberty  some  of  the  mo<!t  murJerous  In- 
dians which  the  KnglisJi  had  seized  upon. 

This  conduct  of  the  governour,  which  is  in  a  printed  remonstrance  of 
some  of  the  best  gentlemen  in  the  Council  complained  of,  did  extreamly 
dissatistie  the  sv^piciovF  people  :  ivho  were  doubtless  more  extream  iu 
.some  of  tiicir  suspifions,  than  there  was  any  real  occasion  for  :  but  the 
,si;overnour  at  length  r.ii-ed  an  army  of  a  thousand  English  to  conquer 
this  hundred  Indians  ;  and  this  army,  whereof  some  of  the  chief  com- 
manders were  Papists,  underwent  the  fatigues  of  a  long  and  a  cold  win- 
ter, in  the  most  Caiicasican  regions  of  the  tei-ritory,  till,  without  the  kill- 
ing of  one  Indian,  there  were  more  of  tiie  poor  people  killed,  than  they 
had  enemies  there  alive  !  Thi.s  added  not  a  little  to  the  dissatisfaction  of 
the  people,  and  it  would  much  more  have  done  so,  if  they  had  seen 
what  the  world  had  not  ijet  seen  of  the  suggestions  made  by  the  Irish 
Catholicks  unto  the  late  King,  published  in  the  year  1691,  in  the  Account 
of  the  state  of  the  Protestants  in  Ireland,  licensed  by  the  Earl  of  JVottino-. 
ham,  whereof  one  article  runs  in  these  express  terms.  That  if  any  of 
the  Irish  cannot  have  their  lands  in  specie,  hut  money  in  lieu,  some  of  them 
may  transport  themselves  into  America,  possibly  near  New-England,  to 
check  the  groix'ing  Independants  of  that  country  :  or  if  they  had  seen  what 
was  afterwards  seen  in  a  letter  from  K.  James  to  his  Holiness,  (as  they 
stile  his  foolishness)  the  Pope  of  Rome  ;  that  it  was  his  full  purpose  to 
have  set  up  Roman-Catholick  religion  in  the  E»^/zs^.  plantations  o(  Ameri- 
ca :  though  after  all,  there  is  cause  to  think  that  there  w-as  more  made 
of  the  suspicions  then  flying  like  wild-tire  about  the  country,  than  a 
strong  charity  would  have  countenanced.  When  the  people  were  under 
these  frights,  they  had  got  by  the  edges  a  little  intimation  of  the  then 
Prince  of  Grangers  glorious  undertaking  to  deliver  England  from  the 
/caret/ evils,  which  were  already /ei^  by  J\'eze-England ;  but  when  the 
person  who  brought  over  a  copy  of  the  Prince's  declaration  was  impris- 
oned for  bringing  into  the  country  a  treasonable  paper,  and  the  govern- 
our, by  his  proclamation,  required  all  persons  to  use  the'w  tU most  en deav- 
ours  to  hinder  the  landing  of  any  whom  the  Prince  might  send  thither, 
this  put  them  almost  out  of  patience.  And  one  thing  that  ])lunged  the 
more  considerate  persons  in  the  territory  into  uneasie  thoughts,  was  the 
faulty  action  of  some  soldiers,  who  upon  the  common  suspicions,  deserted 
their  stations  in  the  army,  and  caused  their  friends  to  gather  together 
here  and  there  in  little  bodies,  to  protect  from  the  demands  of  the  gov- 
ernour their  poor  children  and  brethren,  whom  they  thought  bound  for 
a  bloody  sacrifice  :  and  there  were  also  belonging  to  the  Rose- f -/got  some. 
that  buzzed  surprising  stories  about  Boston,  of  many  njischiels  to  be 
thence  expected.  Wherefore,  some  of  the  principal  gentlemen  in  Bos- 
ton consulting  what  was  to  be  done  in  this  extraordinary  juncttire,  they 
all  agreed  that  they  would,  if  it  were  possible,  extinguish  all  essays  in 
the  people  towards  an  insurrection,  in  daily  hopes  of  orders  from  Eif^land 
for  their  safety  :  but  that  if  the  country  people  by  any  violent  motions 
pushed  the  matter  on  so  fir,  as  to  make  a  revolution  unavoidable,  then 
to  prevent  the  shedding  of  blood  by  an  ungoverned  mobile,  some  of  the 
gentlemen  present  should  appear  at  the  head  of  the  action  with  a  decla- 
ration accordingly  prepared.  By  the  eighteenth  of  April,  1G89,  things 
were  pushed  on  so  fir  by  the  people,  that  certain  persons  fir.^t  seized 
the  captain  of  the  frigot,  and  the  rumor  thereof  running  like  lightning 
through  Boston,  the  whole  town  was  immediately  in  arms,  with  the  most 
frnnniiaous  resolution  perhaps  that  ever  was  knovvn  f<>  have  inspired   any 


Sdt  MAGKALIA  CHRIST!  AMERICANA  .  [Booii  il. 

people.  They  tlien  seized  those  wretched  men,  who  by  their  innume- 
rable extortions  and  aM'ses  had  made  themselves  the  objects  of  universal 
hatred;  not  giving  oier  till  the  g'oi'erwoK/- himself  was  become  their^^ris- 
OTier :  the  wnole  action  being  managed  without  the  least  bloodshed  or 
•plunder^  and  with  as  much  order  as  ever  attended  any  tumult,  it  may  be, 
in  the  world.  Thus  did  the  Xeiv-Englanders  assert  their  title  to  the 
common  rights  of  Englishmeyi ;  and  except  the  plantations  are  willing  to 
degenerate  from  the  temper  of  true  Englishmen,  or  except  the  revolution 
of  the  whole  English  nation  be  condemned,  their  action  must  so  far  be 
justitied.  On  tiieir  late  oppressors,  now  under  just  confinement,  they 
took  no  other  satisfaction,  but  sent  them  over  unto  White-Hall  for  the 
justice  of  the  King  and  Parliament  And  when  the  day  for  the  anni- 
versary  election,  by  their  vacated  charter,  drew  near,  they  had  many  de- 
bates into  what  form  they  should  cast  the  government,  which  was  till 
then  administred  by  a  committee  for  the  conservation  of  the  peace,  composed 
of  gentlemen  whose  hap  it  was  to  appear  in  the  head  of  the  late  action  ; 
but  their  debates  issued  in  this  conclusion  ;  that  ih.e  governour  and  ma- 
gistrates, which  were  in  power  before  the  late  usurpation,  should  resume 
their  places,  and  apply  themselves  unto  the  conservation  of  the  peace. 
and  put  forth  what  acts  of  goveMment  the  emergencies  might  make  need- 
ful for  them,  and  thus  to  wait  for  further  directions  from  the  authority 
of  England.  So  was  there  accomplished  a  revolution  which  delivered 
JVezv-England  from  grievous  oppressions,  and  which  was  most  graciously 
accepted  by  the  King  and  (^ueen,  when  it  was  reported  unto  their  Majes- 
ties. But  there  were  new  matters  for  Sir  William  Phips,  in  a  little 
while,  now  to  t  ink  upon. 

§  9.  Behold  the  great  things  which  were  done  by  the  sovereign  God, 
for  a  person  once  as  little  in  his  own  eyes,  as  in  other  men's.  All  the  re- 
turns which  he  had  hitherto  made  unto  the  God  of  his  mercies,  were  but 
preliminaries  to  what  remain  to  be  related.  It  has  been  the  custom  in 
the  churches  of  jVczi;- En  gland,  still  to  expect  from  such  persons  as  they 
admitted  unto  constant  communion  with  them,  that  they  do  not  only  pub- 
lickly  and  solemnly  declare  their  consent  unto  the  Covenant  of  Grace,  and 
])articularly  to  those  duties  of  it,  wherein  a  rjariicnlar  church-state  is 
more  immediately  concerned,  but  also  first  relate  unto  the  pastors,  and 
by  tliem  unto  the  brethren,  the  special  impressions  which  the  grace  of 
God  has  made  upon  their  souls  in  bi'inging  them  to  this  consent.  V>y  this 
custom  and  caution,  though  they  cannot  keep  hypocrites  from  their  sacred 
fellowship,  yet  they  go  as  far  as  thoy  can,  to  render  and  preserve  them- 
selves churches  of  saints,  and  they  do  further  very  much  edifie  07ie  another. 
When  Sir  William  Phips  was  now  returned  unto  his  oii}n  house,  he  began 
to  bethink  himself,  like  David,  concerning  the  house  of  the  God  who  had 
surrounded  him  with  so  many  favours  in  Jiisozin  ;  and  accordingly  he  ap- 
plied himself  unto  the  vorth  church  in  Boston,  that  with  his  open  profes- 
sion of  his  hearty  subjection  to  the  gospel  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  he 
mi^ht  have  the  ordinances  and  the  priviledges  of  the  gospel  added  unto 
his  other  enjoyments  One  thing  that  quickned  his  resolution  to  do  what 
might  be  in  tliis  matter  expected  from  him,  was  a  passage  which  he  heard 
from  a  minister  preaching  on  the  title  of  the Jifty  first  Psalm  :  To  make  u 
pubUck  and  on  open  profession  of  repentance,  is  a  thing  not  misbecoming 
the  greatest  man  alive.  It  is  an  honour  to  be  found  among  the  repenting 
people  of  God,  though  thry  he  in  circumstances  never  so  full  of  svjfering. 
.a  famous  Knight  going  with  other  christians  to  he  crowned  with  inartyrdow. 
observed,  that  his  fellow-sujfererszaere  in  chains,  from  Xi-hick  the  sacrifcpvu 


Book  II.]      OR,  THE  HISTORY  OF  ^EVV-ENGLA^D.  J66 

had,  because  of  his  qi'.alitij,  excused  hitn  ;  wherevpon  he  demanded,  that  he 
niicrlu  wear  chains  as  zcell  as  they.     For,  said  he,  I  would  be  a  Knight  of 
it  order  too.      TJiere  is  among  ourselves  a  repenting  people  of  God,  who 
iheir  confessions  at  their  admissions  to  his  table,  do  signalize  their  being 
"  ;  a7id  thanks  be  to  God  that  zee  have  so  little  of  suffering   in  onr  circum- 
^ninces.     But  if  any  man   count  himself  grown   too  big  to  be  a  Knight  of 
I    that  order,  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  himself  will  one  day  be  ashamed  of  that 
j   man!     Upon  this  excitation,  Sir  IVilUam  Phips  made  his  address  unto  a 
I   Congregational-church,  and  be  had    therein  one  thing  to  propound   unto 
j   hirnselt",  which  few  persons  of  his  age,  so  well  satisiied  in  infant-bapti.^n: 
as  he  was,  have  then  to  ask  for.    Indeed,  in  the  primitive  times,  although 
f  the  lawfulness  of  infant -baptism,  or  the  pi'ecept  and  pattern  of  scripture 
I  for  it,  was  never  so  much  as  once  made  a  question,  yet  we  find  baptis-m 
I  was  frequently  delayed   by  persons   upon  several  superstitious  and  un- 
;   reasonable  accounts,  against  which  we  have  such  fathers  as  Gregory  JVa- 
I  zianzen,   Gregory  Nyssen,   Bnsyl,  Chrysostom,  .Ambrose,   and  others,  em- 
I  ploying  a  variety  of  argument.     But  Sir  William  Phips  h  id  hitherto  de- 
!  layed  his  baptism,  because  the  years  of  his  childhood  were  .'■pent  «  here 
I  there  v/as  no  settled  minister,  and  therefore  he  was  now  not  only  willing  to 
attain  a  good  satisfaction  of  his  own  internal  and  practical  Christianity,  be- 
fore his  receiving  that  mark  thereof,  but  he  was  also  willing  to  receive  it 
among  those  christians  that  seemed  most  sensible  of  the  bonds  %vhich  it 
laid  them  under.     Ofiering  liimself  therefore,  tiist  unto  the  baptism,  and 
then  unto  the  supper  of  the  Lord,  he  presented  unto  the  pastor  of  the 
church,  with  his  own  hand-writing,  the  foUow'mg  instr^tment ;  which  be- 
cause of  the  exemplary  devotion  therein  expressed,  and  the  remarkable 
history  which  it  gives  of  several  occurrences  in  his  life,  I  will  here  ftiith- 
fully  transcribe  it,  without  adding  so  much  as  one  word  unto  it. 

'  The  first  of  God's  making  me  sensible  of  my  sins,  was  in  the  year 
'  1674,  by  hearing  your  father  preach  concerning.  The  day  if  trouble 
'near.  It  pleased  Almighty  God  to  smite  me  with  a  deep  sence  of  my 
'  miserable  condition,  who  had  lived  until  then  in  the  world,  and  had 
'  done  nothing  for  God.  1  did  then  begin  to  think  what  I  should  do  to  be 
'  saved  ?  and  did  bewail  my  youthfid  days,  which  I  had  spent  in  vain  :  \ 
'  did^  think  that  I  would  begin  to  mind  the  things  of  God.  Being  then 
'  some  time  under  your  father's  ministry,  much  troubled  with  my  burden, 
■  but  thinking  on  that  scripture,  Come  unto  me,  you  that  are  weary  and 
'  heavy  laden,  and  I  will  give  you  rest ;  1  had  some  thoughts  of  drawing 

•  as  near  to  the  communion  of  the  Lord  Jesus  as  1  could  ;  but  the  ruins 

•  which  the  Indian  wars  brought  on  my  aftairs,  and  the  entan'iilemenls 
'  which  my  following  the  sea   laid    upon  me,    hindred  my  pursuing  the 

•  welfare  of  my  own  soul  as  I  ought  to  have  done.  At  length  God  was 
'  pleased  to  smile  upon  my  outward  concerns.  The  various  providences _ 
'  both  merciful  and  afflictive,  which  attended  me  in  my  travels,  were 
"■  sanctirted  unto  me,  to  make  me  acknowledge  God  in  all  my  watjs.     I  have 

•  djvers  times  been  in  danger  of  my  life,  and  I  have  been  brought  to  see 
'  that  I  owe  my  life  to  him  that  has  given   a  life  so  often  to  me  :   I  thank 

•  God,  he  hath  brought  me  to  see  my  self  altogether  unhappy, WitlioiU- 
'  an  interest  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  to  close  heartily  with  him, 
'  desiring  him  to  execute  all  his  offices  on  my  behalf      I  have    now,   for 

•  some  time,  been  under  serious  resolutions,  that  I  would  avoid  whatever 
'  I  should  know  to  be  displeasing  unto  God,  and  that  I  would  serve  him  all 
'  <fee  days  of  my  life.      I   believe  no  man  will  repent  the  service  of  such  a 

•  master.     I  find  my  self  unable  to  keep  such  rcsobivoiu^,  but  my  serioo^ 


IG6  MAGNALIA  CHRISTI  AMERICANA .  [-Book  IJ., 

'■prayers  are  to  the  Most  Higi),  that  Ite  would  enable  me.  God  hath  done 
"  so  much  fox-  me,  that  I  am  sensible  I  owe  my  self  to  him  ;  to  him  would 
'  I  give  my  self,  and  all  that  he  has  given  to  me.    I  can't  express  his  mercies 

*  to  me.  But  as  soon  as  ever  God  had  smiled  upon  me  with  nturn  of  my 
■^  affairs,  I   had  laid  my  self  under  the  vows  of  the  Lord,  That   I  would 

*  set  my  self  to  serve  his  people,  and  churches  here,  unto  the  utmost  of  my 
'  capacity.  I  have  had  great  offers  made  me  in  England;  but  the  church- 
'  es  of  JS'ew  England  were  those  which  my  heart  was  most  set  upon.  I 
'  knew ,  that  if  God  had  a  people  any  where,  it  was  here  :  and  I  resolved  to 
'  rise  and  fall  with  them  ;  neglecting  very  great  advantages  for  my  world- 

*  ly  interest,  that  I  might  come  and  enjoy  the  ordinances  of  the  Lord  Je- 
'  sus  here.  It  has  been  my  trouble,  that  since  I  came  home  I  have 
'  made  no  more  haste  to  get  into  the  house  of  God,  where  /  desire  to  be  : 
'  especially  having  heard  so  much  about  the  evil  of  that  omission.  I  can 
'  do  little  for  God,  but  I  desire  to  wait  upon  him  in  his  ordinances,  and 
'  to  live  to  his  honour  and  glory.  My  being  born  in  a  part  of  the  coun- 
'  try,  where  I  had  not  in  mj/^  infancy  enjoyed  {lie  first  sacrament  of  the 
'  New -Test  anient,  has  been  something  of  a  stvmhling-block  unto  me.  But 
'  though  I  have  had  profers  ot'baptism  elsewhere  made  unto  me,  I  resolved 

*  rather  to  defer  it,  until  I  might  enjoy  it  in  the  communion  of  these 
'  churches  ;  and  I  have  had  awful  impressions   from  those  words  of  the 

*  Lord  Jesus  in  Matlh.  viii.  38,  Whosoei^r  shall  be  ashamed  of  me,  and  of 
'  my  zanrds,  of  him  also  shall  the  Son  of  A'lan  be  ashamed.      \\  hen  God  had 

'-  blessed  me  with  something  of  the  world,  I  had  no  trouble  so  great  as 
'  this,  lest  it  shoidd  not  he  in  mercy ;  and  I  trembled  at  nothing  more  than 
'  being  put  i)ff  zeith  a  portion  here.   That  I  may  make  sure  oi  better  things, 

*  1   now  offer  my  self  unto   the  communion  of  this  church  of  the  Lord 

*  Jesus.' 

Accordingly  on  March  23,  1G90,  after  he  had  in  the  congregation  of 
North-Boston  given  himself  up,  first  iinto  the  Lord,  and  then  unto  his  peo- 
ple, he  was  baptized,  and  so  received  into  the  communion  of  the  fiithful 
there. 

§  10.  Several  times,  about,  before  and  after  this  time,  did  I  hear  him 
express  himself  unto  this  jjurpojce  :  I  have  no  n'icd  at  all  to  look  aftir  ami 
further  advantages  for  my  sef  in  this  world;  I  may  sit  still  at  home,  if  I 
will,  and  enjoy  my  ease  for  the  rest  of  my  life;  but  I  believe  that  I  shoidd  offend 
God  in  my  doing  so  :  for  I  am  nozo  in  the  prime  of  my  age  and  strength, 
and,  I  thank  God,  I  can  undergo  hardship  :  he  only  knor&s  how  long  I  have 
to  live  ;  but  I  think  His  my  duty  to  venture  my  life  in  doing  of  good,  before 
an  useless  old.  age  comes  upon  me :  wherefore  I  will  now  expose  my  self, 
zokile  I  am  able,  and  as  far  as  I  am  able,  for  the  service  of  my  country  :  I 
was  born  for  others,  as  well  as  my  self  1  say,  many  a  time  have  I  heard 
him  so  express  himself:  and  agreeable  to  this  generous  disposition  and 
resolution  wiis  all  the  rest  of  his  life.  About  this  time  A'ew-England  was 
miserably  hriared  in  the  pei'plexities  of  an  Indian  rear;  and  the  salva- 
ges, in  the  east  part  of  the  country,  issuing  out  from  their  inaccessible 
swamps,  had  for  many  months  made  their  cruel  depredations  upon  the 
poor  English  planters,  and  surprized  many  of  the  plantations  on  the 
frontiers,  into  ruin.  The  New- En  glanders  found,  that  while  they  con- 
tinued only  on  the  defensive  part,  their  people  were  thinned,  and  their 
treasures  wasted,  without  any  hopes  of  seeing  a  period  put  unto  the  In- 
dian tragedies  ;  nor  could  an  army  greater  than  Xe^-aes'  have  easily  come 
at  the  seemingly  contemptible  handful  of  taxtmies  wljich  made  all  this 
disturbance  •,  or,  TamerJ'iin,  the  greatest  conqueror  that  eve.r  the  world 


Book  II.]      OR,  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  167 

saw,  have  made  it  a  business  of  no  trouble  to  have  conquered  them  :  they 
found,  that  they  were  like  to  make  no  weapons  reach  their  enswamped 
adversaries,  except  Mr.  Milton  could  have  shown  them  how 

To  have  plucktup  the  hills  with  all  their  load, 
Kocks,  waters,  woods,  and  by  their  shaggy  tops. 
Up-lifting,  bore  them  in  their  hands,  therewith 
The  rebel  host  to"ve  over-whelm'd • 

So  it  was  thought  that  the  English  subjects,  in  these  regions  of  America, 
might  very  properly  take  this  occasion  to  make  an  attempt  upon  the 
French,  and  by  reducing  them  under  the  E?iglish  government,  put  an 
eternal  period  atosce  unto  all  their  troubles  from  the  Frenchified  pagans. 
This  was  a  motion  urged  by  Sir  Willuia  Phips  unto  the  Generid  Court  of 
the  Massachuset-colony ;  and  he  then  made  unto  the  court  a  brave  off'er 
of  his  own  person  and  estate,  for  the  service  of  the  publick  in  their 
present  extremity,  as  far  as  they  should  see  cause  to  make  use  thereof. 
Whereupon  they  made  ajirst  essai^  agamst  the  French,  by  sending  a  naval 
force,  with  about  seven  hundred  men,  under  the  conduct  of  Sir  William. 
Phips,  against  L'Acady  and  J\'ova  Scoiia  ;  of  which  action  we  shall  give 
only  this  general  and  summary  account  ;  that  Sir  William  Phips  set  sail 
from  \fjjitascot,  April  28,  1690,  arriving  at  Port- Royal,  May  11,  and  had 
the  fort  quickly  surrendered  into  his  hands  by  the  French  enemy,  who  de- 
spaired of  holding  out  against  him.  He  then  took  possession  of  that 
proviiice  for  the  English  Crown,  and  having  demolished  the  fort,  and  sent 
away  the  garrison,  administred  unto  the  planters  an  oath  of  allegiance  to 
King  William  and  Queen  Alary,  he  left  what  order  he  thought  conven- 
ient for  the  government  of  the  place,  until  further  order  should  be  ta- 
ken by  the  governour  and  council  of  the  Massacliusef-colony ,  unto  whom 
he  returned  Mo.y  30,  with  an  acceptable  account  of  his  expedition,  and 
accepted  a  place  among  the  magistrates  ot  that  colony,  to  which  the  free- 
men had  chosen  him  at  their  anniversary  election  two  days  before. 

Thus  the  country,  once  given  by  King  James  the  tirst  unto  Sir  William 
Alexander,  was  now  by  another  Sir  William,  recovered  out  of  the  hands 
of  the  French,  who  had  afterwards  got  the  possession  of  it  ;  and  there  was 
added  unto  the  English  empire,  a  territory,  whereof  no  man  can  read 
Monsieur  Denys'  d&scriptiun  Geograpliiqiie  ^  Histoiiqne  des  Costcs  de  V 
Amerique  Scptentrionale,  but  he  must  reckon  the  conquest  of  a  region 
so  improvable,  for  lumber,  for  fishing,  for  mines,  and  for  furrs,  a  very 
eosiderable  service.  But  if  a  smaller  service  has.  e'er  now,  ever  merited 
a  knignthoud,  Sir  William  was  \viljing  to  repeat  his  merits  by  actions  ot 
the  greatest  seivice  possible  : 

Xil  Actum  credens  si  quid  superesset  agendum. 

§  11.  The  addition  of  this  French  colony  to  the  English  dommion, 
was  no  more  than  a  little  step  towards  a  greater  action,  which  was  first  i.'* 
the  design  of  Sir  William  Phips,  and  which  was,  indeed,  the  greatest  ac- 
tion that  ever  the  Kevc- En  glanders  attempted.  There  was  a  time  when 
the  Philistines  had  made  some  inroads  and  assaults  from  the  northward . 
upon  the  skirts  of  Goshen,  where  the  Israelites  had  a  residence,  before 
their  coming  out  of  Egypt.  The  Israelites,  and  especially  that  active 
colony  of  the  Ephraimites,  were  willing  to  revenge  these  injuries  upon 
'-"heir  wicked  neighbours  :  they  presumed  them?lves   powerful    and  nu 


168  MAGNALIA  CHRISTI  AxMEJlICA^A:  [Book  H. 

merous  enough  to  encounter  the  Canaaniles,  even  in  their  own  country  ; 
and  they  formed  a  brisk  expedition,  hut  came  oft'  unhappy  losers  in  it  ; 
the  Jewish  Raobms  tell  us,  they  lost  no  less  than  ei^hl  tlwusund  men. 
The  time  was  not  yet  come  ;  there  was  more  hctbie  tlian  good  speed  in 
the  attempt  ;  they  were  not  enough  concerned  for  the  counsel  and  pre- 
sence of  God  in  the  undertaking  ;  they  mainly  propounded  the  plunder  to 
be  got  among  a  people,  whose  trade  was  that  wherewith  beasts  enriched 
them  ;  so  the  business  miscarried.  This  history  the  Psalmist  going  to 
recite,  says,  I ivill  u/ter  dark  sayings  of  old.  Now  that  what  befel  Sir 
Williom  Fiiips,  with  his  whole  country  of  New- En  gland.,  may  not  be 
almost  forgotten  among  the  dark  sayings  of  old,  I  will  here  give  the  true 
report  of  a  very  memorable  matter. 

it  was  Canada  that  was  the  chief  source  of  Neio- England's  rriiseries. 
There  was  the  main  strength  of  the  French  ;  there  the  Indians  were  mostly 
supplied  with  ammunition  ;  thence  issued  parties  of  men,  who  uniting 
with  the  salvages,  barbarously  murdered  many  innocent  New-Englatideis, 
without  any  provocation  on  the  New-English  part,  except  this,  that  New- 
England  had  proclaimed  King  William  and  Q.  Mary,  which  they  said 
were  usurpers  ;  and  as  Catu  could  make  no  speech  in  the  senate  with- 
£iut  that  conclusion,  Delenda  est  Carthago  ;  so  it  was  the  general  con- 
clusion of  all  that  argued  sensibly  about  the  safety  of  that  country,  Can- 
ada must  be  reduced.  It  then  became  the  concurring  resolution  of  ail 
New-England,  with  .Kew-York,  to  make  a  vigorous  attack  upon  Canada 
at  once,  both  by  sea  and  land. 

And  a  fleet  was  accordin?;ly  fitted  out  from  Boston,  under  the  command 
of  Sir  William  Phips,  to  fall  upon  (^uebeque,  the  chief  city  of  Canada. 
They  waited  until  August  for  some  stores  of  war  from  England,  whither 
they  had  sent  for  that  purpose  early  in  the  spring  ;  but  none  at  last  ar- 
riving, and  the  season  of  the  year  being  so  far  spent,  Sir  William  could 
not,  without  many  discouragements  upon  his  mind,  proceed  in  a  voyage, 
for  which  he  found  himself  so  poorly  provided.  However,  the  ships 
being  taken  up,  and  the  men  on  board,  his  usual  courage  would  not  per- 
mit him  to  desist  from  the  enterprize  ;  but  he  set  sail  from  Hull  near 
Boston,  August  9,  1690,  with  a  fleet  of  thirty-tu'O  ships  and  tenders  ; 
whereof  one,  called  the  Six  Friends,  carrying  forty-four  great  guns,  and 
two  hundred  men,  was  admiral.  Sir  William  dividing  the  fleet  into  seve- 
ral squadrons,  whereof  there  was  the  Six  Friends,  Captain  Gregory  Stigarn 
commander,  with  eieveu  more  of  the  admiral's  squadron,  of  which  one 
was  also  a  capital  ship,  namely.  The  John  and  Thomas,  Captain  Thomas 
Cor/er  commander;  of  the  vice-admirals,  the  Srcan,  Captain  Thomas  Gilbert 
commander,  with  nine  more;  of  the  rear-admirals,  the  America-Merchant , 
Captain  Joseph  Eldridgc  commander,  with  nine  more,  and  above  twen- 
ty hundred  men  on  board  the  whole  fleet ;  he  so  happily  managed 
his  charge,  that  they  every  one  of  theai  ai'rived  safe  at  anchor  be- 
fore Qucbeck,  although  they  had  as  dangerous,  and  almost  untrodden 
a  path,  to  take  un-jjiloted,  for  the  whole  voyage,  as  ever  any  voy- 
age was  undertaken  with.  Some  small  French  prizes  he  took  by  the 
way,  and  set  up  English  colours  upon  the  coast,  here  and  there, 
as  he  went  along;  and  before  the  month  of  August  was  out,  he  had 
spent  several  days  as  far  onward  of  his  voyage,  as  between  the  island  of 
.^ntecosta,  and  the  Alain.  But  when  they  entrcd  the  mi.<;;hty  river  of  C'an- 
nda,  such  adverse  winds  encounlred  the  fleet,  that  they  were  three  weeks 
dispatching  the  way,  which  might  otherwise  have  been  gone  in  three  days, 
ai)d  it  wa'^  the  fifth  o{  October,  when  a  fresh  breeze   coming  up   at   east. 


Book  II.]       OR,  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  169 

carried  them  along  by  the  north  shore,  up  to  the  isle  of  Orleans  ;  and 
then  haling  sovtherly  they  passed  by  the  east  end  of  that  island,  with  the 
whole  fleet  approaching  the  city  of  Q,uebeck.  This  loss  of  time,  which 
made  it  so  late  before  the  fleet  could  get  into  the  country,  where  a  cold 
and  fierce  winter  was  already  very  far  advanced,  gave  no  \eyy  good  pros- 
pect of  success  to  the  expedition  ;  but  that  which  gave  a  much  worse, 
was  a  most  horrid  'mismanagement,  which  had,  the  mean  whiie,  happen- 
ed in  the  west.  For  a  thousand  English  from  JVew-York  and  Alhuny,  and 
Connecticut,  with  fifteen  hundred  Indians,  were  to  have  gone  over-land 
in  the  west,  and  fallen  upon  Mount- Royal,  while  the  fleet  was  to  visit  Q«e- 
beckixi  the  east;  and  no  expedition  could  have  been  better  laid  than  this, 
which  was  thus  contrived.  But  those  English  companies  in  the  zvest,  march- 
ing as  far  as  the  great  Lake  that  was  to  be  passed,  found  their  ca?ioos  not 
provided,  according  to  expectation  ;  and  the  Indians  also  were  [how  ?  God 
knows,  and  will  one  day  judge  !]  dissuaded  from  joining  with  the  E7iglish} 
and  the  army  met  with  such  discouragements,  that  they  returned. 

Had  this  western  army  done  but  so  much  as  continued  at  the  lake,  the 
diversion  thereby  given  to  the  Frendi  quartered  at  Mount-Royal,  would 
have  rendred  the  conquest  of  Qucbcck  easie  and  certain  ;  but  the  govern- 
our  of  Canada  being  informed  of  the  retreat  made  by  the  western-army , 
had  opportunity,  by  the  cross  winds  that  kept  back  the  fleet,  unhappily 
to  get  the  whole  strength  of  all  the  country  into  the  city,  before  the  fleet 
could  come  up  unto  it.  However,  none  of  these  difficulties  hindred  Sir 
William  Phips  from  sending  on  shoar  the  following  summons,  on  Monday 
the  sixth  of  October. 

Sir  William  Phips.   Knight,   General  and   Commander  in  Chief,  in   and 
over  their  Majesties'  forces  of  New-England,  by  sea  and  land  ; 

To  Conni  Frontenac,  Lieutenant-General  and  Governour  for  the  French 
King  at  Canada  ;  or  in  his  absence,  to  his  Deputy,  or  him,  or  them, 
in  chief  command  at  Quebeck. 

THE  war  between  the  two  crowns  of  England  and  France,  doth  not  only 
sufficiently  warrant,  hut  the  destruction  made  by  the  French  and  Indians, 
under  your  command  and  encouragement,  upon  the  persons  and  estates  of 
their  Majesties''  subjects  of  Xew-England,  without  provocation  on  their  part, 
halh  put  them  under  the  necessity  oj  this  expedition,  for  their  own  security 
and  satisfaction.  And  although  the  cruelties  and  harharities  used  against 
them,  by  the  French  and  Indians,  might,  upon  the  present  opportunity, 
prompt  unto  a  severe  revenge,  yet  being  desirous  to  avoid  all  inliuinane  and 
unchristian-like  actions,  and  to  prevent  shedding  of  blood  as  much  as  may 
be  ; 

I  the  aforesaid  William  Phips,  Knight,  do  hereby,  in  the  name,  and  in  tlu. 
behalf  of  their  most  excellent  Majesties,  William  and  Mary,  King  and  Queen 
of  England,  Scotland,  France  and  Ireland.  <Ze/e7i(^ers  of  the  faith,  and  hj 
order  of  their  said  Majesties''  government  nf  the  Massachuset-cot'on^/  in 
New-England,  demand  a  presifnt  surrender  of  your  forts  and  caitles,  vnde- 
molished,  and  the  Ki7ig''s,  and  other  stores',  ■unimhezzled,  with  a  seasonable 
delivery  of  all  captives  ;  together  with  a  surrender  of  all  your  persons  and 
estates  to  my  dispose  :  upon  the  doing  whereof  you  may  expect  mercy  fi'om 
me,  as  a  christian,  according  to  what  shall  be  found  for  their  Majesties''  ser- 
vice, and  the  subjects'  security.  Which  if  you  refuse  forthwith  to  do,  I  am 
come  provided,  and  am  resolved,  by  the  help  of  God,  in  ivhom  I  trust,  by 
force  of  arms,  to  revenge  all  wrongs  and  injuries  offered,  and  bring  you  iin- 

Vol,  I,  '  2? 


170  MAGNALIA  CHRISTl  AMERICANA :  [Book  II. 

dcr  subjection  to  the  Cromi  of  England  ;  andzehen  too  late,  make  yoii  •acish 
you  hud  accepted  of  the  favour  tendered. 

Your  answer  positive  in  an  hour,  returned  by  your  own  trumpet,  with  the 
return  of  mine,  is  required,  upon  the  peril  that  will  ensue. 

The  summons  being  delivered  unto  Count  Frontetiac,  his  answer  was  ; 

That  Sir  William  Phips,  and  those  with  him-,  were  hereticks  and  traitors 
to  their  King,  and  had  taken  up  with  that  Usurper,  the  Prince  of  Orange, 
and  had  made  a  rexohVi'ion,  which  if  it  had  not  been  made,  New-England 
and  the  Fi'ench  had  been  all  one  :  and  that  no  other  answer  was  to  be  expect- 
ed from  him,  but  what  should  be  from  the  mouth  of  his  cannon. 

General  Phips  now  saw  that  it  must  cost  him  dry  blows,  and  that  he  must 
roar  his  perswasions  out  of  the  nioutlis  of  great  guns,  to  make  himself 
master  of  a  city  which  had  certainly  surrendered  it  self  unto  him,  if  he 
had  arrived  but  a  little  sooner,  and  summoned  it  before  the  coming  down 
of  Count  Fronienac  with  all  his  forces,  to  command  the  oppressed  peo- 
ple there,  who  would  have  been,  many  of  them,  glader  of  coming  under 
the  English  government.  Wherefore  on  the  seventh  of  October,  the 
English,  that  were  for  the  land  service,  went  on  board  their  lesser  ves- 
sels, in  order  to  land  ;  among  which  there  was  a  bark,  wherein  was  Cap- 
tain Ephraim  Savage,  with  sixty  men,  that  ran  a-ground  upon  the  North- 
shoar,  near  two  miles  from  Queheck,  and  could  not  get  off,  but  lay  in  the 
same  distress  that  Scceva  did,  when  the  Britains  poured  in  their  numbers 
upon  the  bark,  wherein  he,  with  a  iew  more  soldiers  of  Ccesar''s  army, 
were,  by  the  disadvantage  of  the  tide,  left  ashoar  :  the  French,  with  In- 
dians, that  saw  them  lye  there,  came  near,  and  fired  thick  upon  them, 
and  were  bravely  answei'ed  ;  and  when  two  or  three  hundred  of  the  ene- 
my, at  last  planted  a  field-piece  against  the  bark,  while  the  wind  blew  so 
hard,  that  no  help  could  be  sent  unto  his  men,  the  general  advanced  so 
far,  as  to  level  two  or  three  great  guns,  conveniently  enough  to  make  the 
assailants  fly  ;  and  when  the  flood  came,  the  bark  happily  got  off,  with- 
out the  hurt  of  one  man  aboard.  But  so  violent  was  the  storm  of  wind 
all  this  day,  that  it  was  not  possible  lor  them  to  land  until  the  eighth  of 
October ;  when  the  English  counting  every  hour  to  be  a  week  until  they 
were  come  to  battel,  vigorously  got  ashoar,  designing  to  enter  the  east- 
end  of  the  city.  The  small-pox  had  got  into  the  fleet,  by  which  distem- 
per prevailing,  the  number  of  eflective  men  which  now  went  ashoar, 
under  the  command  of  Lieutenant  General  Walley,  did  not  amount  unto 
more  than  fourteen  hundred  ;  but  four  companies  of  these  were  drawn 
out  as  forlorns,  whom,  on  every  side,  the  enemy  fired  at ;  nevertheless, 
the  English  rushing  with  a  shout,  at  once  upon  them  caused  them  to  run 
as  fast  as  legs  could  carry  them  :  so  that  the  whole  English  army,  ex- 
pressing as  much  resolution  as  was  in  Ciesar''s  army,  when  they  first  land- 
ed on  Britain,  in  spight  of  all  opposition  from  the  inhabitants,  marched 
on  until  it  was  dark,  having  first  killed  many  of  the  French,  with  the  loss 
of  but /o»r  men  of  their  own  ;  and  frighted  about  seven  or  eight  hun- 
dred more  of  the  French  from  an  ambuscado,  where  they  lay  ready  to  fall 
upon  them.  But  some  thought,  that  by  staying  in  the  valley,  they  took 
the  way  7!ei;cr  to  get  over  ihe  hill:  and  yet  for  them  to  stay  where  they 
were,  till  the  smaller  vessels  came  up  the  river  before  them,  so  far  as  by 
their  guns  to  secure  the  passage  of  the  army  in  their  getting  over,  was 
what  the  council  of  war  had  ordered.     But  (he  violence  of  the  weather. 


Book  II.j     OR,  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND:  171 

with  the  general's  being  sooner  plunged  into  the  heat  of  action  than  was 
intended,  hindred  the  smaller  vessels  from  attending  that  order.  And 
this  evening  a  French  deserter  coming  to  them,  assured  them,  that  nine 
hundred  men  were  on  their  march  from  Quebeck  to  meet  them,  already 
passed  a  little  rivulet  that  lay  at  the  end  of  the  city,  but  seeing  them 
land  so  suddenl}',  and  so  vjsliantly  run  down  those  that  first  encountered 
them,  they  had  retreated  :  nevertheless,  that  Count  Frontenac  was  come 
down  to  Q^uebcck  with  no  fewer  than  thirty  hundred  men  to  defend  the 
city,  having  left  but  fifty  soldiers  to  defend  Mount-Real,  because  they 
had  understood,  that  the  English  army  on  that  side,  were  gone  back  to 
Jllbany.  Notwithstanding  this  dis-spiriting  information,  the  common  sol- 
diers did  with  mucli  vehemency  beg  and  pray,  that  they  might  he  led  on  ; 
professing,  that  they  had  rather  lose  their  lives  on  the  spot,  than  fail  of 
taking  the  city ;  but  the  more  wary  commanders  considered  how  rash  a 
thing  it  would  be,  for  about  fourteen  hundred  raw  men,  tired  with  a  long 
voyage,  to  assault  more  than  twice  as  many  expert  soldiers,  who  were 
Gain  in  sno  sterguilinio,  or  cocks  grov:ing  on  their  oxani  dunghil.  They 
were,  in  truth,  now  gotten  into  the  grievous  case  which  Livy  describes 
when  he  says,  Ibi  grave  est  Belluni  gerere,  itbi  non  consiste7idi  aiit  proce- 
dendi  locus  ;  quocumque  aspexeris  Hostilia  sunt  omnia  ;  look  on  one  side 
or  the  other,  all  was  full  of  hostile  difficulties.  And  indeed,  whatever 
popular  clamour  has  been  made  against  any  of  the  commanders,  it  is  ap- 
parent that  they  acted  considerately,  in  making  a  pause  upon  what  was 
before  them  ;  and  they  did  a  greater  kindness  to  their  soldiers  than 
they  have  since  been  thanked  for.  But  in  this  time,  General  Phips  and 
his  men  of  war,  with  their  canvas  nnngs,  flew  close  up  unto  the  west- 
end  of  the  city,  and  there  he  behaved  himself  with  the  greatest  bravery 
imaginable  ;  nor  did  the  other  men  of  war  forbear  to  follow  his  brave 
example  :  who  never  discovered  himself  more  in  his  element,  than  when 
(as  the  poet  expresseth  it,) 

The  slaughter  breathing  brass  grew  hot,  and  spoke 
In  flames  of  lightning,  and  in  clouds  of  smoke  : 

He  lay  within /j?sto/-s/io?  of  the  enemies'  cannon,  and  beat  them  from 
ihence,  and  very  much  battered  the  town,  having  his  own  ship  shot 
through  in  almost  an  hundred  places  with  four  and  tui-enty  pounders,  and 
yet  but  one  man  was  killed,  and  only  two  mortally  wounded  aboard  him, 
in  this  hot  engagement,  which  continued  the  greatest  part  of  that  night, 
and  several  hours  of  the  day  ensuing.  But  wondring  that  he  sav/  no  sig- 
nal of  any  effective  action  ashoar  at  the  east-end  of  the  city,  he  sent  that 
he  might  know  the  condition  of  the  army  there  ;  and  received  answer, 
that  several  of  the  men  were  so  frozen  in  their  hands  and  feet,  as  to  be 
disabled  from  service,  and  others  were  apace  falling  sick  of  the  small- 
pox. Whereupon  he  ordered  them  on  board  immediately  to  refresh 
themselves,  and  he  intended  then  to  have  renewed  his  attack  upon  the 
city,  in  the  method  of  landing  his  men  in  the  face  of  it,  under  the  shelter 
of  his  great  guns  ;  having  to  that  purpose  provided  also  a  considerable 
number  of  well-shaped  'j:heel-barrov:s,  each  of  them  carrying  two  Pe- 
tarraros  apiece,  to  march  before  the  men,  and  make  the  enemy  fly,  with 
as  much  contempt  as  overwhelmed  the  Philistines,  when  undone  hy  foxes 
with  torches  in  their  tails  ;  (remembred  in  an  anniversary  diversion  eve- 
ry ^ipril  among  the  ancient  Romans,  taught  by  the  Phenicians.) 

While  the  measures  to  be  further  taken  were  debating,  there  was. 
made  an  exchange  of  prisoners,  the  English  havi/ig  taken  several  of  the 


172  MAGNALIA  CHRISTI  AMERICANA :  [Book  II., 

French  in  divers  actions,  and  the  French  having  in  their  hands  divers  of 
the  English,  whom  the  India)is  had  brought  captives  unto  them.  The 
army  now  on  board  coiitinned  still  resolute  and  courageous,  and  on  fire 
for  the  conquest  of  (c^uebeck;  or  if  they  had  missed  of  doing  it  by  storm, 
they  knew  that  they  might,  by  possessing  themselves  of  the  isle  of  Or' 
leanx,  in  a  little  while  have  starved  them  out.  Incredible  damage  they 
might  indeed  have  done  to  the  enemy  before  they  embarked,  but  they 
■were  willing  to  preserve  the  more  undefensible  parts  of  the  country  in 
such  a  condition,  as  might  more  sensibly  encourage  the  submission  of  the 
inhabitants  unto  the  Crown  of  England,  whose  protection  was  desired 
by  so  many  of  them.  And  still  tliey  were  loth  to  play  for  any  lesser 
game  than  the  immediate  surrender  of  (^nebeck  it  self.  But  e're  a  full 
council  of  war  could  conclude  the  next  steps  to  be  taken,  a  violent  storm 
arose  that  separated  the  fleet,  and  the  snow  and  the  cold  became  so  ex- 
tream,  that  they  could  not  continue  in  those  quarters  any  longer. 

Thus,  by  an  evident  hand  of  heaven,  sending  one  unavoidable  disaster 
sfter  another,  as  well-formed  an  enterprize,  as  perhaps  was  ever  made  by 
the  jYew-Englandcrs,  most  unhappily  miscarried  ;  and  General  Phips  un- 
derwent a  very  mortif)'ing  disappointment  of  a  design,  which  his  mind 
was,  as  much  as  ever  any,  set  upon.  He  arrived  Aod.  19,  at  Boston, 
where,  although  he  found  himself,  as  well  as  the  publick,  thrown  into 
very  uneasie  circumstances,  yet  he  had  this  to  comfort  him,  that  neither 
his  courage  nor  his  conduct  could  reasonably  have  been  taxed  ;  nor 
could  it  be  said  that  any  man  could  have  done  more  than  he  did,  under  so 
many  embarassments  of  his  business,  as  he  was  to  fight  withal.  He  also 
relieved  the  uneasiness  of  his  mind,  by  considering,  that  his  voyage  to 
Canada,  diverted  from  his  country  an  horrible  tempest  from  an  army  of 
BossLopers,  which  had  prepared  themselves,  as  'tis  affirmed,  that  win- 
ter, to  fall  upon  the  Nezc-English  colonies,  and  b}'  fdling  on  them,  would 
probably  have  laid  no  little  part  of  the  country  desolate.  And  he  fur- 
ther considered,  that  in  this  matter,  like  Israel  engaging  against  Benja- 
min,\t  may  be,  we  saw  yet  but  the  beginning  of  the  matter  :  and  that  the 
v/ay  to  Canada  now  being  learnt,  the  foundation  of  a  victory  over  it  might 
be  laid  in  what  had  been  already  done.  Unto  this  purpose  likewise,  he 
was  heard  sometimes  applying  the  remarkable  story  reported  by  Brad- 
war  dine. 

'  There  was  an  hermit,  who  being  vexed  with  blasphemous  injections 
about  the  justice  and  wisdom  of  Divine  Providence,  an  angel  in  humane 
shape  invited  him  to  travel  ^^'\[^\  him,  that  he  might  sec  the  hidden  judg- 
ments of  God.  Lodging  all  night  at  the  house  of  a  man  who  kindly  en- 
tertained them,  the  angel  took  away  a  valuable  cup  from  their  host,  at 
'  their  going  away  in  the  morning, and  bestowed  this  cup  upon  a  very  -vicked 
'  ??7C(??,with  whom  they  lodged  the  night  ensuing.  The  third  night  they  were 
'•  most  lovingly  treated  at  the  house  of  a  very  godly  man,  from  whom, 
when  they  went  in  the  morning,  the  angel  meeting  a  servant  of  his, 
threw  him  over  the  bridge  into  the  water,  where  he  ij'as  drowned. 
And  the  fourth,  being  in  like  manner  most  courteously  treated  at  the 
house  of  a  very  godly  man,  the  angel  before  morning  did  unaccountably 
kill  his  only  child.  The  companion  of  the  journey  being  wonderfully 
offended  at  these  things,  would  have  left  his  gvardian:  but  the  angel 
then  thus  addressed  him,  Understand  now  the  secret  jvdgmoits  of  God! 
The  first  man  that  entertained  us,  did  inordinately  affect  that  cup  which  I 
took  from  him;  'twas  for  the  advantage  of  his  interiour  that  I  took  it 
awaij,  and  I  gave  it  unto  the   impious  man,  as  the  present  reward  of  his 


Book  II.]       OR,  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  173 

'  good  zcorks,  m-hich  is  oil  the  rezs.'arcl  he  is  like  to  hare.  As  for  our  third 
'  host,  the  servant  which  I  slexv  had  funned  a  bloody  design  to  have  slain  his 
'  master,  but  noTo,  yon  see,  I  have  saved  the  life  of  the  master,  and  prevented 
'  something  of  growth  unto  the  eternal  punishment  of  the  murderer.  As  for 
*  our  fourth  host,  before  his  child  was  born  unto  him.  he  was  a  very  liberal 
'  and  bountiful  person,  and  he  did  abimdance  of  good  with  his  estate;  but 
'  when  he  saw  he  was  like  to  leave  such  an  heir,  he  grew  covetous ;  wherefore 
'  the  soid  of  the  infant  is  translated  into  paradise,  but  the  occasion  of  sai  is, 
'  7J0U  see,  mercifully  taken  away  from  the  parent. 

Thus  General  Fhips,  though  he  had  been  us.ed  unto  diving  in  his  time, 
would  say,  That  the  things  which  had  befallen  him  in  this  expedition,  were 
too  deep  to  be  dived  into  ! 

§  12.  From  the  time  that  General  Pen  made  his  attempt  u^ion  Hispani- 
ola,  with  an  army  that,  like  the  .^ew- English  forces  against  Canada,  mis- 
carried after  an  expectation  of  having  little  to  do  but  to  possess  and 
plunder ;  even  to  this  day,  the  general  disaster  which  hath  attended 
almost  every  attempt  of  the  European  colonies  in  America,  to  make  any 
considerable  encroachments  upon  their  neighbours,  is  a  matter  of  some 
close  reflection.  But  of  the  disaster  wliich  now  befel  poor  A'ew-Eng- 
land  in  particular,  every  one  will  easily  conclude  none  of  the  least  con- 
sequences to  have  been  the  extream  debts  which  that  country  was  now 
plunged  into  ;  there  hd'mgforty  thousand  pounds,  more  or  less,  now  to 
be  paid,  and  not  a  penny  in  the  treasury  to  pay  it  withal.  In  this  ex- 
tremity they  presently  found  out  an  expedient,  which  may  serve  as  an  ex- 
ample  for  any  people  in  other  parts  of  the  world,  whose  distresses  may 
call  for  a  sudden  supply  of  money  to  carry  them  through  any  important 
expedition.  The  general  assembly  first  passed  an  act  for  the  levying  of 
such  a  sum  of  money  as  was  wanted,  within  such  a  term  of  time  as  was  judg- 
ed convenient ;  and  this  act  was  a  fund,  on  which  the  credit  of  such  a  sum 
should  be  rendered  passable  among  the  people.  Hereupon  there  was 
appointed  an  able  and  faithful  committee  of  gentlemen,  who  printed, 
from  copper-plates,  a  just  number  of />!7/s,  and  flourished,  indented,  and 
.contrived  them  in  such  a  manner,  as  to  make  it  impossible  to  counterfeit 
any  of  them,  without  a  speedy  discovery  of  the  counteifeit :  besides 
which,  they  were  all  signed  by  the  hands  of  three  belonging  to  that  com- 
mittee. These  bills  being  of  several  sums,  from  two  shillings,  to  ten 
pounds,  did  confess  the  Massachuset-colony  to  be  ciidebtcd  unto  the  per- 
son in  whose  hands  they  were,  the  sums  therein  expressed  ;  and 
provision  was  made,  that  if  any  particular  bills  Avere  irrecoverable  lost, 
or  torn,  or  worn  by  the  owners,  they  might  be  recruited  without  any 
damage  to  the  whole  in  general.  The  public  debts  to  the  sailors  and  sol- 
diers, now  upon  the  point  of  mutiny,  (for,  Arma  Tenenti,  Omnia  dat,  qm 
Justa  negat .')  were  in  these  bills  paid  immediately  :  but  that  further  ere 
diY  might  be  given  thereunto,  it  was  ordered  that  they  should  be  accept- 
ed by  the  treasurer,  and  all  officers  that  were  subordinate  unto  him,  in 
all  publick  payments,  at  five  per  cent,  more  than  the  value  expressed  in 
them.  The  people  knowing  that  the  tax-act  would,  in  the  space  of  two 
years  at  least,  fetch  into  the  treasury  as  much  as  all  the  bills  of  credit, 
thence  emitted,  would  amount  unto,  were  willing  to  be  furnished  with 
hills,  wherein  it  was  their  advantage  to  pay  theiricr.rf^,  rather  than  in  any 
other  specie  ;  and  so  the  sailors  and  soldiers  put  off  their  bills,  instead  of 
money,  to  those  with  whom  they  had  any  dealings,  and  they  circulated 
through  all  the  hands  in  the  colony  pretty  comfortably.  Had  the  gov- 
ermnent  heen  so   settled,  that  there  had  nof  hopp   nnv  donbf  of  anv  ob- 


174  MAGiN ALIA  CHKISTl  AMERICANA:  [Book  11. 

struction,  or  diversion  to  be  given  to  the  prosecution  of  the  tax-act,  by 
a  total  change  of  their  aftViirs  then  depending  at  White-Hall,  'tis  very  cer- 
tain, that  the  bills  of  credit  had  been  better  than  so  much  ready  silver ; 
yea,  the  invention  had  been  of  more  use  to  the  JVew-Englanders,  than  if 
ail  their  copper  mines  had  been  opened,  or  the  mountains  of  Peru  bad 
been  removed  into  these  parts  of  America.  The  Massachiiset  bills  of 
credit  had  been  like  the  bank  bills  of  Venice,  where  though  there  were 
not,  perhaps,  a  ducat  of  mone}'  in  the  bank,  yet  the  bills  were  esteemed 
more  than  twenty  per  cent,  better  than  money,  among  the  body  of  the 
people,  in  all  their  dealings.  But  many  people  being  afraid,  that  the 
government  would  in  lialf  a  year  be  so  overturned,  as  to  convert  their 
bills  of  credit  altogether  into  ~i-aste  paper,  the  credit  of  them  was  thereby 
very  much  impaired  ;  and  they,  who  first  received  them,  could  make 
them  yield  little  more  than  fourteen  or  sixteen  shillings  in  the  pound  : 
from  whence  there  arose  those  idle  suspicions  in  the  heads  of  many  more 
ignorant  and  unthinking  folks  concerning  the  use  thereof,  which,  to  the 
incredible  detriment  of  the  province,  are  not  wholly  laid  aside  unto  this 
<lay.  However,  this  method  of  paying  the  pidick  debts,  did  no  less  than 
save  the  publick  from  a  perfect  ruin  :  and  e're  many  months  were  ex- 
pired, the  governour  and  council  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  the  treasurer 
burn  before  their  eyes  many  a  thousand  pounds  worth  of  the  bills,  which 
had  passed  about  until  they  were  again  returned  unto  the  treasury  :  but 
before  their  being  returned,  had  happily  and  honestly,  without  a  farthing 
of  silver  coin,  discharged  the  debts,  for  which  they  were  intended.  But 
that  which  helped  tliese  bills  unto  much  of  ihe'ir  credit,  was  the  generous 
ofler  of  many  worthy  men  in  Boston,  to  run  the  risque  of  selling  their 
goods  reasonably  for  them  ;  and  of  these,  I  think  I  may  say,  that  General 
I'hips  was  in  some  sort  the  leader  ;  who  at  the  very  beginning,  meerlj* 
to  recommend  the  credit  of  the  bills  unto  other  persons,  chearlully  laid 
down  a  considerable  quantity  of  ready  money  for  an  equivalent  parcel 
of  them.  And  thus  in  a  little  time  the  country  waded  thi'ough  the 
terrible  debts  which  it  was  fallen  into :  in  this,  though  unhappy 
enough,  yet  not  so  unhappy  as  in  the  loss  of  men,  by  which  the 
country  was  at  the  same  time  consumed.  'Tis  true,  there  was  very 
little  blood  spilt  in  the  attack  made  upon  Quebeck  ;  and  there  was  9.  great 
hand  of  heaven  seen  in  it.  The  churches,  upon  the  call  of  the 
government,  not  only  observed  a  general /asi!  through  the  colony,  for 
the  welfare  of  the  army  sent  unto  Qucbeck,  but  also  kept  the  nheel  of 
prayer  in  a  continual  motion,  by  repeated  and  successive  agreements, 
for  days  of  prayer  with  fasting,  in  their  several  vicinities.  On  these 
days  the  ferventest  prayers  were  sent  up  to  the  God  of  armies,  for 
the  safety  and  succe.s?  of  the  Xiciv- English  ai'my  gone  to  Canada  : 
and  though  I  never  understood  that  any  of  the  faithful  did  in  their 
prayers  arise  to  any  assurance  that  the  expedition  should  prosper  in  all 
respects,  yet  they  sometimes  in  their  devotions  on  these  occasions,  ut- 
tered their  persvvasion,  that  Almighty  God  had  heard  them  in  this  thing, 
that  the  English  ar'mj  should  not  fall  by  the  hands  of  the  French  enemy. 
Now  they  were  marvellously  delivered  from  doing  so;  though  the  ene- 
my had  such  unexpected  advantages  over  them,  yea,  and  though  the 
horrid  winter  was  come  on  so  far,  that  it  is  a  wonder  the  English  fleet, 
then  riding  in  the  river  oi  Canada,  fared  any  better  than  the  army  which 
a  while  since  besieged  Poland.^  wherein,  of  seventy  thousa7id  invaders,  no 
less  than/or///  thousand  suddenly  perished  by  the  severity  of  the  cold,  al- 
beit it  were  but  the  month  of  .iVovembcr  with  them.     Nevertheless,  a  kind 


Book  II.]      OR,  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  176 

oi camp-fever,  as  well  as  the  small-pox ,  goi  into  the  fleet,  whereby  some 
hundreds  came  short  of  home.  And  besides  this  calamity,  it  was  also  to 
be  lamented,  that  although  the  most  of  the  tleet  arrived  safe  at  New-Eng- 
Land,  whereof  some  vessels  indeed  were  driven  off  by  cross-winds  as  far 
as  the  West- Indies-,  before  such  ari'ival ;  yet  there  were  three  or  four  ves- 
sels which  totally  miscarried  :  one  was  never  heard  of,  a  second  was 
wrecked,  but  most  of  the  men  were  saved  bj'  another  in  company  ;  a  third 
was  wrecked  so,  that  all  the  men  were  either  starved,  or  drowned,  or 
slain  by  the  Indians,  except  one,  which  a  long  while  after  was  by  means 
of  the  French  restored  :  and  9.  fourth  met  with  accidents,  which,  it  may 
be,  my  reader  will  by  and  by  pronounce  not  unworthy  to  have  been  re- 
lated. 

A  brigantine,  whereof  Captain  John  Rainsford  was  commander,  hav- 
ing about  threescore  men  aboard,  was  in  a  very  stormy  night,  October  28 
1690,  stranded  upon  the  desolate  and  hideous  island  of  Antecosta,  an 
island  in  the  mouth  of  the  mighty  river  of  Canada;  but  through  the 
singular  mercy  of  God  unto  them,  the  vessel  did  not,  immediately,  stave 
to  pieces,  which  if  it  had  happened,  they  must  have,  one  way  or  another, 
quickly  perished.  There  they  lay  for  divers  days,  under  abundance  of 
bitter  weather,  trying  and  hoping  to  get  off  their  vessel  ;  and  they  sol- 
emnly set  apart  one  day  for  praijcr  with  fasting,  to  obtain  the  smiles  of 
heaven  upon  them  in  the  midst  of  their  distresses  ;  and  this  especially, 
that  if  they  must  go  ashoar,  they  might  not,  by  any  stress  of  storm,  lose 
the  provisions  which  they  were  to  carry  with  them.  They  were  at  last 
convinced,  that  they  must  continue  no  longer  on  board,  and  therefore,  by 
the  seventh  of  November,  they  applied  themselves,  all  hands,  to  get  their 
provisions  ashoar  upon  the  dismal  island,  where  they  had  nothing  but  a  sad 
and  cold  winter  before  them  ;  which  being  accomplished,  their  vessel  over- 
set so,  as  to  take  away  from  them  all  expectation  of  getting  off  the  island  in 
it.  Here  they  now  built  themselves  nine  small  chimney-less  things  that  they 
called  houses  ;  to  this  purpose  employing  such  boards  and  planks  as  they 
could  get  from  their  shattered  vessel,  with  the  help  of  trees,  whereof  that 
squalid  wilderness  had  enough  to  serve  them  ;  and  they  built  a  particular 
store-house,  wherein  they  carefully  lodged  and  locked  the  poor  quantity 
of  provisions,  which  though  scarce  enough  to  serve  a  very  abstemious 
company  for  07ie  months  must  now  be  so  stinted,  as  to  hold  out  six  or  seven  ; 
and  the  allowance  agreed  among  them  could  be  no  better  than  for  one 
man,  two  biskets,  half  a  pound  of  pork,  half  a  pound  of  forcer,  one  pint 
and  a  quarter  of  pease,  and  two  salt  fishes  per  week.  This  little  handful 
of  men  were  now  a  sort  of  commonwealth,  extraordinarily  and  miserably- 
separated  from  all  the  rest  of  mankind  ;  (but  I  believe,  they  thought 
little  enough  of  an  Utopia  :  wherefore  they  consulted  and  concluded 
Such  laws  among  themselves,  as  they  judged  necessary  to  their  sab- 
sistence,  in  the  doleful  condition  whereinto  the  prpvidence  of  God  had 
cast  them  ;  now 

— Penitus  toto  divisos  Orbe. 

They  set  up  good  orders,  as  well  as  they  could,  among  themselves  ; 
and  besides  their  daily  devotions,  they  observed  the  Lord's  Days,  with 
more  solemn  exercises  of  religion. 

■  But  it  was  not  long  before  they  began  to  feel  the  more  mortal  effects 
of  the  straits  whereinto  they  had  been  reduced:  their  sAor^  commons, 
S»€ir  drink  of  snow-wa/er.  their  hard,  and  wet.  and  smoaky  lodgings,  and 


176  MAGNALIA  CHRISTI  AxMERICANA;  [Book  li. 

their  grievous  despair  of  mind,  overwhelmed  some  of  them,  at  such  a 
rate,  and  so  ham-stringed  them,  that  sooner  than  be  at  the  pains  to  go 
abroad,  and  cut  their  own  fuel,  they  would  lye  after  a  sottish  manner  in 
the  cold  ;  these  things  quickly  brought  sicknesses  among  them.  The  first 
of  their  number  who  died  was  their  doctor,  on  the  20th  of  December  ;  and 
then  they  dropt  away,  one  after  another,  till  between  thirty  and  forty  of  the 
sixty  were  buried  by  their  disconsolate  friends,  whereof  every  one  look- 
ed still  to  be  the  next  that  should  lay  his  bones  in  that  forsaken  region. 
These  poor  men  did  therefore,  on  Monday  the  twenty  seventh  of  Janua- 
ry, keep  a  sacred  fast  (as  they  did.  in  some  sort,  a  civil  one,  every  day,  all 
this  while)  to  beseech  of  Almighty  God,  that  his  anger  might  be  turned 
from  them,  tiiat  he  would  not  go  on  to  cut  them  ofl'in  his  anger,  that  the 
extremity  of  the  season  might  be  mitigated,  and  that  they  might  be  pros- 
pered in  some  essay  to  get  relief  as  the  spring  should  advance  upon 
them  ;  and  they  took  notice  that  God  gave  them  a  gracious  answer  to  eve- 
ry one  of  these  petitions. 

But  while  the  hand  of  God  was  killing  so  many  of  this  little  nation  (and 
yet  uncapable  to  become  a  nation,  for  it  was  Res  utiiiis  ^latis,  popuhis 
t)2Vonf/n .')  they  apprehended,  that  they  must  have  been  under  a  most 
uncomfortable  necessity  to  kill  one  of  their  company. 

\yb:dte\er  penalties  they  enacted  for  other  crimes,  there  was  one,  for 
which,  like  that  of  parricide  among  the  antients  they  would  have  prom- 
ised themselves,  that  there  should  not  have  been  occasion  for  any 
punishments  ;  and  that  was  the  crime  of  stecding  from  the  common-stock 
of  their  provisions.  Nevertheless  they  found  their  store-house  divers 
times  broken  open,  and  iheiv  provisions  therefrom  stolen  by  divers  un- 
natural children  of  the  Leviathan,  while  it  was  not  possible  for  them  to 
preserve  their  feeble  store-house  from  the  stone-mall-breaking  madness 
of  these  unreasonable  creatures.  This  trade  of  stealing,  if  it  had  not 
been  stopped  by  some  exemplary  severity,  they  must  in  a  little  while,  by 
lot  or  force,  have  come  to  have  cannihally  devoured  one  another  ;  for 
there  was  nothing  to  be  done,  either  ciifishing,  ov fowling,  or  huntings 
upon  that  rueful  island,  in  the  depth  of  a  frozen  winter s  and  though 
they  sent  as  far  as  they  could  upon  discovery,  they  could  not  find  on  the 
island  any  living  thing  in  the  world,  besides  themselves.  Wherefore, 
though  by  an  act  they  made  stealing  to  be  so  criminal,  that  several  did 
run  the  gantlet  for  it,  yet  they  were  not  far  from  being  driven,  after  all. 
to  make  one  degree  and  instance  of  it  capital.  There  was  a  wicked 
Irishman  among  them,  who  had  such  a  vuracious  devil  in  him,  that  after 
divers  burglaries  upon  the  storc-honse,  committed  by  him,  at  last  he  stole, 
and  eat  with  such  a  pamphagons  fury,  as  to  cram  himself  with  no  less 
than  eighteen  biskets  at  one  stolen  meal,  and  he  was  fixm  to  have  his 
belly  stroked  and  bathed  before  the  fire,  lest  he  should  otherwise  have 
burst.  This  amazir;i;,  and  indeed  murderous  villany  of  the  Irishman, 
brought  them  all  to  their  wit's  ends,  how  to  defend  themselves  from  the 
ruin  therein  threatned  unto  them  ;  and  whatever  methods  were  proposed, 
it  was  feared  that  there  could  be  no  stop  given  to  his  furacious  exorbi- 
tancies  any  way  but  one ;  he  could  not  be  past  stealing,  unless  he  were 
past  eating  too.  Some  think  therefore  they  might  have  sentenced  the 
wretch  to  die,  and  after  they  had^been  at  pains,  upon  christian  and  spir- 
itual accounts,  to  prepare  him  for  it,  have  executed  the  sentence,  by 
shooting  him  to  death  :  concluding  matters  come  to  that  pass,  that  if  they 
had  not  shot  him,  he  must  have  starved  them  unavoidably.  Such  an  ac- 
tion, if  it  were  done,  will  doubtless  meet^yith  no  harder  a  censure,  than 


Book  II.]      OR,  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  177 

that  of  the  seven  Englishmen,  who  being  in  a  boat  carried  olT  to  sea  from 
St.  Christophers,  with  but  one  day's  provision  aboard  for  seventeen,  singled 
out  some  of  their  number  by  lot,  and  slew  them,  and  eat  them  ;  for 
which,  when  they  were  afterwards  accused  o(  murder,  the  court,  in  con- 
sideration of  the  inevitable  necessity,  acquitted  them.  Truly  the  inevitable 
necessity  of  starving,  without  such  an  action,  sufKciently  grievous  to  them 
all,  will  very  much  plead  for  what  was  done  (whatever  it  were  !)  by  these 
poor  Antecostians.  And  starved  indeed  they  must  have  been  for  all  this, 
if  they  had  not  contrived  and  performed  a  veiy  desperate  adventure, 
which  now  remains  to  be  related,  inhere  was  a  very  diminutive  kind  of 
boat  belonging  to  their  brigantine,  which  they  recovered  out  of  the 
wreck,  and  cutting  this  boat  in  two,  they  made  a  shit^t,  with  certain  odd 
materials  preserved  among  them,  to  lengthen  it  so  far,  that  they  could 
form  a  little  cuddy,  where  two  or  three  men  might  be  stowed,  and  they 
setup  a  little  mast,  whereto  they  fastened  a  little  sail,  and  accommodated 
it  with  some  other  little  circumstances,  according  to  their  present  poor 
capacity. 

On  the  twenty-fifth  of  March,  five  of  the  company  shipped  themselves 
upon  this  doughty ^y-6oat,  intending,  if  it  were  possible,  to  cany  unto 
Boston  the  tidings  of  their  woful  plight  upon  Antecosta,  and  by  help  from 
their  friends  there,  to  return  with  seasonable  succours  for  the  rest. 
They  had  not  sailed  long  before  they  were  hemmed  in  by  prodigious 
cakes  of  ice,  whereby  their  boat  sometimes  was  horribly  wounded,  and 
it  was  a  miracle  that  it  was  not  crushed  into  a  thousand  pieces,  if  indeed 
a  thousand  pieces  could  have  been  splintred  out  of  so  minute  a  cock-boat. 
They  kept  labouring,  and  fearfully  weather-beaten,  among  enormous 
rands  of  ice,  which  would  ever  now  and  then  rub  formidably  upon 
them,  and  were  enough  to  have  broken  the  ribs  of  the  strongest  frigot 
that  ever  cut  the  seas  ;  and  yet  the  signal  hand  of  heaven  so  preserved 
this  petty  boat,  that  by  the  eleventh  of  April  they  had  got  a  quarter  of 
their  way,  and  came  to  an  anchor  under  Cape  St.  Lau-rence,  having  seen 
land  but  once  before,  and  that  about  seven  leagues  oft,  ever  since  their 
first  setting  out ;  and  yet  having  seen  the  open  and  ocean  sea  not  so  muck 
as  once  in  all  this  while,  for  the  ice  that  still  encompassed  them.  For 
their  support  in  this  time,  the  little  provisions  they  brought  with  them 
would  not  have  kept  them  alive  ;  only  they  killed  scale  upon  the  ice,  and 
they  melted  the  upper  part  of  the  ice  for  drink  ;  but  fierce,  wild,  ugly 
sea-horses  would  often  so  approach  them  upon  the  ice,  that  the  fear  of  be- 
ing devoured  by  them  was  not  the  least  of  their  exercises.  The  day 
follovving  they  weighed  anchor  betimes  in  the  morning,  but  the  norwest 
winds  persecuted  them,  with  the  raised  and  raging  waves  of  the  sea, 
which  almost  continually  poured  into  them  ;  and  monstrous  islands  of 
ice,  that  seemed  almost  as  big  as  Antecosta  it  self,  would  ever  now  and 
then  come  athwart  them.  In  such  a  sea  they  lived  by  the  special  assist- 
ance of  God,  until,  by  the  thirteenth  of  April,  they  got  into  an  island  of 
land,  where  they  made  a  fire,  and  killed  some  fowl,  and  some  sea>e,  and 
found  some  goose-eggs,  and  supplied  themselves  with  what  billets  of  wood 
were  necessary  and  carriageable  for  them  ;  and  there  they  stayed  until 
the  seventeenth.  Here  their  boat  lying  near  a  rock,  a  frveat  sea  hove  it 
upon  the  rock,  so  that  it  was  upon  the  very  point  of  oversetting  ,\shicAi  if  it 
had,  she  had  been  utterly  disabled  for  any  further  service,  and  they  must 
have  called  that  harbour  by  the  name,  which,  I  think,  one  a  little  more 
northward  bears,  the  Cape  without  hope.  There  they  must  have  ended 
their  weary  days  1     But  here  the  good  hand  of  God  again  interposed  for 

Vol.  I.        "  33 


178  MAGNALIA  CHKiSTI  AMERICANA.  [Book  U. 

them  ;  they  got  her  off ;  and  though  they  lost  their  compass  in  this  hurry, 
they  sufficiently  repaired  another  defective  one  they  had  aboard.  Sailing 
from  thence,  by  the  twenty -fourth  of  Jlpril,  they  made  Cape  Brittoon  ; 
when  a  thick  fog  threw  them  into  a  new  perplexity,  until  they  were 
safely  gotten  into  the  Bay  of  Islands,  where  they  again  wooded,  and  wa- 
tred,  and  killed  a  few  fowl,  and  catched  some  fish,  and  began  to  reckon 
themselves  as  good  as  half  reay  home.  They  reached  Cape  Sables  by  the 
third  of  May^  but  by  the  fifth  all  their  provision  was  again  spent,  and 
they  were  out  of  sight  of  land  ;  nor  had  they  any  prospect  of  catching 
any  thing  that  lives  in  the  Atlantick :  which  while  they  w  ere  lamenting 
one  unto  another,  a  stout  halibut  comes  up  to  the  top  of  the  water,  by 
their  side  ;  whereupon  they  threw  out  the  fishing-line,  and  the  fish  took 
the  hook  ;  but  he  proved  so  heavy,  that  it  required  the  help  of  several 
hands  to  hale  him  in,  and  a  thankful  supper  they  made  on  it.  By  the 
seventh  of  May  seeing  no  land,  but  having  once  more  spent  all  their 
provision,  they  were  grown  almost  wholly  hopeless  of  deliverance,  but 
then  a  fishing  shallop  of  Cape  Jinn  came  up  with  them,  fifteen  leagues 
to  the  eastward  of  that  cape.  And  yet  before  they  got  in,  they  had  so 
tempestuous  a  night,  that  they  much  feared  perishing  upon  the  rocks 
after  all  :  but  God  carried  them  into  Boston  harbour  the  ninth  of  May, 
unto  the  great  surprize  of  their  friends  that  were  in  mourning  for  them  : 
and  there  furnishing  theraselve^with  a  vessel  fit  for  their  undertaking, 
they  took  a  course  in  a  few  weeks  more  to  fetch  home  their  brethren  that 
they  left  behind  them  at  Jintccosta. 

But  it  is  now  time  for  us  to  return  unto  Sir  William! 

§  13.  All  this  while  Canada  was  as  much  written  upon  Sir  William''s 
heart,  as  Callice,  they  said  once,  was  upon  Q,ueen  Mary's.  He  need- 
ed not  one  to  have  been  his  daily  monitor  about  Canada :  it  lay  down 
with  him,  it  rose  up  Avith  him,  it  engrossed  almost  all  his  thoughts  ;  he 
thought  the  subduing  of  Canada  to  be  the  greatest  service  that  could  be 
done  for  JSi'eii'-England,  or  for  the  crown  of  England,  in  Jimerica.  In 
pursuance  whereof,  after  he  had  been  but  a  few  weeks  at  home,  he  took 
another  voyage  for  England,  in  the  very  depth  of  winter,  zt'hen  sailing 
was7iozi}  dangerous  ;  conflicting  Avith  all  the  difliculties  of  a  tedious  and  a 
terrible  passage,  in  a  very  little  vessel,  which  indeed  was  like  enough  to 
have  perished,  if  it  had  not  been  for  the  help  of  his  generous  hand 
aboard,  and  his  fortunes  in  the  bottom. 

Arriving per  tot  Discrimina,  at  Bristol,  he  hastned  up  to  Lon- 
don ;  and  made  his  applications  to  their  Majesties,  and  the  principal  Min- 
isters of  State,  for  assistance  to  renew  an  expedition  against  Canada, 
concluding  his  representation  to  the  King  with  such  words  as  these  : 

'  If  your  Majesty  shall  graciously  please  to  commission  and  assist  me, 
'  I  am  ready  to  venture  my  life  again  in  your  service.  And  1  doubt  not, 
'  by  the  blessing  of  God,  Canada  may  be  added  unto  the  rest  of  your 
'  dominions,  which  will  (all  circumstances  considered)  be  of  more  ad- 
'  vantage  to  the  crowa  of  England,  than  all  the  territories  in  the  West- 
'  Indies  are. 

lite  Reasons  /i.^re  subjoined,  are  humbly  off ered  unto  your  Majesty^s  coa" 

sideration. 

«  First,  The  success  of  this  design  will  greatly  add  to  the  glory  and  in- 

'  terest  of  the  English  crown  and  nation  ;  by  the  addition  of  the  Bever- 

'  trade,  and  securing  the  thidsoivs  bay  company,  some  of  whose  factories 

■  have  lately  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  French;  and  increase  oi'  English 


Book  H.]      OR,  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  179 

'  shipping  and  seamen,  by  gaining  the  fishery  of  Kermfoxindland ;  and  by 
'  consequence  diminish  the  number  oi  French  seamen,  and  cut  off  a  great 
'  revenue  from  the  French  crown. 

*  Secondly,  The  cause  of  the  English  in  JVerv-England,  their  faihng  in 
'  the  late  attempt  upon  Canada,  was  their  waiting  for  a  supply  of  ammu- 
'  nition  from  England  until  August ;  their  long  passage  up  that  river  ;  the 
'  cold  season  coming  on,  and  the  smallpox  and  yVrers  being  in  the  army 

•  and  fleet,  so  that  they  could  not  stay  fourteen  days  longer  ;  in  which 
'  time  probably  they  might  have  taken  Qiieheck ;  yet,  if  a  few  frigots  be 
'  speedily  sent,  they  doubt  not  of  an  happy  success  ;  the  strength  of  the 
'  French  being  small,  and  the  planters  desirous  to  be  under  ttie  English 
'  government. 

'  Thirdly,  The  Jesuifes  endeavour  to  seduce  the  Maguas,  and  other  /n- 
'  dians  (as  is  by  them  affirmed)  suggesting  the  greatness  of  King  Leu-is, 
'  and  the  inability  of  King  IVilliam,  to  do  any  thing  against  the  French  in 
'  those  parts,  thereby  to  engage  them   in  their  interests  :  in  w]>'j:h    if 

♦  they  should  succeed,  not  only  jYew-Etigland,  but  all  our  American  pitin- 

*  tations,  would  be  endangered  by  the  great  increase  of  shippmg,  for  the 
'  French  (built  in  Ne-w-England  at  easie  rates)  to  the  infiaite  dishonour 
'  and  prejudice  of  the  English  nation.' 

But  now,  for  the  success  of  these  applications,  I  must  entreat  the  pa- 
tience of  my  reader  to  wait  until  we  have  gone  through  a  little  more  of 
our  history. 

§  14.  The  Reverend  Increase  Mather  beholding  his  country  o{  JVew- 
England  in  a  very  deplorable  condition,  under  a  governovr  that  acted  by 
an  illegal,  arbitrary,  treasonable  commission,  and  invaded  liberty  and 
property  after  such  a  manner,  as  that  no  man  could  say  any  thing  was  his 
own,  he  did,  with  the  encouragement  of  the  principal  gentlemen  in  the 
country,  but  not  without  much  trouble  and  hazard  unto  his  own  person, 
go  over  to  Whitehall  in  the  summer  of  the  year  1688,  and  wait  upon  King 
James,  with  a  full  representation  of  their  miseries.  That  King  did  give 
him  liberty  of  access  unto  him,  whenever  he  desired  it,  and  with  many 
good  zcords  promised  him  to  relieve  the  oppressed  people  in  many  instan- 
ces that  were  proposed  :  but  when  the  revolution  had  brought  the  Prince 
and  Princess  of  Orange  to  the  throne,  Mr.  Mather  having  the  honour  di- 
vers times  to  wait  upon  the  King,  he  still  prayed  for  no  less  a  favour  to 
New-England,  than  the  full  restoration  of  their  charter-priviledges  :  and 
Sir  William  Phips  happening  to  be  then  in  England,  very  generously 
joined  with  Mr.  Mather  in  some  of  those  addresses  :  whereto  his  Majes- 
ty's answers  were  always  vei'y  expressive  of  his  gracious  inclinations. 
Mr.  Mather,  herein  assisted  also  by  the  Right  Worshipful  Sir  Henry 
Ashurst,  a  most  hearty  friend  of  all  such  good  men  as  those  that  once 
filled  JVew- England,  solicited  the  leading  men  of  both  houses  in  the  Con- 
vention-Parliament, until  a  bill  for  the  restoring  of  the  charters  belong- 
ing to  New-England,  was  fully  passed  by  the  Commons  of  England ;  but 
that  Parliament  being  prorogued,  and  then  dissolved,  all  i\idii  SisyphcRan 
labour  came  to  nothing.  The  disappointments  which  afterwards  most 
wonderfully  blasted  all  the  hopes  of  the  petitioned  restoration,  obliged 
Mr.  Mather,  not  without  the  concurrence  of  other  agents,  now  also  come 
from  New -Engl  and,  unto  that  method  of  petitioning  the  King  for  Anew 
charter,  that  should  contain  more  than  all  the  priviledges  of  the  old ;  and 
Sir  William  Phips,  now  being  again  returned  into  England,  lent  his  ut- 
most assistance  hereunto. 


180  MAGNALIA  CHRISTI  AMERICANA .  [Book  11. 

The  King  taking  a  voyage  for  Holland  before  this  petition  was  answer- 
ed ;  Mr.  Mather,  in  the  mean  while,  not  only  waited  upon  the  greatest 
part  of  the  Lords  of  his  Majesty's  most  honourable  Privy  Council,  of- 
fering them  a  paper  of  reasons  for  the  conjirmation  of  the  charter-privi- 
ledges  granted  unto  the  Massachuset-colony  ;  but  also  having  the  honour 
to  be  introduced  unto  the  Queen,  he  assured  her  Majesty,  that  there 
were  none  in  the  world  better  afiected  unto  their  Majesties'  government 
than  the  people  of  Ne-w- England,  who  had  indeed  been  exposed  unto 
great  hardships  for  their  being  so  ;  and  entreated,  that  since  the  King 
had  referred  the  New-English  aflair  unto  the  two  Lord  Chief  Justices, 
with  the  Attorney  and  Solicitor  General,  there  might  be  granted  unto  us 
what  they  thought  was  reasonable.  Whereto  the  Queen  replied,  that 
the  request  was  reasonable  :  and  that  she  had  spoken  divers  times  to  the 
King  on  the  behalf  of  New-England ;  and  that  for  her  own  part,  she 
desired  that  the  people  there  might  not  meerly  have  justice,  hni  favour 
done  to  them.  When  the  King  was  returned,  Mr.  Mather,  being  by  the 
Duke  of  Devonshire  brought  into  the  King's  presence  on  April  28,  1691, 
humbly  prayed  his  Majesty's  favour  to  New- England ;  urging,  that  if 
their  old  charter-priviledges  might  be  restored  unto  them,  his  name  would 
be  great  in  those  parts  of  the  world  as  long  as  the  world  should  stand  ; 
adding, 

Sir, 

Your  subjects  there  have  been  willing  to  venture  their  lives,  that  they  may 
enlarge  your  dominions ;  the  expedition  to  Canada  was  a  great  and  noble 
undertaking. 

May  it  please  your  Majesty,  in  yoxir  great  zvisdoin  also  to  consider  the  cir- 
cumstances of  that  people,  as  in  your  wisdom  you  have  considered  the  cir- 
cumstances of  England,  and  of  Scotland.  In  New-England  they  differ 
from  other  plantations ;  they  are  called  Congregational  and  Presbyterian. 
(So  tiiat  such  a  governour  will  not  suit  with  the  people  of  New-England,  as 
may  be  very  proper  for  other  KagVish  plantations. 

Two  days  after  this,  the  King,  upon  what  was  proposed  by  certain 
Lords,  was  very  inquisitive,  whether  he  might,  without  breach  of  law, 
set  a  governour  over  New-England;  Avhercto  the  Lord  Chief  Justice, 
and  some  others  of  the  council,  answered,  that  whatever  might  be  the 
merit  of  the  cause,  inasmuch  as  the  charter  of  New  England  stood  va- 
cated by  a  judgment  against  them,  it  was  in  the  King's  power  to  put  them 
under  what  form  of  government  he  should  think  best  for  them. 

The  King  then  said,  'That  he  believed  it  would  be  for  the  advantage  of 
'  the  people  in  that  colony,  to  be  under  a  governour  appointed  by  him- 
'  self :  nevertheless  (because  of  what  Mr.  Mather  had  spoken  to  him) 
'he  would  have  the  agents  of  New  England  nominate  a  person  that 
'should  be  agreeable  unto  the  inclinations  of  the  people  there  ;  and  not- 
'  withstanding  this,  he  would  have  charter-priviledges  restored  and  con- 
'  firmed  unto  them. 

The  day  following  the  King  began  another  voyage  to  Holland;  and 
when  the  attorney  general's  draught  of  a  charter,  according  to  what  he 
took  to  be  his  Majesty's  mind,  as  expressed  in  council,  was  presented  at 
the  council-bavii'l,  on  the  eighlh  of  June,  some  objections  then  made,  pro- 
cured an  order  to  prepare  minutes  {or  another  draught,  which  deprived 
the  Ni-w-E  .glanders  of  several  essfiitial  privilc'Iges  in  their  other  char- 
ter,    Mr.  Mather  put  in  hi?  objections,  and  vehemently  protested,  that 


1 


Book  II.]      OR,  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  181 

he  would  sooner  part  with  his  life,  than  consent  unto  those  mimites,  or 
any  thing  else  that  should  infringe  any  liberty  or  priviledge  of  right  be- 
longing unto  his  country  ;  but  he  was  answered,  that  the  agents  of  Aetw- 
Enfrland  were  not  plenipotentiaries  from  another  sovereign  state  ;  and 
that  if  they  would  not  submit  unto  the  King's  pleasure  in  the  settlement 
of  the  country,  they  must  take  ichat  would  follow. 

The  dissatisfactory  minutes  were,  by  Mr.  Mather's  industry,  sent  over 
unto  the  King  in  Flanders  ;  and  the  ministers  of  state  then  with  the  King 
were  earnestly  applied  unto,  that  every  mistake  about  the  good  settle- 
ment ofA't^io-L'/i^/aacZ  might  be  prevented  ;  and  the  Queen  her  self,  with 
her  own  royal  hand,  wrote  unto  the  king  that  the  charter  of  jVeiv-Eng- 
land  might  either  pass  as  it  was  drawn  by  the  attorneji  general,  or  be 
deferred  until  his  own  return. 

But  after  all,  his  Majesty's  principal  secretary  of  state  received  a  signi- 
fication of  the  King's  pleasure,  that  the  charter  of  .Kew- England  should 
run  in  the  main  points  of  it  as  it  was  now  granted  :  only  there  were  seve- 
ral important  articles  which  Mr.  Mather  by  his  unwearied  solicitation 
obtained  afterwards  to  be  inserted. 

There  were  some  now  of  the  opinion,  that  instead  of  submitting  to  this 
new  settlement,  they  should,  in  hopes  of  getting  a  reversion  of  the  judg- 
ment against  the  old  charter,  declare  to  the  ministers  of  state,  that  they 
had  rather  have  no  charter  at  all,  than  such  an  one  as  was  now  proposed 
unto  acceptance.  But  Mr.  Mather  advising  with  many  unprejudiced  per- 
sons, and  men  of  the  greatest  abilities  in  the  kingdom,  noblemen,  gentle- 
men; divines  and  laicyers,  they  all  agreed,  that  it  was  not  only  a  lawful, 
but  all  circumstances  then  considered,  a  needful  thing,  and  a  part  of 
duty  and  wisdom  to  accept  what  was  now  offered,  and  that  a  peremptory 
refusal  would  not  only  bring  an  inconveniency,  but  a  fatal,  and  perhaps, 
a  final  ruin  upon  the  country  :  whereof  mankind  would  lay  the  blame 
upon  the  agents. 

It  was  argued,  that  such  a  submission  was  no  surrender  of  any  thing  ; 
that  the  judgment,  not  in  the  court  of  King's-&enc^,  but  in  chancery  against 
the  old  charter,  standing  on  record,  the  patten  was  thereby  annihilated  ; 
that  all  attempts  to  have  the  judgment  against  the  old  charter  taken  oft", 
would  be  altogether  in  vain,  as  men  and  things  were  then  disposed. 

It  was  further  argued,  that  the  ancient  charter  of  j\''ew- England  was 
in  the  opinion  of  the  lawyers  very  defective,  as  to  several  powas,  which 
yet  were  absolutely  necessary  to  the  subsistence  of  the  plantations  :  it 
gave  the  government  there  no  more  power  than  the  corporations  have  in 
England ;  power  in  capital  cases  was  not  therein  particularly  express- 
ed. 

It  mentioned  not  an  house  of  deputies,  or  an  assembly  of  representatives  ; 
the  governour  and  company  had  thereby  (they  said)  no  power  to  impose 
taxes  on  the  inhabitants  that  were  not  freemen,  or  to  erect  courts  of  ad- 
miralty. Without  such  powers  the  colony  could  not  subsist ;  and  yet  the 
best  friends  that  New-England  had  of  persons  most  learned  in  the  law, 
professed,  that  suppose  the  judgment  against  the  Ma^sachuset-ch^rier 
might  be  reversed,  vet,  if  they  should  again  exert  such  powers  as  they 
did  before  the  Qwr?  Warranto  against  their  charter,  a  new  writ  of  Scire 
Facias  would  undoubtedly  be  issued  out  against  them. 

It  was  yet  further  argued,  that  if  an  act  of  parliament  should  have  re- 
versed the  judgment  against  the  Massachuset-charter,  without  a  grant  of 
some  other  advantages,  the  whole  territory  had  been,  on  many  accounts, 
very  miserably  incommoded  :    the  Province  of  Main,   with  Hampshire , 


J 82  MAGNALIA  CHRISTI  AMERICANA ;  [Cook  11. 

would  have  been  taken  from  them  ;  and  Plymouth  would  have  been  an- 
nexed unto  JVew-York ;  so  that  this  colony  would  have  been  squeezed 
into  an  atom,  and  not  only  have  been  rendered  insignificant  in  its  trade, 
but  by  having  its  militia  also,  which  was  vested  in  the  King,  taken  away, 
its  insigni/icancies  would  have  become  oat  of  measure  humbling  ;  where- 
as now,  instead  of  seeing  any  relief  by  act  of  parliament,  they  would 
have  been  put  under  a  governour,  with  a  commission,  whereby  ill  men, 
and  the  King's  and  country's  enemies  might  probably  have  crept  into 
opportunities  to  have  done  ten  thousand  ill  things,  and  have  treated  the 
best  men  in  the  land  after  a  very  ua- 'jufortable  manner. 

It  was  lastly  argued,  that  by  the  new  charter  very  great  priviledges 
were  granted  unto  Ne-w-England ;  and  in  some  respects  greater  than 
what  they  formerly  enjoyed.  The  colony  is  now  made  a  province,  and 
their  general  court,  has,  with  the  King's  approbation,  as  much  power  in 
New-England,  as  the  King  and  parliament  have  in  England.  They  have 
all  English  liberties,  and  can  be  touched  bj'^  no  law,  by  no  tax,  but  of  their 
own  making.  All  the  liberties  of  their  holy  religion  are  for  ever  secur- 
ed, and  their  titles  to  their  lands,  once  for  want  of  some  forms  of  legal 
conveyance,  contested,  are  now  confirmed  unto  them.  If  an  ill  govern- 
our should  happen  to  be  imposed  on  them,  what  hurt  could  he  do  to 
them  1  None,  except  they  themselves  pleased  ;  for  he  cannot  make  one 
counsellor,  one  judge,  or  one  justice,  or  one  sheriff  to  serve  his  turn  : 
disadvantages  enough,  one  would  think,  to  discourage  anj  ill  governour 
from  desiring  to  be  stationed  in  those  uneasie  regions.  The  people  have 
a  negative  upon  all  the  executive  part  of  the  civil  government,  as  well 
as  the  legislative,  which  is  avast  priviledge,  enjoyed  by  no  other  planta- 
tion in  America,  nor  by  Ireland,  no,  nor  hitherto  by  England  it  self. 
Why  should  all  of  this  good  be  refused  or  despised,  because  of  some- 
what not  so  good  attending  it  ?  The  despisers  of  so  much  good,  will, 
certainly  deserve  a  censure,  not  unlike  that  of  Causabon,  upon  some 
who  did  not  value  what  that  learned  man  counted  highly  valuable, 
Vix  illis  optari  quidquam  pejus  potest,  quam  ut  fatiiilate  sua  fruantur  : 
Much  good  may  do  them  with  their  madness  !  All  of  this  being  well 
considered.  Sir  William  Phips,  who  had  made  so  many  addresses  for  the 
restoration  of  the  old  charter,  under  which  he  had  seen  his  country  ma- 
ny years  flourishing,  will  be  excused  by  all  the  world  from  any  thing  of  a 
fault,  in  a  most  unexpected  passage  of  his  life,  which  is  now  to  be  re- 
lated. 

Sir  Henry  Ashvrst,  and  Mr.  Mather,  well  knowing  the  agreeable  dispo- 
sition to  do  good,  and  the  King  and  his  country  service,  which  was  in 
Sir  William  Phips,  whom  they  now  had  with  them,  all  this  while  prose- 
cuting his  design  for  Canada,  they  did  unto  the  council-board  nominate 
him  for  the  governour  of  Neziu- England.  And  Mr.  Mather  being  by  the 
Earl  of  Nottingham  introduced  unto  his  Majesty,  said. 

Sir, 
/  DO,  ill  the  hehalf  of  New-England,  most  humbly  thank  your  Majesty, 
in  that  you  have  been  pleased  by  a  Charter,  to  restore  English  Liberties  unto 
them,  to  confirm  them  in  their  pro'pertics,  and  to  grant  them  some  peculiar 
priviledo'es.  J  doubt  not,  but  that  your  subjects  there  will  demean  themselves 
ti'ith  that  dutiful  affection  and  loyally  to  your  Majesty,  as  that  you  trill  see 
cause  to  enlarge  your  royal  favours  tozaards  them.  And  I  do  most  humbly 
thank  your  Majesty,  in  that  you  have  been  pleased  to  give  leave  unto  those 
iJiaf  are  concerned,  for  New-England  to  nominate  their  Governour. 


il 


Book  II.]      OR,  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  188 

Sir  William  Phips  has  been  accordingly  nominated  by  us  at  the  Council- 
Board.  He  haih  done  a  good  service,  for  the  crozfn^  by  enfarging  your  do- 
minions, and  reducing  of  Nova  Scotia  to  your  obedience.  In  know  that  he 
"will  faithfully  serve  your  Majesty  to  the  utmost  of  his  capacity  ;  and  if  your 
Majesty  shall  think  fit  to  confirm  him  in  that  place,  it  r&ill  be  a  furtlier  obli- 
gation on  your  subjects  there. 

The  effects  of  all  this  was,  that  Sir  Williain  Phips  was  now  invested 
with  a  commission  under  the  King's  broad-seal  to  be  captain-general, 
and  governour  in  chief  over  the  province  of  the  Massachuset-bay  in  JVexa- 
England :  nor  do  I  know  a  person  in  the  world  that  could  have  been 
})roposed  more  acceptable  to  the  body  of  the  people  throu^'ihout  JVew- 
England,  and  on  that  score  more  likely  and  able  to  serve  the  King's  in- 
terests among  the  people  there,  under  the  changes  in  some  things  unac- 
ceptable, now  brought  upon  them.  He  had  been  a  Gidion,  who  had 
more  than  once  ventured  his  life  to  save  his  country  from  their  enemies  ; 
and  they  now,  with  universal  satisfaction  said.  Thou  shali  rule  over  us. 
Accordingly,  having  with  Mr.  Mather  kissed  the  King's  hand  on  January 
3d,  1691,  he  hastned  away  to  his  government  :  and  arriving  at  JVet«- 
England  the  fourteenth  of  May  following;,  attended  with  the  JVon-such- 
frigot,  both  of  them  were  welcomed  with  the  loud  acclamations  of  the 
long  shaken  and  shattered  country,  whereto  they  were  now  returned 
with  a  settlement  so  full  of  happy  priviledges. 

§  15.  When  Titus  Flaminius  had  freed  the  poor  Grecians  from  the 
bondage  which  had  long  oppressed  them,  and  the  herald  proclaimed 
among  them  the  articles  of  their  freedom,  they  cried  out,  A  saviour! 
a  saviour .'  with  such  loud  acclamations,  that  the  very  birds  fell  down 
from  heaven  astonished  at  the  cry.  Truly,  when  Mr.  Mather  brought  with 
him  unto  the  poor  JVew-Englanders ,  not  only  a  charter,  which  though  in 
divers  points  wanting  what  both  he  and  they  had  wished  for,  yet  ibr  ever 
delivers  them  from  oppressions  on  their  christian  and  English  liberties, 
or  their  ancient  possessions,  wherein  ruining  writs  of  intrusion  had  be- 
gun to  invade  them  all,  but  also  a  governour  who  might  call  .^'ew-Eng- 
land  his  own  country,  and  who  was  above  most  men  in  it,  full  of  affection 
to  the  interests  of  his  country  ;  the  sensible  part  of  the.  people  then 
caused  the  sence  of  the  salvations  thus  brought  them  to  reach  as  far  as 
heaven  it  self.  The  various  little  humours  then  working  among  the  peo- 
ple, did  not  hinder  the  great  and  general  court  of  the  province  to  appoint 
a  day  of  solemn  Thanksgiving  to  Almighty  God,  hr  granting  (as  the 
printed  order  expressed  it)  a  safe  arrival  to  his  Excellency  our  Governour^ 
and  the  Reverend  Mr.  Increase  Mather,  who  have  industriously  endeavour- 
ed the  service  of  this  peopile,  and  have  brought  over  with  them  a  settlement 
of  government,  in  which  their  Majesties  have  graciously  given  us  distinguish- 
ing marks  of  their  royal  favour  and  goodness. 

And  as  the  obliged  people  thus  gave  thanks  unto  the  God  of  Heaven, 
so  they  sent  an  address  o[  thanks  unto  their  Majesties,  with  other  letters 
of  thanks  unto  some  chief  ministers  of  state,  for  the  favourable  aspect 
herein  cast  upon  the  province. 

Nor  were  the  people  mistaken,  when  they  promised  themselves  all  the 
kindness  imaginable  from  this  governour,  and  expected,  under  his  shadow 
we  shall  live  easie  among  the  heathen  :  why  might  they  not  look  for  halcy 
ondays,  when  they  had  such  a  King's-fisher  for  their  governour  ? 

Governour  Phips  had,  as  every  raised  and  useful  person  must  have, 
his  envious  enemies ;  but  the  palest  envy  of  them,  who  turned  their  worst 


}84  MAGNALIA  CHRISTI  AMERICANA;  [Book  IL- 

enmity  upon  him,  could  not  hinder  them  from  confessing,  That  according 
to  the  best  of  his  apprehension,  he  ever  sought  the  good  of  his  country:  his 
country  quickly  felt  this  on  innumerable  occasions  ;  and  they  had  it  emi- 
nently demonstrated,  as  well  in  his  promoting  and  approving  the  council's 
choice  of  good  Jwf/g-es,  justices  and  sheriffs,  which  being  once  established 
no  successor  could  remove  them,  as  in  his  urging  the  general  assembly  to 
make  themselves  happy  by  preparing  a  body  of  good  laws  as  fast  as  they 
could,  which  being  passed  by  him  in  his  time,  could  not  be  nulled  by  any 
other  after  him. 

He  would  often  speak  to  the  members  of  the  General  Assembly  in 
such  terms  as  these,  Gentlemen,  you  may  make  your  selves  as  easie  as  you 
"joill  for  ever;  consider  what  may  have  any  tendency  to  your  welfare ;  and 
you  may  he  sure,  that  Tn-hatever  bills  you  offer  to  me,  consistent  Zi-ith  the  hon- 
.our  and  interest  of  the  Cronn,  Vll  pass  them  readily ;  I  do  but  seek  oppor- 
tunities to  serve  you  :  had  it  not  been  for  the  sake  of  this  thing,  I  had  never 
accepted  the  government  of  this  province ;  and  isahenever  you  have  settled  such 
a  body  of  good  laws,  that  no  person  coming  after  me  may  make  you  vneasie, 
I  shall  desire  not  one  day  longer  to  continue  in  the  government.  Accord- 
ingly he  ever  passed  every  act  for  the  welfare  of  the  province  proposed 
unto  him  ;  and  instead  of  ever  putting  them  upon  buying  his  assent  unto 
any  good  act,  he  was  much  forwarder  to  give  it,  than  they  were  to  ask  it: 
nor  indeed,  had  the  hunger  of  a  salary  any  such  impression  upon  him, 
as  to  make  him  decline  doing  all  possible  service  for  the  pubiick,  while 
he  was  not  sure  of  having  any  proportionable  or  honourable  acknowl- 
edgments. 

But  yet  he  minded  the  preservation  of  the  King's  rights  with  as  care- 
ful and  faithful  a  zeal  as  became  a  good  steward  for  the  crown  :  and,  in- 
deed, he  studied  nothing  more  than  to  observe  such  a  temper  in  all 
things,  as  to  extinguish  what  others  have  gone  to  distinguish  ;  even  the 
pernicious  notion  of  a  separate  interest.  There  was  a  time  when  the 
Roman  empire  was  infested  with  a  vast  number  of  goveinours,  who  were 
infamous  for  infinite  avarice  and  villany  ;  and  referring  to  this  time,  the 
apostle  John  had  a  vision  of  people  killed  rcith  the  beasts  of  the  earth. 

But  Sir  William  Phips  was  none  of  those  governours  ;  wonderfully 
contrary  to  this  wretchedness  was  the  happiness  of  .Yew- England,  when 
they  had  Governour  Phips,  using  the  tenderness  of  a  father  towards  the 
people  ;  and  being  of  the  opinion,  Ditare  magis  esse  Regium  quam,  Dites- 
cere,  that  it  was  a  braver  thing  to  enrich  the  people,  than  to  grow  rich 
himself  A  father,  1  said  ;  and  what  if  I  had  said  an  angel  too  ?  If  I 
should  from  Clemens  Alexandrinus,  from  Theodoret,  and  from  Jerom,  and 
others  among  the  ancients,  as  well  as  from  Calvin,  and  Bucan,  anA  Peter 
Martyr,  and  Chemnitius,  and  Bullinger,  and  a  thousand  more  among  the 
moderns,  bring  authorities  for  the  assertion.  That  each  country  and  prov- 
ince is  under  the  special  care  of  some  angel,  by  a  singular  deputation  of 
heaven  assi^^ned  thereunto,  I  could  back  them  with  a  far  greater  authority 
than  any  of  them  all.  The  scripture  it  self  does  plainly  assert  it :  and 
hence  the  most  learned  Groiius,  writing  of  commonwealths,  has  a  passage 
to  this  purpose,  His  sing2ilis,  suos  Attributos,  esse  Angelas,  ex  Daniele, 
maiino  consensu,  i>,'  Judwi  ^'  Christiani  veteres  colligebant. 

B;)t  J\'ew-Englund  had  now,  besides  the  guardian-angel,  who  more  in- 
visibly intended  its  welfare,  a  governour  that  became  wonderfully  agree- 
able thereunto^  by  his  whole  imitation  of  such  a  guardian-angel.  He 
employed  his  whole  strength  to  guard  his  people  from  all  disasters,  which 
threulned  them  either  by  sea  or  land  ;  and  it  was  remarked,  tkat  nothing 


Book  II.J      OR,  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  185 

remarkably  disastrous  did  befal  that  people  from  the  time  of  his  arrival 
to  the  government,  until  there  arrived  an  order  for  his  leaving  it  :  (ex- 
cept one  thing  which  was  begun  before  he  entred  upon  the  government :) 
but  instead  thereof,  the  Indians  were  notably  defeated  in  the  assaults 
which  they  now  made  upon  the  English,  and  several  French  ships  did  also 
very  advantageously  fall  into  his  hands  ;  yea,  thei-e  was  by  his  means  a 
peace  restored  unto  the  province,  that  had  been  divers  years  languishing 
under  the  hectic  feaver  of  n  lingring  war. 

And  there  was  this  one  thing  more  that  rendred  his  government  the 
more  desirable  ;  that  whereas  'tis  impossible  for  a  meer  man  to  govern 
without  some  error ;  whenever  this  governour  was  advised  of  any  error 
in  any  of  his  administrations,  he  would  immediately  retract  it,  and  revoke 
it  with  all  possible  ingenuity  ;  so  that  if  any  occasion  of  just  complaint 
arose,  it  was  usually  his  endeavour  that  it  should  not  long  be  complained  of. 

0,  fcelices  niinium,  sua  si  Bona,  norant,  JVov-Angli. 


But  having  in  a  parenthesis  newly  intimated,  that  his  Excellency,  whea 
he  entred  on  his  government,  found  one  thing  that  was  remarkably  disas- 
trous begun  upon  it  :  of  that  one  thing  we  will  now  give  some  account. 

Reader,  prepare  to  be  entertained  with  as  prodigious  matters  as  can 
be  put  into  any  history !  And  let  him  that  writes  the  next  Thaumato- 
graphia  Pneumatica,  allow  to  these  prodigies  the  chief  place  among  the 
wonders. 

§  1 6.  About  the  time  of  our  blessed  Lord's  coming  to  reside  on  earth, 
we  read  of  so  many  possessed  with  devils,  that  it  is  commonly  thought  the 
number  of  such  miserable  energumens  was  then  encreased  above  what  has 
been  usual  in  other  ages  ;  and  the  reason  of  that  increase  has  been  made 
a  matter  of  some  enquiry.  Now  though  the  devils  might  herein  design 
by  preternatural  operations  to  blast  the  miracles  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
which  point  they  gained  among  the  blasphemous  Pharisees ;  and  the  devils 
might  herein  also  design  a  villanous  imitation  of  what  was  coming  to  pass 
in  the  incarnation  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  wherein  God  came  to  dxi^ell 
in  flesh ;  yet  I  am  not  without  suspicion,  that  there  may  be  something  fur- 
ther in  the  conjecture  of  the  learned  Bartholimis  hereupon,  who  says. 
It  was  Quod  judai  prceter  modum,  Artibus  Magicis  dediti  Dcemonem  Advo- 
caverint,ihe  Jews,  by  the  frequent  use  of  magical  tricks,  called  in  the 
devils  among  them. 

It  is  very  certain,  there  vvere  hardly  any  people  in  the  world  grown 
more  fond  of  sorceries,  than  that  unhappy  people  :  the  Talmuds  tell  us  of 
the  little  parchments  with  words  upon  them,  which  were  their  common 
amulets,  and  of  the  charms  which  they  muttered  over  wounds,  and  of  the 
various  enchantments  which  they  used  against  all  sorts  of  disasters  what- 
soever. It  is  affirmed  in  the  Talmuds,  that  no  less  than  twenty-four 
scholars  in  one  school  were  killed  by  witchcraft ;  and  that  no  less  than 
fourscore  persons  were  hanged  for  witchcraft  by  one  judge  in  one  day. 
The  gloss  adds  upon  it.  That  the  women  of  Israel  had  generally  fallen  t(X 
the  practice  of  witchcrafts  ;  and  therefore  it  was  required,  that  there 
should  be  still  chosen  into  the  council  one  skilful  in  the  urta  of  sorcerers, 
and  able  thereby  to  discover  who  might  be  guilty  of  those  black  arts 
among  such  as  were  accused  before  them. 

Now  the  arrival  of  Sir  William  Phips  to  the  government  of  JVtw-Eng- 
land,  was  at  a  time  when  a  governour  would  have  had  occasion  for  all 
the  skill  in  sorcery,  that  was  ever  necessary  to  a  Jewish  Cuimcellor;  a 

Vor.   I.  24 


im  iMAGNALI A  CHRISTI  AMERICANA.  [Book  li 

lime  when  scores  of  poor  people  had  newly  fallen  under  a  prodigious 
possession  of  devils,  which  it  was  then  generally  thought  had  been  bv 
Tscilchcrafis  introduced.  It  is  to  be  confessed  and  bewailed,  that  many  in- 
habitants of  J\'ew-England,  and  young  people  especially,  had  been  led 
away  with  little  sorceries,  wherein  they  did  secretly  those  things  that  ti-ere 
not  right  against  the  Lord  their  God ;  they  would  often  cure  hurts  with 
spells,  and  practise  detestable  conjurations  with  sieves,  and  keys,  and  pease, 
and  nails,  and  horse-shoes,  and  other  implements,  to  learn  the  things  for 
which  they  had  a  forbidden  and  impious  curiosity.  Wretched  books  had 
stoln  into  the  land,  wherein  fools  were  instructed  how  to  become  able  for- 
tune-tellers :  among  which,  I  wonder  that  a  blacker  brand  is  not  set  upon 
that  fortune-telling  >vheel,  which  that  sham-scribler,  that  goes  under  the 
letters  oiR.  B.  has  promised  in  his  Delights  for  the  ingenious,  as  an  honest 
and  pleasant  recreation  :  and  by  these  books,  the  minds  of  many  had  been 
so  poisoned,  that  they  studied  this  finer 'di-ilchcraft ;  until,  'tis  well,  if 
some  of  them  were  not  betrayed  into  what  is  grosser,  and  more  sensible 
and  capital.  Although  these  diabolical  divinations  are  more  ordinarily 
committed  perhaps  all  over  the  n-hole  7s.-orld,  than  they  are  in  the  country 
of  jXew-England,  yet,  that  being  a  country  devoted  unto  the  worship  and 
service  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  above  the  rest  of  the  -world,  he  signal- 
ized his  vengeance  against  these  wickednesses,  with  such  extraordinary 
dispensations  as  have  not  been  often  seen  in  other  places. 

The  devils  *vhich  had  been  so  played  withal,  and,  it  may  be,  by  some 
few  criminals  more  explicitely  engaged  and  imployed,  now  broke  in  upon 
the  country,  after  as  astonishing  a  manner  as  was  ever  heard  of.  Some 
scores  of  people,  first  about  Salem,  the  centre  and  hrst-born  of  all  the 
towns  in  the  colony,  and  afterwards  in  several  other  places,  were  ari'est- 
ed  with  m-Awy  preternatural  vexations  upon  their  bodies,  and  a  variety  ol 
cruel  torments,  which  were  evidently  inflicted  from  the  damons  of  the 
invisible  ziorld.  The  people  that  were  infected  and  infested  with  such 
d(^mons,  in  a  few  days'  time  arrived  unto  such  a  rrfning  alteration  upon 
their  eyes,  that  they  could  see  their  tormentors:  they  saw  a  devil  of  v 
little  stature,  and  of  a  tawny  colour,  attended  still  with  spectres  that  ap 
peared  in  more  humane  circumstances. 

These  tormentors  tendred  unto  the  afflicted  a  book,  requiring  them  to 
sign  it,  or  to  touch  it  at  least,  in  token  of  their  consenting  to  be  listed  in 
the  service  of  the  devil ;  which  they  refusing  to  do,  the  spectr-zs  under 
the  command  of  that  blackman,  as  they  called  him,  would  apply  them- 
selves to  torture  them  ^vilh  prodigious  molestations. 

The  afliicted  wretches  were  horribly  distorted  and  convulsed:  they 
were  pinched  black  and  blue  :  pins  would  be  run  every  where  in  their 
flesh  ;  they  would  be  scalded  until  they  had  blisters  raised  on  them  ;  and 
a  thousand  other  things  before  hundreds  of  witnesses  were  done  unto 
them,  evi<ient1y /;rc/erHan(ro/ :  for  if  it  were  preternatural  to  keep  a 
rigid  fast  tor  nine,  yea,  for  fifteen  days  together  ;  or  if  it  were  preter- 
natural to  have  one's  hands  tyed  close  together  with  a  rope  to  be  plainly 
seen,  and  then  by  v.nsccn  hands  presently  pulled  up  a  great  way  from  the 
earth  before  a  croud  of  people  ;  such  prelernalural  things  were  endured 
by  them. 

But  of  all  the  preternatural  things  which  befel  these  people,  there 
were  none  more  unaccountable  than  those,  wherein  the  prestigious  dir- 
mons  would  ever  now  and  then  cover  the  most  corporeal  things  in  the 
world  with  k fascinating  mist  o{  invisihility.  As  now;  a  person  was 
cruelly  assaulted  by  a  spectre,  that,  she  said,  run  at  her  with  a  spindle. 


Book  II.]       OR,  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  187 

though  no  body  else  in  the  room  could  see  either  the  spectre  or  the  spin- 
dle:  at  last,  in  her  agonies,  giving  a  snatch  at  the  spectre,  she  pulled  the 
spindle  away  ;  and  it  was  no  sooner  got  into  her  hand,  but  the  other 
folks  then  present  beheld  that  it  was  indeed  a  real,  proper,  iron  spindle; 
which  when  they  locked  up  very  sate,  it  was  nevertheless  by  the  daemons 
taken  away  to  do  farther  mischief. 

Again,  a  person  was  haunted  by  a  most  abusive  spectre,  which  came  to 
her,  she  said,  with  a  sheet  about  her,  though  seen  to  none  but  herself. 
After  she  had  undergone  a  deal  of  teaze  from  the  annoyance  of  the  spec- 
ire,  she  gave  a  violent  snatch  at  the  sheet  that  was  upon  it  ;  where-from 
she  tore  a  corner,  which  in  her  hand  immediately  was  beheld  by  all  that 
were  present,  a  palpable  corner  of  a  sheet :  and  her  father,  which  %vas 
now  holding  of  her,  catched,  that  he  might  keep  v.'hat  his  daughter  had  so 
strangely  seized  ;  but  the  spectre,  had  like  to  have  wrung  his  hand  otf,  by 
endeavouring  to  wrest  it  from  him  :  however  he  still  held  it ;  and  several 
times  this  odd  accident  was  renewed  in  the  family.     There  wanted  not 
j  the  oaths  of  good  credible  people  to  these  particulars. 
I       Also,  it  is  well  known,  that  these  wicked  spectres  did  proceed  so  far  as 
[  to  steal  several  quantities  of  money  from  divers  people,   part  of  which 
I  individual  money  was  dropt  sometimes  out  of  the  air,  before  suiScient 
j  spectators,  into  the  hands  of  the  afflicted,  while  the  spectres  were  urging 
I  them  to  subscribe  their  covenant  m-ith  death.     Moreover,  poisons  to  the 
I  standers-by,  wholly  invisibly,  were  sometimes  forced  upon  the  afflicted  ; 
I  which  when  they  have  with  much  reluctancy  swidlowed,  they  have  sa-o/??. 
I  presently,  so  that  the  common  medicines  for  poisoHs  have  been  found  ne-- 
I  oessary  to  relieve   them  :  yea,  sometimes  the  spectres  in  the  struggles 
i  have  so  dr6pt  the  poisons,  that  the  standers-by  have  smelt  them,  and 
viewed  them,  and  beheld  the  pilloxcs  of  the  miserable  stained  with  them. 
Yet  more,  the  miserable  have  complained  bitterly  of  bur}iing  rags  run 
into  their  forceably  distended  mouths  ;  and  though  no  body  could  see  any 
such  clothes,  or  indeed  any ^^res  in  the  chambers,  yet  presently  the  scalds 
were  seen  plainly  by  every  body  on  the  mouths  of  the  complainers,  and 
not  only  the  smell,  but  the  smoke  of  the  burning  sensibly  filled  the  cham- 
bers. 

Once  more,  the  miserable  exclaimed  extreamly  of  branding  irons 
heating  at  the  fire  on  the  hearth  to  mark  them  :  now  though  the  standers- 
by  could  see  no  irons,  yet  they  could  see  distinctly  the  print  of  them  in 
the  ashes,  and  smell  them  too  as  they  v^ere  carried  by  the  not-seen  furies, 
unto  the  poor  creatures  for  whom  they  were  intended  ;  and  those  poor 
i  creatures  were  thereupon  so  stigmatized  with  them,  that  they  will  bear 
:  the  marks  of  them  to  their  dying  day.  Nor  are  these  the  tcntk  part  of 
the  prodigies  that  fell  out  among  the  inhabitants  of  J\~eii--England. 

Flashy  people  may  burlesque  these  things,  but  when  hundreds  of  the 
most  sober  people  in  a  country,  where  they  have  as  much  mother-zcit 
'  crtainly  as  the  rest  of  mankind,  know  them  to  be  true,  nothing  but  the 
;ibsurd  and  froward  spirit  of  Sadducism  can  question  them.  1  have  noi 
yet  mentioned  so  much  as  one  thing  that  will  not  be  justified,  if  it  be  re- 
.  quired  by  the  oaths  of  more  considerate  persons  than  any  that  can  ridi- 
cule these  odd  pJucnomena. 

But  the  worst  part  of  this  astonishing  tragedy  is  yet  behind  ;  wherein 
Mr  William  Phips,  at  last  being  dropt,  as  it  were  from  the  machin  of 
''oiven,  was  an  instrument  of  easing  the  distresses  of  the  land,  now  so 
'■'rkened  by  the  m-rath  of  the  Lord  of  Hosts.  There  were  very  worthy 
men  upon  the  spot  where  the  assault  from  hpJl  was  fir^t  made,  who  ap- 


188  MAGNALIA  CHRISTI  AMERICANA:  [Book  li, 

prehended  themselves  called  from  the  God  of  Heaven,  to  sift  the  business 
unto  the  bottom  of  it ;  and  indeed,  the  continual  impressions,  which  the 
outcries  and  the  havocks  of  the  afflicted  people  that  lived  nigh  unto  them 
caused  on  their  minds,  gave  no  little  edge  to  this  apprehension. 

The  persons  were  men  eminent  for  wisdom  and  virtue,  and  they  went 
about  their  enquiry  into  the  matter,  as  driven  unto  it  by  a  conscience  o( 
duty  to  God  and  the  world.  They  did  in  the  first  place  take  it 
for  granted,  that  there  are  witches,  or  wicked  children  of  men,  who 
upon  covenanting  with,  and  commissioning  of  evil  spirits,  are  attended  by 
their  ministry  to  accomplish  the  things  desired  of  them  :  to  satisfie  them 
in  which  perswasion,  they  had  not  only  the  assertions  of  the  holy  scrip- 
tures ;  assertions  which  the  witch-advocates  cannot  evade  without  shifts, 
too  foolish  for  the  prudent,  or  too  profane  for  any  honest  man  to  use  ;  and 
the}' had  not  only  the  well-attested  relations  of  the  gravest  authors  from 
Bodin  to  Bovet,  and  from  Binsfield  to  Brombal  and  Baxter ;  to  deny  all 
which,  would  be  as  reasonable  as  to  turu  the  chronicles  of  all  nations 
into  romances  of  Don  Quixot  and  the  Seven  Champions  ;  but  they  had  also 
an  ocular  demonstration  m  one,  who  a  little  before  had  been  executed  for 
wiichcrafl,  when  Joseph  Dudley,  Esq.  was  the  chief-judge.  There  was 
one  whose  magical  images  were  found,  and  who  confessing  her  deeds, 
(when  a  jury  of  doctors  returned  her  compos  mentis)  actually  shewed  the 
whole  court,  by  what  ceremonies  used  unto  them,  she  directed  her  fa- 
miliar spirits  how  and  where  to  cruciate  the  objects  of  her  malice  ;  and 
the  experiment  being  made  over  and  over  again  before  the  whole  court, 
the  effect  followed  exactly  in  the  hurts  done  to  the  people  at  a  distance 
from  her.  The  existence  of  such  witches  was  now  taken  for  granted  by 
those  good  men,  wherein  so  fir  the  generality  of  reasonable  men  have 
thought  they  ran  well;  and  they  soon  received  the  coyfcssions  of  some 
accused  persons  to  confirm  them  in  it  :  but  then  they  took  one  thing  more 
for  granted,  wherein  'tis  now  as  generally  thought  they  went  out  of  the 
■way.  The  afflicted  people  vehemently  accused  several  persons  in  several 
jjlaces,  that  the  spectres  which  afflicted  them,  did  exactly  resemble  them: 
until  the  importunity  of  the  accusations  did  provoke  the  magistrates  to  ex- 
amine them.  When  many  of  the  accused  came  upon  their  examination, 
it  was  found,  that  the  dwrnons  (hen  a  thousand  ways  abusing  of  the  poor 
afflicted  people,  had  with  a  marvellous  exactness  represented  them  ;  yea^ 
it  was  found,  that  many  of  (he  accused,  but  casting  their  eye  on  the  affjict- 
cd,  the  afflicted,  though  their  face?  were  never  so  much  another  way, 
would  fill  down  and  lye  in  a  soil  of  a  swoon,  wherein  they  would  contin- 
ue, whatever  hands  were  laid  upon  them,  until  the  hands  of  the  accused 
came  to  touch  them,  and  then  they  would  revive  immediately  ;  and  it  was 
found,  that  various  kinds  oi^  natural  actions,  done  by  many  of  the  accused 
in  or  to  their  ov/n  bodies,  as  leaning,  bending,  turning  awry,  or  squeezing 
their  hanus,  or  the  like,  were  preseiith"  attended  with  the  like  things  pre- 
ternaiurally  done  upon  the  bodies  of  the  afflicted,  though  they  were  so 
far  asunder,  that  the  afflicted  could  not  at  all  observe  the  accused. 

It  was  also  found,  that  the  flesh  of  the  atllicted  was  often  bitten  at  such  a 
rate,  that  not  only  the  print  of  teeth  would  be  left  on  their^esft,  but  the  very 
slaver  of  spittle  too  ;  and  there  would  appear  just  such  a  set  of  teeth  as  was  in 
the  accused,  even  such  as  might  be  clearly  distinguished  from  other  peo- 
ples. And  usually  the  afflicted  went  through  a  terrible  deal  of  seeming 
difficulties  from  the  tormenting  spectres,  and  must  be  long  waited  on,  be- 
fore they  could  get  a  breathing  ypace  from  their  torments  to  give  in  their 
testimonie?. 


Book  II.]       OR,  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  18& 

Now  many  good  men  took  up  nn  opinion,  that  the  providence  of  God  would 
not  permit  an  innocent  person  to  come  under  such  a  spectral  representation  ; 
and  that  a  concurrence  of  so  many  circumstances  would  prove  unaccus- 
ed person  to  be  in  a  confederacy  with  the  dwmons  thus  afflicting  of  the  neigh- 
bours ;  thev  judged,  that  except  these  things  might  amount  unto  a  con- 
viction, it  would  scarce  be  possible  ever  to  convict  a  Tx-ilck  ;  and  they  had 
some  philosophical  schemes  of  witchcraft,  and  of  the  method  and  manner 
wherein  magical  poisons  operate,  which  further  supported  them  in  their 
opinion. 

Sundry  of  the  accusec/ persons  were  brought  unto  their  trial,  while 
this  opinion  was  yet  prevailing  in  the  minds  oi i\ie  judges  AnA  ihe  juries, 
and  perhaps  the  most  of  the  people  in  the  country,  then  mostly  sutlering  ; 
and  though  against  some  of  them  that  were  tried  there  came  in  so  much 
other  evidence  of  their  diabolical  compacts,  that  some  of  the  most  judi- 
cious, and  yet  vehement  opposers  of  the  notions  then  in  vogue,  publickly 
declared,  Had  they  themselves  been  on  the  bench,  they  could  not  have  acquit- 
ted them;  nevertheless,  divers  were  condemned,  against  whom  the  chief 
evidence  was  founded  in  the  spectral  exhibitions. 

And  it  happening,  that  some  of  the  accused  coming  to  confess  them- 
selves ^wj/^i/,  their  shapes  were  no  more  seen  by  any  of  the  afflicted, 
though  the  confession  had  been  kept  never  so  secret,  but  instead  there- 
of the  eccusec/ themselves  became  in  all  vexations  just  like  the  afflicted; 
this  yet  more  cofirmed  many  in  the  opinion  that  had  been  taken  up. 

And  another  thing  that  quickened  them  yet  more  to  act  upon  it,  was, 
that  the  afflicted  were  frequently  entertained  with  apparitions  of  ghosts 
at  the  same  time  that  the  spectres  n^  ihe  supposed  -^•itches  troubled  them  : 
which  ghosts  always  cast  the  beholders  into  far  more  consternation  than 
any  of  the  s/)ec?res ;  and  when  they  exhibited  tiiemselves,  they  cried 
out  of  being  murdered  by  the  zvitchcrafis,  or  other  violences  of  the  per- 
sons represented  in  the  spectres.  Once  or  twice  these  apparitions  were 
seen  b_v  others  at  the  very  same  time  that  they  shewed  themselves  to 
the  afflicted  ;  and  seldom  were  they  seen  at  all,  but  when  something  un- 
usual and  suspicious  had  attended  the  death  of  the  party  thus  appearing. 
The  abided  people  many  times  had  never  heard  any  thing  before  of 
the  persons  appearing  in  ghost,  or  the  persons  accused  by  the  apparitions  ; 
and  yet  the  accused  upon  examination  have  confessed  the  murders  of 
those  very  persons,  though  these  accused  also  knew  nothing  of  the  appa- 
ritions that  had  come  in  against  them  ;  and  the  abided  persons  likewise, 
without  any  private  agreement  or  collusion,  when  successively  brought 
into  a  room,  have  all  asserted  the  same  apparitions  to  be  there  before 
them  :  these  murders  did  seem  to  call  for  an  enquiry. 

On  the  other  p^rt,  there  were  many  persons  of  great  judgment,  piety 
and  experience,  who  from  the  beginning  were  verv  much  dissatisfied  at 
these  proceedings  ;  they  feared  lest  the  dci'-il  would  get  so  far  into  the 
faith  of  the  people,  that  for  the  sake  of  many  truths,  which  they  might 
find  him  telling  of  them,  they  would  come  at  length  to  believe  all  his  lies, 
whereupon  what  a  desolation  of  names,  yea,  and  o(  lives  also,  would  en- 
sue, a  man  might  without  much  ri'itchcraft  be  able  to  prognosticate  ;  and 
they  feared,  lest  in  such  an  extraordinary  descent  of -wicked  spirits  llrom 
their /n"o-/i  yj/accs  upon  us,  there  might  such  pr(/!c</3/es  be  taken  up,  Jis, 
when  put  into  practice,  would  unavoidably  cause  the  righteous  to  perish 
•with  the  TL-icked,  and  procure  the  blood-shed  of  persons  like  the  Gibeonites, 
whom  some  learned  men  suppose  to  be  under  a  false  pretence  of  rmtch- 
craft,  by  Savl  exterminated. 


190  MAGNALIA  CHRISTl  AMERICANA :  [Book  ii. 

However  uncommon  it  might  be  for  guiltless  persons  to  come  under 
such  unaccountable  circumstances,  as  were  on  so  many  of  the  accused, 
the}'  held  somethings  there  are,  lohichif  suffered  to  he  common,  ivoidd  sub- 
vert govermnent,  and  disband  and  ruin  humane  society,  yet  God  sometimes 
may  suffer  suck  things  to  evene,  that  we  may  know  thereby  how  much  ice  are 
beholden,  to  him  for  that  restraint  ichich  he  lays  upon  the  infernal  spirits, 
who  wotdd  else  reduce  a  world  into  a  chaos.  They  had  already  known  of 
one  at  the  town  of  Groton  hideously  agitated  by  devils,  who  in  her  tits 
cried  out  much  against  a  very  godly  woman  in  the  town,  and  when  that 
woman  approached  unto  her,  though  the  eyes  of  the  creature  were  ne- 
ver so  shut,  she  yet  manifested  a  violent  sense  of  her  approach  :  but 
vehen  the  gracious  woman  thus  impeached,  had  prayed  earnestly  with 
and  for  this  creature,  then  instead  of  crying  out  against  her  any  more, 
she  owaed,  that  she  had  in  all  been  deluded  by  the  devil.  They  now 
saw,  that  the  more  the  afflicted  were  hearkned  unto,  the  more  the  num- 
ber of  the  accused  encreased  ;  until  at  last  many  scores  were  cried  out 
upon,  and  among  them,  some,  who  by  the  unblameahleness,  yea,  and  ser- 
viceableness  of  their  whole  conversation,  had  obtained  the  just  reputation 
of  good  people  among  all  that  were  acquainted  with  them.  The  charac- 
ter of  the  afflicted  likewise  added  unto  the  common  distate  ;  for  though 
some  of  them  loo  were  good  people,  yet  others  of  them,  and  such  of  them 
as  were  most  flippent  at  accusing,  had  a  far  other  character. 

In  fine,  the  country  was  in  a  dreadful  ferment,  and  wise  men  foresaw 
a  long  train  of  dismal  and  bloody  consequences.  Hereupon  the)'  first  ad- 
vised, that  the  a^ic^ed  might  be  kept  asunder  in  the  closest  privacy  : 
and  one  particular  person  (whom  I  have  cause  to  know)  in  pursuance 
of  this  advice,  offered  himself  singly  to  provide  accommodations  for  any 
six  of  them,  that  so  the  success  of  more  than  ordinary  ;jra)/er  with  fasting, 
might,  with  patience,  be  experiencedy  before  any  other  coui'ses  were 
taken. 

And  Sir  William  Phips  arriving  to  his  government,  after  this  ensiiaring 
horrible  storm  was  begun,  did  consult  the  neighbouring  ministers  of  the 
province,  who  made  unto  his  Excellency  and  the  council  a  retui'n,  (drawn 
up  at  their  desire  by  Mr.  Matlter  the  younger,  as  I  have  been  informed) 
wherein  they  declared. 

WE  judge,  that  in  the  prosecution  of  these  and  all  such,  witchcrafts,  there 
is  need  of  a  very  critical  and  exquisite  caution  :  lest  by  too  much  credulity 
for  things  received  only  iipon  the  devil's  authority,  there  be  a  door  opened 
for  a  long  train  of  miserable  consequences,  and  Satan  get  an  advantage  over 
us ;  for  we  should  not  be  ignorant  of  his  devices. 

As  in  complaints  upon  witchcrafts,  there  may  be  matters  of  enquir}'', 
which  do  not  amount  unto  matters  of  presumption  ;  and  there  may  be  mat- 
ters of  presumption,  which  yet  may  not  be  reckoned  matters  of  conviction  ; 
so  ''tis  necessary  that  all  proceedings  thereabotit  be  managed  ti^ith  an  exceed- 
ing tenderness  towards  those  that  may  be  complained  of:  especially  if  they 
have  been  persons  formerly  of  an  unblemished  reputation. 

When  the  first  enquiry  is  made  into  the  circumstances  of  such  as  may  lye 
under  any  just  smpicioii  of  witchcrafts,  we  could  wish  that  there  may  be 
admitted  as  little  as  is  possible  of  such  noise,  company,  and  openness,  as 
may  too  hastily  expose  them  that  are  examined  ;  and  that  there  may  nothing 
be  used  as  a  test  for  the  trial  of  the  suspected,  the  lawfulness  whereof  may 
be  doubted  among  the  people  of  God :  but  that  the  directions  given  by  such 
judicious  zcriters  as  Perkins  and  Bernard,  be  considted  in  such  a  case. 


Hook  il.]     OR,  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND :  191 

Vresuvmptions ,  whereupon  persons  may  be  committed,  and  much  more  con- 
^'ictions,  Tiohereupon  persons  may  be  condemned  as  guilty  of  witchcrafts, 
ought  certainly  to  be  more  considerable^  than  barely  the  accused  person^ s  be- 
ing  represented  by  a  spectre  to  the  afflicted  :  inasmuch  as  it  is  an  undoubt- 
ed and  a  notorious  thing,  that  a  daemoa  may,  by  God's  permission,  appear 
even  to  ill  purposes  in  the  shape  of  an  innocent,  yea,  and  a  virtuous  man : 
nor  can  we  esteem  alterations  made  in  the  sufierers,  by  a  look  or  touch  of 
the  accused,  to  be  an  infallible  evidence  of  guilt ;  but  frequently  liable  to  be 
abused  by  the  devil's  legerdemains. 

We  knorv  not  whether  some  remarkable  affronts  given  to  the  devils,  by 
our  dis-believing  of  those  testimonies  whose  whole  force  and  strength  is  from 
them  alone,  may  not  put  a  period  unto  the  progress  of  a  direful  calamity 
begun  upon  ns,  in  the  accusation  of  so  many  persons,  whereof,  we  hope, 
some  are  yet  clear  from  the  great  transgression  laid  unto  their  charge. 

The  ministers  of  the  province  also  being  jealous  lest  this  cownse^  should 
not  be  duly  followed,  requested  the  President  of  Harvard-C oWedge  to 
compose  and  publish  (which  he  did)  some  cases  of  conscience  referring 
to  these  difficulties  :  in  which  treatise  he  did,  with  demonstrations  of  in- 
comparable reason  and  reading,  evince  it,  that  Satan  may  appear  in  the 
shape  of  an  innocent  and  a  virtuous  person,  to  afflict  those  that  suffer  by 
the  diabolical  molestations:  and  that  the  ordeal  of  the  sight,  and  the 
touch,  is  not  a  conviction  of  a  covenant  with  the  devil,  but  liable  to  great 
exceptions  against  the  lawfulness,  as  well  as  the  evidence  of  it :  and  that 
either  a  free  and  fair  confession  of  the  criminals,  or  the  oath  of  two  credi- 
ble persons  proving  such  things  against  the  person  accused,  as  none  but 
such  as  have  a  familiarity  with  the  devil  can  know,  or  do,  is  necessary  to 
the  proof  of  the  crime.     Thus, 

Cum  misii  JVatura  Feras,  ^'  Monstra  per  Orbem, 
Misit  4'  Mciden  qui  fera  Monstra  domet. 

The  Dutch  and  French  ministers  in  the  province  of  JVczv-York,  having 
likewise  about  the  same  time  their  judgment  asked  by  the  Chief  Judge 
of  that  province,  who  was  then  a  gentleman  of  New-England,  they  gave 
it  in  under  their  hands,  that  if  we  believe  no  venefick  witchcraft,  we  must 
renounce  the  Scripture  of  God,  and  the  consent  of  almost  all  the  world  ; 
but  that  yet  the  apparition  of  a  person  afflicting  another,  is  a  very  insuffi- 
cient proof  of  a  witch  :  nor  is  it  inconsistent  with  the  holy  and  righteous 
government  of  God  over  men,  to  permit  the  aflliction  of  the  neighbours, 
by  devils  in  the  shape  of  good  men  ;  and  that  a  good  name,  obtained  by  a 
good  life,  should  not  be  lost  by  meer  spectral  accusations. 

Now  upon  a  deliberate  review  of  these  things,  his  Excellency  first 
reprieved,  and  then  pardoned  man}'  of  them  that  had  been  condemned  ; 
and  there  fell  out  several  strange  things  that  caused  the  spirit  of  the 
country  to  run  as  vehemently  upon  the  acquitting  of  all  the  accused,  a?  it 
by  mistake  ran  at  first  upon  the  condemning  of  them.  Some  that  had 
been  zealously  of  the  mind,  that  the  devils  could  not  in  the  shapes  of 
good  men  afflict  other  men,  were  terribly  confuted,  by  having  their  own 
shapes,  and  the  shapes  of  their  most  intimate  and  valued  friends,  thus 
abused.  And  though  more  than  twice  twenty  had  made  such  voluntary, 
and  harmonious,  and  uncontroulable  confessions,  that  if  they  were  all 
j  sham,  there  was  therein  the  greatest  violation  made  by  the  efficacy  of  the 
invisible  Z'uorld^  upon  the  rules  of  understanding  hiimane  affairs,  that  wa^ 


192  MAGNALIA  CHRISTl  AMERICANA :  [Book  11 

ever  seen  since  God  made  man  upon  ihe  earth.,  yet  lliey  did  so  recede 
from  their  confessions,  that  it  was  very  clear,  some  of  them  had  been 
hitherto,  in  a  sort  of  a  preterrMtural  dream,  wherein  they  had  said  of 
themselves,  they  kneiv  not  tsfJtat  themselves. 

In  tine,  the  last  courts  that  sate  upon  this  thorny  business,  finding  that  it 
was  impossible  to  penetrate  into  the  whole  meaning  of  the  things  that 
had  happened,  and  that  so  many  vnsearchable  cheats  were  interwoven  into 
the  conclusion  of  a  mysterious  business,  which  perhaps  had  not  crept 
thereinto  at  the  beginning  of  it,  they  cleared  the  accused  as  fast  as  they 
fried  them  ;  and  within  a  little  while  the  ajjiicted  were  most  of  them  de- 
livered out  of  their  troubles  also  :  and  the  land  had  peace  restored  unto 
it,  by  the  God  of  peace,  treading  Sata7i  under  foot.  Erasmus,  among 
other  historians,  does  tell  us,  that  at  a  town  in  Germany,  a  diemon  ap- 
peared on  the  top  of  a  chimney,  threatned  that  he  would  set  the  town 
on  fire,  and  at  length  scattering  some  ashes  abroad,  the  whole  town  was 
presently  and  horribly  burnt  unto  the  ground. 

Sir  William  Phips  now  beheld  such  daemons  hideously  scattering  ^j-e 
about  the  country,  in  the  exasperations  which  the  minds  of  men  were 
on  these  things  rising  unto  ;  and  therefore  when  he  had  well  canvased  a 
cause,  which  perhaps  might  have  puzzled  the  wisdom  of  the  wisest  men 
on  earth  to  have  managed,  without  any  error  in  their  administrations,  he 
thought,  if  it  would  be  any  error  at  all,  it  would  certainly  be  the  safest 
for  him  to  put  a  stop  unto  all  future  prosecutions,  as  far  as  it  lay  in  him 
to  do  it. 

He  did  so,  and  for  it  he  had  not  only  the  printed  acknowledgments  of 
the  New-Eng] anders ,  who  publickly  thanked  him.  As  one  of  the  tribe  of 
Zebulun,  raised  vp  from  among  themselves,  and  spirited  as  well  as  com- 
missioned to  be  the  steers-man  of  a  vessel  befogged  in  the  mare  mortuum  of 
witchcraft,  who  now  so  happily  steered  her  course,  that  she  escaped  ship- 
wrack,  and  was  scfely  again  moored  under  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope;  and 
cut  asunder  the  Circa;an  knot  of  enchantment,  more  difficidt  to  be  dissolved 
than  the  famous  Gordian  one  of  old. 

But  the  Queen  also  did  him  the  honour  to  write  unto  him  those  gra- 
cious letters,  wherein  her  Majesty  commended  his  conduct  in  these  inex- 
plicable matters.  And  I  did  right  in  calling  these  matters  inexplicable. 
For  if,  after  the  kingdom  of  Sweden  (in  the  year  1669,  and  1670,)  had 
some  hundreds  of  their  children  by  night  often  carried  away  by  spectres 
to  an  hellish  rendezvous,  where  the  monsters  that  so  spirited  them,  did 
every  way  tempt  them  to  associate  with  them  ;  and  the  Judges  of  the 
kingdom,  after  extraordinary  supplications  to  heaven,  upon  a  strict  en- 
quiry, \vere  so  satisfied  with  the  confessions  of  more  than  twenty  of  the 
accused,  agreeing  exactly  unto  the  depositions  of  the  afflicted,  that  they 
put  several  scores  of  -mtches  to  death,  whereupon  the  confusions  came 
unto  a  period  ;  yet  after  all,  the  chiefest  persons  in  the  kingdom  would 
question  whether  there  were  any  witchcrafts  at  all  in  the  whole  affair  ;  it 
must  not  be  wondred  at,  if  the  people  of  Nero-England  are  to  this  hour 
full  of  doubts,  about  the  steps  which  were  taken,  while  a  war  from  the 
invisible  world  was  terrifying  of  them  ;  and  whether  they  did  not  kill 
some  of  their  ow7i  side  in  the  smoke  and  noise  of  this  dreadful  war.  And 
it  will  be  yet  less  wondred  at,  if  we  consider,  that  we  have  seen  the 
whole  English  nation  alarumed  with  a  plot,  and  both  Houses  of  Parlia- 
ment, upon  good  grounds,  voting  their  sense  of  it,  and  many  persons 
most  justly  hanged,  drawn  and  quartered,  for  their  share  in  it  :  when  yet 
fJiere  am  pnou2:h,  who  to  this  day  wUl  pretend,  that  the'v  cannot  coai- 


Book  II.]     OR,  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  i9S 

prehend  how  much  of  it  is  to  be  accounted  credible.  However,  having 
related  these  wonderful  passages,  whereof,  if  the  veracity  of  the  relator 
in  any  one  point  be  contested,  there  are  whole  clouds  of  witnesses  to  vin- 
dicate it,  I  will  take  my  leave  of  the  matter  with  an  wholesome  caution 
of  Lactantius,  which,  it  may  be,  some  other  parts  of  the  world  besides 
New-England  may  have  occasion  to  think  upon  ;  Efficiunt  Dcemones,  ut 
qua  norr  sunt,  sic  tameri,  quasi  sint,  conspicienda  Hominibus  exhibeant. 

But  the  devils  being  thus  vanquished,  we  shall  7iext  hear,  that  some  of 
his  most  devoted  and  resembling  children  are  so  too. 

§  17.  As  one  of  the  tirst  actions  done  by  Sir  William,  after  he  came  to 
the  age  of  doing,  was  to  save  the  lives  of  many  poor  people  from  the 
rage  of  the  diabolical  Indians  in  the  eastern  parts  of  the  country,  so  now 
he  was  come  to  the  government,  his  mind  was  very  vehemently  set  upon 
recovering  of  those  parts  from  the  miseries,  which  a  new  and  a  long  war 
of  the  Indians  had  brought  upon  them.  His  birth  and  youth  in  the  east, 
had  rendred  him  well  known  unto  the  Indians  there  ;  he  had  hunted  and 
fished  many  a  weary  day  in  his  childhood  with  them  ;  and  when  those 
rude  savages  had  got  the  story  by  the  end,  that/te  had  found  a  shipfvAl  of 
money,  and  was  now  become  all  one-a-king  !  they  were  mightily  astonished 
at  it :  but  when  they  farther  understood  that  he  was  become  the  govern- 
our  of  New-England,  it  added  a  further  degree  of  consternation  to  their 
astonishment.  He  likewise  was  better  acquainted  with  the  scituation  of 
those  regions  than  most  other  men  ;  and  he  considered  what  vast  dvan- 
tages  might  arise  to  no  less  than  the  whole  English  nation,  from  the  /um- 
ber, and  fishery,  and  naval-stores,  which  those  regions  might  soon  supply 
the  whole  nation  withal,  if  once  they  were  well  settled  with  good  inhabi- 
tants. 

Wherefore  Governour  Phips  took  the  first  opportunity  to  raise  an  ar- 
my, with  which  he  travelled  in  person,  under  the  East-Country,  to  find 
out  and  cut  off  the  barbarous  enemy,  which  had  continued  for  near  four 
years  together,  making  horrible  havock  on  the  plantations  that  lay  all 
along  the  northern  frontiers  of  New- England ;  and  having  pursued  those 
worse  than  Scythian  wolves,  till  they  could  be  no  longer  followed,  he  did 
with  a  very  laudable  skill,  and  unusual  speed,  and  with  less  cost  unto  the 
crown,  than  perhaps  ever  such  a  thing  was  done  in  the  world,  erect  a 
strong  fort  at  Pemmaquid. 

This  fort  he  contrived  so  much  in  the  very  heart  of  the  country  now 
possessed  by  the  enemy,  as  very  much  to  hinder  the  several  nations  of 
the  tawnies  from  clanning  together  for  the  common  disturbance  ;  and  his 
design  was,  that  a  sufficient  garrison  being  here  posted,  they  might  from 
thence,  upon  advice,  issue  forth  to  surprize  that  ferocient  enemy.  At 
the  same  time  he  would  fain  have  gone  in  person  up  the  Bay  of  Funda, 
with  a  convenient/orce,  to  have  spoiled  the  nest  of  rebellious  Frenchmen, 
who  being  rendezvouzed  at  St.  Johns,  had  a  yearly  supply  of  ammuni- 
tion from  France,  with  which  they  still  supplied  the  Indians,  unto  the  ex- 
tream  detriment  of  the  English  ;  but  his  friends  for  a  long  time  would  not 
permit  him  to  expose  himself  unto  the  inconveniences  of  that  expedi- 
tion. 

However,  he  took  such  methods,  that  the  Indian  Kings  of  the  East, 
within  a  little  while  had  their  stomachs  brought  down,  to  sue  and  beg  for 
a  peace :  and  making  their  appearance  at  the  new-fort  in  Pemmaquid; 
Aug.  11,  1693,  they  did  there  sign  an  instrument,  wherein,  lamenting 
the  miseries  which  their  adherence  to  the  French  counsels  had  brought 
them   into,  they  did  for  themselves,  and  wiih  the  consent  of  all  the  In- 

Vor..  T.  25 


194  MAGNALIA  CHRISTI  AMEKICAxNA.  [Book  li. 

dians  from  the  river  of  Merrimack,  to  the  most  easterly  bounds  of  all 
the  province,  acknowledge  their  hearty  subjection  and  obedience  unto 
the  Crown  o{  England,  and  solemnly  covenant  promise  and  agree,  to  and 
with  Sir  William  Phips,  Captain  General  and  Covernour  in  Chief  over 
the  province,  and  his  successors  in  that  place,  That  they  would  for  ever 
cease  ail  acts  of  hostility  towards  the  subjects  of  the  Crown  of  England, 
and  hold  a  constant  friendship  with  all  the  English.  That  they  would  ut- 
terly abandon  the  French  interests,  and  not  succour  or  conceal  any  enemy 
Indians,  from  Canada  or  elsewhere,  that  should  come  to  any  of  their 
plantations  within  the  English  territories  :  that  all  English  captives, 
which  they  had  among  them,  should  be  returned  with  all  possible  speed, 
:md  no  ransom  or  payment  be  given  for  any  of  them :  that  their  Majes- 
ties' subjects  the  English,  now  should  quietly  enter  upon,  and  for  ever 
improve  and  enjoy  all  and  singular  their  rights  of  lands,  and  former  pos- 
sessions, within  the  eastern  parts  of  the  province,  without  any  claims 
fi'om  any  Indians  or  being  ever  disturbed  therein  :  that  all  trade  and  com- 
merce, which  hereafter  might  be  allowed  between  the  English  and  the 
Indians,  should  be  under  a  regulation  stated  by  an  act  of  the  General 
Assembly,  or  as  limited  by  the  governour  of  the  province,  with  the  con- 
sent and  advice  of  his  Council.  And  that  if  any  controversie  hereafter 
happen  between  any  of  the  English  and  the  Indians,  no  private  revenge 
was  to  be  taken  by  the  Indians,  but  proper  applications  to  be  made  unto 
his  Majesty's  government,  for  the  due  remedy  thereof:  submitting  them- 
selves herewithal  to  be  governed,  by  his  Majesty'' s  laws. 

And  for  the  manifestation  of  their  sincerity  in  the  submission  thus  made,- 
the  hypocritical  wretches  delivered  hostages  for  their  fidelity  ;  and  then 
set  their  marks  and  seals,  no  less  shan  thirteen  Sagamores  of  them,  (with 
names  of  more  than  a  Persian  length)  unto  this  instrument. 

The  first  rise  of  this  Indian  war  had  hitherto  been  almost  as  dark  as 
that  of  the  river  Nihis  :  'tis  true,  if  any  wild  English  did  rashly  begin  to 
provoke  and  aflVont  the  Indians,  yet  the  Indians  had  a  fairer  way  to  ob- 
tain justice  than  by  bloodshed  :  however,  upon  the  New- English  revolu- 
tion, the  state  of  the  war  became  wholly  new:  the  government  then  em- 
ployed all  possible  ways  to  procure  a  good  understanding  T»ith  the  In- 
dians ;  but  all  the  English  offers,  kindnesses,  courtesies  were  barbarously 
requited  by  them,  with  new  acts  of  the  most  perfidious  hostility.  Not- 
withstanding all  this,  there  were  still  some  nice  people  that  had  their 
sciuples  about  the  justice  of  the  war  ;  but  upon  this  new  submission  of 
the  Indians,  if  ever  those  rattle-snakes  (the  only  rattle- snakes,  which, 
they  say,  were  ever  seen  to  the  northward  of  Merimack- river)  should 
stir  again,  the  most  scrupulous  peisons  in  the  world  must  own,  that  it 
must  be  the  most  vncxceptionable  piece  of  justice  in  the  world  for  to  extin- 
guish til  em. 

Thus  did  the  God  of  heaven  bless  the  unwearied  applications  of  Sir 
William  Phips,  for  the  restoring  of  peace  unto  New-England,  when  the 
country  was  quite  out  of  breath,  in  its  endeavours  for  its  own  preserva- 
tion from  the  continual  outrages  of  an  inaccessible  enemy,  and  by  the 
poverty  coming  in  so  like  an  armed  man,  from  the  unsuccessfulness  of 
their  former  armies,  that  it  could  not  imagine  how  to  take  one  step  fur- 
ther in  its  wars.  The  most  happy  respite  of  peace  beyond  Merimack- 
■rii'e?- being  thus  procured,  the  governour  immediately  set  himself  to  use 
all  possible  methods,  that  it  might  be  peace,  like  a  river,  nothing  short  of 
cvcrlastins;. 


Book  II.]      OR,  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  195 

He  therefore  prevailed  with  two  or  three  gentlemen  to  join  with  him, 
in  sending  a  supply  oi  necessaries  for  life  unto  the  Indiuns ;  until  the 
General  Assembly  could  come  together  to  settle  the  Indian-trade  for  the 
advantage  of  the  publiclc,  th;it  the  Indians  might  not  by  necessity  be  driv- 
en agam  to  become  a  French  propriety  ;  although  by  this  action,  as  the 
gentlemen  themselves  wore  great  losers  in  their  estates,  th>is  he  himself 
declared  unto  the  members  of  the  General  Assembly,  that  he  would  upon 
oath  give  an  account  unto  them  of  all  his  own  gains,  and  count  himself  a 
gainer,  if  in  lieu  of  all  t!.iey  would  give  him  one  hcaver-hat.  The  same 
generosity  also  caused  him  to  take  many  a  tedious  voyage,  accompanied 
sometimes  with  his  Fidvs  Achates,  and  very  dear  friend,  kinsman  and 
neighbour;  Colonel  John  Philips,  between  Boston  and  Pcmmaquid :  and 
this  in  the  bitter  weeks  of  the  .Yezv-English,  which  is  almost  a  Russian 
winter. 

He  was  a  sort  of  confessor  under  such  torments  of  cold,  as  once  made 
the  martijrdoin  o{  Muria,  and  others,  commemorated  in  orations  of  the 
ancients  ;  and  the  snozo  and  ice  which  Pliny  calls.  The  punishment  of 
mountains,  he  chearfuUy  endured,  without  any  other  profit  unto  himself, 
but  only  the  pleasure  of  thereby  establishing  and  continuing  unto  the 
people  the  liberty  to  sleep  quietly  in  their  Ti'ar/n  nests  at  home,  while  he 
was  thus  concerned  for  them  abroad.  jVon  niihi  sed  Popvio.  the  motto 
of  the  Emperor  Hadrian,  was  engraved  on  the  heart  of  Sir  William: 
NOT  FOR  MYSELF,  BUT  FOR  MY  PEOPLE  :  or  that  of  Maximiu,  Quo  major,' 
hoc  Laboriouor,  the  more  honourable,  the  more  laborious. 

Indeed  the  restlessness  of  his  travels  to  the  southern  as  well  as  the  east' 
em  parts  of  the  country,  when  the  publick  safety  called  for  his  presence, 
would  have  made  one  to  think  on  the  translation  which  the  King  of  Por- 
tugal, on  a  very  extraordinary  occasion,  gave  the  fourth  verse  in  the 
hundred  and  twenty-tirst  Psalm.  He  will  not  slumber,  nor  will  he  suffer 
to  sleep  the  keeper  of  Israel.  Nor  did  he  only  try  to  cicurate  the  Indians 
of  the  east,  by  other  prudent  and  proper  treatments  ;  but  he  also  fur- 
nished himself  with  an  Indian  preacher  of  the  gospel,  whom  he  carried 
unto  the  eastzeard,  with  an  intention  to  teach  them  them  the  principles  of 
the  Protestant  religion,  and  unteach  them  the  raixt  Paganry  and  Poperif 
which  hitherto  diabolized  them.  To  unteach  them,  I  say  ;  for  they  had 
been  taught  by  the  French  priests  this  among  other  things,  that  the  mother 
of  our  blessed  Saviour  was  a  French  lady,  and  that  they  were  Englishmen 
by  whom  our  Saviour  was  murdered  ;  and  that  it  was  therefore  a  meri- 
torious \.\i\x\g  to  destroy  the  English  nation.  The  name  of  the  preacher 
whom  the  governour  carried  with  him,  was  Kahauton,  one  of  the  na- 
tives ;  and  because  the  passing  of  such  expressions  from  the  mouth  of  a 
poor  Indian,  may  upon  some  accounts  be  worthy  of  remembrance  ;  let  it 
be  rememhred,  that  when  the  governour  propounded  unto  him  such  a 
mission  to  the  eastern  Indians,  he  replied,  /  know  that  I  shall  probably  en- 
danger my  life,  by  going  to  preach  the  gospel  among  the  Frenchified  Indians; 
but  I  know  that  it  will  be  a  service  unto  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  therefore 
I  will  venture  toga. 

God  grant  that  his  behaviour  may  be  in  all  things,  at  all  times,  accord- 
ing to  these  his  expressions !  While  these  things  were  doing,  having  in- 
telligence of  a  French  man  of  war  expected  at  St.  Johns,  he  dispatched 
away  the  Non-suchfrigot  thither  to  intejTcept  him ;  nevertheless  by  the 
gross  negligence,  and  perhaps  cowardice  of  the  captain,  who  had  lately 
come  from  England  with  orders  to  take  the  command  of  her,  instead  of 
one  who  had  been  by  Sir  Williams  while  before  put  in,  and  one  who  had 


J96  MAGNALIA  CHRISTI  AMERICANA :  [Book  li 

signalized  himself  by  doing  of  notable  service  for  the  King  and  country 
in  it,  the  Frenchman  arrived  unla.ied,  and  went  away  untouched.  The 
governour  was  extreamly  offended  at  this  notorious  deficiency ;  it  cast 
him  into  a  great  impatience  to  see  the  nation  so  wretchedly  served  ;  and 
he  would  himself  have  gone  to  Saint  Johns  with  a  resolution  to  s]poil  that 
harbour  of  spoilers,  if  he  had  not  been  taken  off,  by  being  sent  for  home 
to  Whitehall,  in  the  very  midst  of  his  undertakings. 

But  the  treacherous  Indians  being  poisoned  with  the  French  enchant- 
ments, and  furnished  with  brave  new  coats,  and  new  arms,  and  all  new  in- 
centives to  war,  by  the  man  of  war  newly  come  in  ;  they  presently  and 
perticiiously  fell  upon  two  English  towns,  and  butchered  and  captived 
many  of  the  inhabitants,  and  made  a  7icw  war,  which  the  New- England- 
ers  know  not  whether  it  will  end  until  either  Canada  become  an  English- 
Province,  or  that  state  arrive,  wherein  they  shall  beat  swords  into  plough- 
shares, and  spears  into  pruning -hooks.  And  no  doubt,  the  taking  off  Sir 
William  fhips  was  no  small  encouragement  unto  the  Indians  in  this  re- 
lapse, into  tiie  villanies  and  massacres  of  a  new  invasion  upon  the 
country. 

§  18.  Reader,  'tis  time  for  us  to  view  a  little  more  to  the  life,  the  pic- 
ture of  the  j»f  rson,  the  actions  of  whose  life  we  have  hitherto  been  look- 
ing i:pon  Know  then,  that  for  his  exterior,  he  was  one  tall,  beyond  the 
common  set  of  men,  and  thick  as  well  as  tall,  and  strong  as  well  as  thick : 
he  n':>si,ii  all  r-spects,  exceedingly  robust,  and  able  to  conquer  such  dif- 
fifulties  ot  diet  and  of  travel,  as  would  have  killed  most  men  alive  :  nor 
did  the  fat,  whereinto  he  grew  very  much  in  his  later  years,  take  away 
the  vigour  of  his  motions. 

He  w  !S  well  set,  and  he  was  therewithal  of  a  very  comely,  though  a 
very  manly  countenance  :  a  countenance  where  any  true  skill  in  physi- 
ognomy would  have  read  the  characters  of  a  generous  mind.  Wherefore 
parsing  to  his  interior,  the  very  first  thing  which  there  offered  it  self  unto 
obseivatiou,  was  a  roost  incomparable  generosity. 

And  of  this,  besides  the  innumerable  instances  which  he  gave  in  his 
usuhI  hatred  of  dirty  or  little  tricks,  there  was  one  instance  for  which  I 
must  freely  say,  I  never  saw  three  men  in  this  world  that  equalled  him  ;  this 
was  his  wonderfully  fnrgiving  spirit.  In  the  vast  variety  of  business, 
through  which  he  raced  in  his  time,  he  met  with  many  and  mighty  inju- 
ries ;  but  although  I  have  heard  all  that  the  most  venemous  malice  could 
ever  hiss  at  his  memory,  I  never  did  hear  unto  this  hour,  that  he  did  ever 
once  deliberately  revenge  an  injury. 

Upon  certain  affronts  he  has  made  sudden  returns  that  have  shewed 
choler  enough,  ami  he  has  by  blow,  as  well  as  by  word,  chastised  incivili- 
ties :  he  WHS,  indeed,  sufficiently  impatient  of  being  put  upon  ;  and  when 
base  men,  surf-rizing  him  at  some  disadvantages  (for  else  few  men  durst 
have  done  it)  have  sometimes  drawn  upon  him,  he  has,  without  the  wick- 
ed madness  of  a  formal  duel,  made  them  feel  that  he  knew  how  to  correct 
fools.  Nevertheless,  he  ever  declined  a  deliberate  revenge  of  a  wrong 
done  unto  him ;  though  few  men  upon  earth  have,  in  their  vicissitudes, 
been  furnished  with  such  frequent  opportunities  of  revenge,  as  heaven 
brought  into  the  hands  of  this  gentleman. 

Under  great  provocations,  he  would  commonly  say,  ^Tis  no  matter,  let 
them  alone  ;  some  time  or  other  they'll  see  their  weaktiess  and  rashness,  and 
have  occasion  for  me  to  do  Iheni  a  kindness  :  and  they  shall  then  see  I  have 
quite  forgotten  all  their  baseness.  Accordingly  'twas  remarkable  to  see  it, 
that  few  men  ever  did  him  a  mischief,  but  those  men  afterwards  had  oc- 


Book  II.]      OR,  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  197 

casion  for  him  to  do  them  a  kindness ;  and  he  did  the  kindness  with  as  for- 
getful  a  bravery,  as  if  the  mischief  had  never  been  done  at  all.     The 
Emperor  Theodosius  himself  could  not  be  readier  to  forgive  ;  so  wor 
thily  did  he  verifie  that  observation. 


Quo  quisque  est  Major,  inagis  est  Placabalis 
Et  Faciles  Motus,  Mens  generosa  capit. 


Iro, 


In  those  places  of  poiaer  whereto  the  providence  of  God  by  several 
degrees  raised  him,  it  still  fell  out  so,  that  before  his  rise  thereunto  he 
underwent  such  things  as  he  counted  very  hard  abuses,  from  those  very 
persons  over  whom  the  Divine  Providence  afterwards  gave  him  the  as- 
cendant. 

By  such  trials,  the  wisdom  of  heaven  still  prepared  him,  as  David 
before  him,  for  successive  advancements ;  and  as  he  behaved  himself  with 
a  marvellous  long-suffering,  when  he  was  tried,  by  such  mortifications, 
thus  when  he  came  to  be  advanced,  he  convinced  all  mankind,  that  he  had 
perfectly  buried  all  the  old  offences  in  an  eternal  amnesty.  I  was  my 
*elf  an  car-im-itness,  that  one,  who  was  an  eye-witness  of  his  behaviour 
Tinder  such  probations  of  his  patience,  did,  long  before  his  arrival  to  that 
honour,  say  unto  him,  Sir,  forgive  those  that  give  you  these  vexations,  and 
know  that  the  God  of  heaven  intends,  before  he  has  done  with  you,  to  make 
you  the  governour  of  New-England !  And  when  he  did  indeed  become 
the  governour  of  New-England,  he  shewed  that  he  still  continued  a  gov- 
ernour of  himself,  in  his  treating  all  that  had  formerly  been  in  ill  terms 
with  him,  with  as  much  favour  and  freedom,  as  if  there  had  never  hap- 
pened the  least  exasperations  :  though  any  governour  that  kens  Hobbi- 
anism,  can  easily  contrive  ways  enough  to  wreak  a  spite,  where  he  owes 
it. 

It  was  with  some  christian  remark,  that  he  read  the  Pagan-story  of  the 
renewed  Fabius  Maximus,  who  being  preferred  unto  the  highest  office  in 
the  commonwealth,  did,  through  a  zeal  for  his  country,  overcome  the 
greatest  contempts  that  any  person  of  quality  could  have  received. — 
Minutius  the  master  of  the  horse,  and  the  next  person  in  dignity  to  him- 
self, did  first  privately  traduce  him,  as  one  that  was  no  soldier,  and  less 
politician;  and  he  afterwards  did  both  by  speeches  and  letters  prejudice 
not  only  the  army,  but  also  the  senate  against  him,  so  that  Minutius  was 
no'.v  by  an  unpresidented  commission  brought  into  an  equality  with  Fa- 

All  this  while  the  great  Fabius  did  not  throw  up  his  cares  for  the  com- 
monwealth, but  with  a  wondrous  equality  of  mind  endured  equally  the 
malice  of  the  judges,  and  the  fury  of  the  commons ;  and  when  Minutius 
a  while  after  w  as  with  all  his  forces  upon  the  point  of  perishing  by  the 
■  torious  arms   of  Hannibal,  this  very  Fabius,  not  listening  to  the  dic- 
es of  revenge,  came  in  and  helped  him,  and  saved  him  ;  and  so  by  a 
re  virtue,  he  made  his  worst  adversaries  the  captives  of  his  generosity. 
One  of  the  antieuts  upon  such  an  history,  cried  out,  If  heathens  can 
thus  much  for  tJie  glory  of  their  name,  what  shall  not  christians  do  for 
glory  of  heaven  !     And  Sir  William  Plups  did  so  much  more  than  thui 
.  ch,  that  besides  his  meriting  the  glory  of  such  a  name,  as  Phippius 
.xi:.iu=.  he  therein  had  upon  him  the  symptoms  of  a  title  to  the  glorij 
'teavcn,  in  the  seal  of  his  own  pardon  from  God.     Nor  was  this  gene- 
7/ in  ^^°  Excellency  the  Governour  o{ ,Xtw-E7igland.  Tins'^cnrnpanieel 


198  MAGNALIA  CHRISTI  AMERICANA:  [Book  IL 

with  many  other  excellencies  ;  whereof  the  piety  of  his  carriage  towards 
God  IS  worthy  to  be  first  mentioned. 

It  is  true,  he  was  very  zealous  for  all  men  to  enjoy  such  a  liberty  of 
conscience,  as  he  judged  n  native  right  oi  mankind  :  and  he  was  extreamiy 
troubled  at  the  over-boiling  zeal  of  some  good  men,  who  formerly  took 
that  wrong  way  of  reclaiming  hereticks  by  persecution.  For  this  gene- 
rosity, it  may  be,  some  would  have  compared  him  unto  Gallio,  the  gov- 
ernour  of  Achaia,  whom  our  preachers,  perhaps  with  mistake  enough, 
think  to  be  condemned  in  the  scripture,  for  his  not  appearing  to  be  a 
judge,  in  matters  which  indeed  lell  not  under  his  cognizance. 

And  I  shall  be  content  that  he  be  compared  unto  that  gentleman  ;  for 

that  Gallio  was  the  brother  of  Seneca,  who   gives  this  character  of  him, 

^  That  there  was  no  man  who  did  not  love  him  too  little,  if  he  could  love  him 

anymore;  and,  that  there  was  no  mortal  so  dear  to  any,  as  he  was  to  all ; 

and,  that  he  hated  all  vices,  but  none  more  than  flattery. 

But  while  the  generosity  of  Sir  William  caused  him  to  desire  a  liberty 
of  conscience,  his  piety  would  not  allow  a  liberty  of  prophancness,  either 
to  himself  or  others.  He  did  not  affect  any  mighty  show  of  devotion  ; 
and  when  he  saw  any  that  were  evidently  carejul  to  make  a  shozi',  and  es- 
pecially, if  al  the  same  time  they  were  notoriously  defective  in  the  du- 
ties of  common  justice  or  goodness,  or  the  duties  of  the  relations  whereia 
God  had  statiuncd  them,  he  had  an  an  extream  aversion  for  them. 

Nevertheless  he  did  show  a  conscientious  desire  to  observe  the  laws 
of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  his  conversation ;  and  he  conscientiously  at- 
tended upon  the  exercises  of  devotion  in  the  seasons  thereof,  on  lectures, 
as  well  as  on  Lord's  days,  and  in  the  daily  sacrifice,  the  morning  and  eve- 
ning service  of  his  own  family  ;  yea,  and  at  the  private  meetings  of  the 
devout  people  kept  every  fortnight  in  the  neighbourhood. 

Besides  all  this,  when  he  had  great  works  before  him,  he  would  invite 
good  men  to  come  and  fast  and  pray  with  him  at  his  house  for  the  suc- 
ci  ss  thereof;  and  when  he  had  succeeded  in  what  he  had  undertaken, 
h.K'.  would  prevail  with  them  to  come  and  keep  a  day  of  solemn  thanks- 
giving with  him.  His  love  to  Almighty  God,  was  indeed  manifested  by 
nothinp;  more  than  his  love  to  those  that  had  the  image  of  God  upon  them; 
he  hearti!>',  and  with  real  honour  for  them,  loved  all  godly  men ;  and  in 
so  doing,  he  did  not  confine  godliness  to  this  or  that  party,  but  where- 
over  he  saw  the  fear  of  God,  in  one  of  a  Congregational ,  or  Presbyterian, 
or  AntiiHi'dobapfist,  or  Episcopalian  perswasion,  he  did,  without  any  dif- 
ference, express  towards  them  a  reverent  affection. 

But  he   made   no  men  more  Avelcome  than  those  good  men,  whose 
"'fice  'tis  to  ])romote  and  preserve  goodness  in  all  other  men  ;  even  the 
ministers  of  the  gospel  :  especially  when  they  were   such  as  faithfully 
discharged  their  office  :  and  from  these  at  any  time,  the  least  admonition 
or  intimation  of  an}'^  good  thing  to  be  done  by  him,  he  entertained  with  a 
most  obliging  alacrity.     His  religion  in  truth,  was  one  principle  that  ad-   | 
(.led  virtue  unto  that  vast  courage,  which  was  always  in  him  to  a  degree    ! 
iicroical.     Those  terrible  nations  which   made  their  descents  from  the 
northern  on  the  southern  parts  of  Europe,  in  those  elder  ages,  when  so  to   : 
swarm  oui.  was  more  frequent  with  them,  were  inspired  with  a  valiant  \ 
contempt  of  life,  by  the  opinion  wherein   their   famous  Odin  instructed   J 
them.      That  \heir  dcal'i  was  but  an  entrance  into  another  life,  zvherein  they  \ 
who  died  in  warlike  actions,  zi^ere  bravely  feasted  zvith  the  god  of  war  for  < 
ever :  'tis  inexpressible  how  much  the  courage  of  those  fierce  mortals    I 
was  fortified  by  that  opinion. 


Book  II.]      OR,  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW -ENGLAND.  199 

But  when  Sir  William  Phips  was  asked  by  porne  that  observed  his  val- 
iant contempt  of  deatk,  what  it  was  that  made  him  so  little  afraid  oi  dying, 
he  gave  a  belter  grounded  account  of  it  than  those  Pagans  could ;  his 
answer  was,  /  do  humbly  believe,  that  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  shed  his  pre- 
cious blood  for  me,  by  his  death  procuring  my  peace  teilh  God  :  and  what 
should  I  now  be  afraid  of  dying  for  ? 

but  this  leads  me  to  mention  the  humble  and  modest  carriage  in  him  to- 
wards other  men,  which  accompanied  this  his  piety  There  were  certain 
pomps  belonging  unto  the  several  places  of  honour,  through  which  he 
passed  ;  pomps  that  are  very  taking  to  men  of  little  souls :  but  although 
he  rose  from  so  little,  yet  he  discovered  a  marvellous  contempt  of  those 
airy  things,  and  as  far  as  he  handsomely  could,  he  declined,  being  cere- 
moniously, or  any  otherwise  than  with  a  Dutch  modesty  waited  upon. 
And  it  might  more  truly  be  said  of  him,  than  it  was  of  Jlristides,  He  zi-as 
never  seen  the  prouder  for  any  honour  that  r/vas  done  him  from  his  coun- 
trymen. 

Hence,  albeit  I  have  read  that  complaint,  made  by  a  worthy  man,  / 
have  often  observed,  and  this  not  without  some  blushing,  that  even  good  peo- 
ple have  had  a  kind  of  shame  upon  them,  to  acknowledge  their  low  begituiing, 
and  used  all  arts  to  hide  it.  1  could  never  observe  the  least  of  that  fault 
in  this  worthy  man  ;  but  he  would  speak  of  his  own  low  beginning  with 
as  mucli  freedom  and  frequency,  as  if  he  had  been  afraid  of  having  it 
forgotten. 

It  was  counted  an  humility  in  King  Agathocles,  the  son  of  spotter,  to 
be  served  therefore  in  earthen  vessels,  as  Plutarch  hath  informed  us  :  it 
was  counted  an  humility  in  Archbishop  Willigis,  the  son  of  a  Wheelright, 
therefore  to  have  wheels  hung  about  his  bed-chamber,  with  this  inscrip- 
tion, liecole  undo  Veneris,  i.  e.  Remember  thy  original.  But  such  was  the 
humility  and  lowliness  of  this  rising  man  !  Not  only  did  he  after  his  return  to 
his  country  in  his  greatness,  one  day,  make  a  splendid  feast  for  the  ship-car- 
penters oi  Boston,  among  whom  he  was  willing  at  his  table  to  commemorate 
the  mercy  of  God  unto  him,  who  had  once  been  a  ship-carpenter  himself, 
but  he  would  on  all  occasions  permit,  yea,  study  to  have  his  meannesses 
reraembred. 

Hence  upon  frequent  occasions  of  uneasiness  in  his  government,   he 
would  chuse  thus  to  express  himself,  Gentlemen,  were  it  not  that  I  am  to 
do  service  for  the  publick,  I  should  be  much  easier  in  returning  unto  my  broad 
ax  again!  And  hence,  according  to  the  affable  courtesie  which  he  ordi- 
narily used  unto  all  sorts   of  persons,   (quite  contrary  to  the   asperity 
which  the  old  proverb  expects  in  the  raised)  he  would  particularly  when 
I  sailing  in  sight  of  Kennebeck,  with  armies  under  bis  command,  call  the 
I  young  soldiers  and  sailors  upon  deck,  and  speak  to  them  after  this  fashion; 
I  Young  men,  it  was  upon  that  hill  that  I  kept  sheep  a  few  years  ago  ;  and  since 
1  you  see  that  Mmighty  God  has  brought  me  to  something,  do  you  learn  to  fear 
God,  and  be  honest,  and  mind  your  business,  and  follow  no  bad  courses,  and 
you  dont  know  what  you  may  come  to!     A  temper  not  altogether  unlike 
what  the  advanced  shepherd  had,  when  he  wrote  the  twenty-third  Psalm  ; 
or  when  he  imprinted  on  the  coin  of  his  kingdom  the  remembrance  of  his 
i  old  condition  ;  for  Christiamis  Gerson,  a  christianized  Jew,  has  informed 
us,  that  on  the  one  side  of  David'' s  coin  were  to  be  seen  his  o\d  pouch  and 
<  rook,  the  instruments  o( shepherdy;  on  the  otlier  side  were  enstamped  the 
towers  of  Zion. 

In  line,  our  Sir  William  was  a  person  of  so  sweet  a  temper,  that  they 
'vho  were  most  intimately  acquainted  with  him,  would  commonly  pro- 


gi90  MAGlN  ALIA  CHRISTI  AMERICANA.  {Book  II. 

nounce  him,  The  best  conditioned  gentleman  in  the  world  !  And  by  the 
continual  discoveries  and  expressions  of  such  a  temper,  he  so  gained  the 
Tiearts  of  them  who  waited  upon  him  in  any  of  his  expeditions,  that  they 
would  commonly  profess  themselves  willing  stiil,  to  have  gone  with  him  to 
the  end  of  the  world. 

But  if  all  other  people  found  him  so  kind  a  neighbour,  we  may  easily, 
infer  what  an  husband  he  was  unto  his  lady.  Leaving  uamentioned  that 
virtue  of  his  chastity,  which  the  prodigious  depravation  brought  by  the 
late  reigns  upon  the  manners  of  the  nation,  has  made  worthy  to  be  men- 
tioned as  SLvirtue  somewhat  extraordinary  ;  I  shall  rather  pass  on  to  say, 
that  the  love  even  to  fondness,  with  which  he  always  treated  her,  was  a 
matter  not  only  of  observation,  but  even  of  such  admiration,  that  every 
one  said,  the  age  afforded  not  a  kinder  husband  ! 

But  we  must  now  return  to  our  story. 

§  19.  When  persons  do  by  studies  full  of  curiosity,  seek  to  inform 
themselves  of  things  about  which  the  God  of  Heaven  hath  forbidden  our 
curious  enquiries,  there  is  a  marvellous  impression,  which  the  dccmons  do 
often  make  on  the  minds  of  those  their  votaries,  about  ih^  future  or  secret 
matters  unlawfully  enquired  after,  and  at  last  there  is  also  an  horrible 
possession,  which  those  Fatidic  dcemons  do  take  of  them.  The  snares  of 
hell,  hereby  laid  for  miserable  mortals,  have  been  such,  that  when  I  read 
the  laws,  which  Angellius  affirms  to  have  been  made,  even  in  Pagan 
Rome,  against  the  Vaticinatores  ;  \  wonder  that  no  Eiiglish  nobleman  or 
gentleman  signalizes  his  regard  unto  Christianity,  by  doing  what  even  a 
Roman  Tully  would  have  done,  in  promoting  an  Act  of  Parliament  against 
that  Paganish  practice  of  judicial  astrology,  whereof,  if  such  men  as 
Austin  were  now  living,  they  would  assert.  The  devil  first  found  it,  and 
they  that  profess  it  are  enemies  of  truth  and  of  God. 

In  the  mean  time,  I  cannot  but  relate  a  wonderful  experience  of  Sir 
SVilliam  Phips,  by  the  relation  whereof  somethig  of  an  antidote  may  be 
given  against  a  poison,  which  the  d'ldholicn] figure-flingers  and  fortune- 
tellers that  swarm  all  the  world  over  may  insinuate  into  the  minds  of  men. 
Long  before  Mr.  Phips  came  to  be  Sir  William,  while  he  sojourned  in 
London,  there  came  into  his  lodging  an  old  astrologer,  living  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood; who  making  some  observation  of  him,  though  he  had  small  or  i 
no  conversation  with  him,  did  (howbeit  by  him  wholly  undesired,)  one 
day  send  him  a  paper,  wherein  he  had,  with  pretences  of  a  rule  in  astro' 
logy  for  each  article,  distinctly  noted  the  most  material  passages  that 
were  to  befal  this  our  Phips  in  the  remaining  part  of  his  life  ;  it  was  par- 
ticularly asserted  and  inserted,  that  he  should  be  engaged  in  a  design, 
wherein  by  reason  of  enemies  at  Court,  he  should  meet  with  much  de- 
lay ;  that  nevertheless  in  the  thirty-seventh  year  of  his  life,  he  should 
iind  a  mighty-treasure  ;  that  in  the  forty  first  year  of  his  life,  his  King 
should  emplo)'  him  in  as  great  a  trust  beyond  sea,  as  a  subject  could  easi- 
\y  have  :  that  soon  after  this  he  should  undergo  an  hard  storm  from  the 
endeavours  of  his  adversaries  to  reproach  him  and  ruin  him ;  that  his 
adversaries,  though  they  should  go  very  near  gaining  the  point,  should 
yet  miss  of  doing  so  ;  that  he  should  hit  upon  a  vastly  richer  matter  than 
any  he  had  hitherto  met  withal ;  that  he  should  continue  thirteen  years  i 
mh'is  puhlick  station,  full  of  action,  and  full  of  hurry  ;  and  the  rest  of  his 
days  he  should  spend  in  the  satis fnction  of  a  peaceable  retirement. 

Mr.  Phips  received  this  undesired  p;ipor  with  trouble  and  with  con* 
tempt,  and  threw  it  by  among  certain  loose  paper:;  in  the  bottom  of  a 
trunk,  where  his  lady  some  yeai^s  after  accideniaUy  lit  upon  it.     His 


Book  II.]       OR,  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  201 

lady  with  admiration  saw,  step  after  step,  very  mnch  of  it  accomplished; 
but  when  she  heard  from  England,  that  Sir  IVilliam  was  coming  over 
with  a  commission  to  be  governour  of  jYew- England,  in  that  very  year 
of  his  life,  which  the  paper  specified  ;  she  was  afraid  of  letting  it  lye 
any  longer  in  the  house,  but  cast  it  into  the  Jire. 

Now  the  thing  which  I  must  invite  my  reader  to  remark,  is  this,  thai 
albeit  Almighty  God  may  permit  the  devils  to  predict,  and  perhaps  to  per- 
form very  many  particular  things  to  men,  that  shall  by  such  -a  presumpixi- 
Qus  and  umiuarrantahle  juggle  as  astrology  (so  Dr.  Hall  well  calls  it !)  or 
any  other  divination,  consult  them,  yet  the  devils  which  foret el  many  trne 
things,  do  commonly /orefeZ  some  that  are  false,  and  it  may  be,  propose 
by  the  things  that  are  true  to  betray  men  into  some  fatal  misbelief  and 
miscarriage  about  those  that  are  false. 

Very  singular  therefore  was  the  wisdom  of  Sir  Wiltiatn  Phips,  that  as 
he  ever  treated  these  prophesies  about  him  with  a  most  pious  ^neglect,  so 
when  he  had  seen  all  but  the  two  last  of  them  very  punctually  fulfilled, 
yea,  and  seen  the  beginning  of  a  fulfilment  unto  the  last  but  one  also,  yet 
when  I  pleasantly  mentioned  them  unto  him,  on  purpose  to  try  whether 
there  were  any  occasion  for  me  humbly  to  give  him  the  serious  advice, 
necessary  in  such  a  case  to  anticipate  the  devices  of  Satan,  he  prevented 
my  advice,  by  saying  to  me,  Sir,  I  do  believe  there  might  be  a  cursed  snare 
of  Satan  in  those  prophesies :  I  believe  Satan  might  have  leave  to  foretet 
many  things,  all  of  which  might  come  to  pass  in  the  beginning,  to  lay  me 
asleep  about  such  things  as  are  to  follow,  especially  about  the  main  chance 
of  all ;  I  do  not  know  but  I  am  to  die  this  year  :  for  my  part,  by  the  help  of 
the  grace  of  God,  I  shall  endeavour  to  live  as  if  I  were  this  year  to  die. 
And  let  the  reader  now  attend  the  event ! 

§  20.  'Tis  a  similitude  which  I  have  learned  from  no  less  a  person 
than  the  great  Basil :  that  as  the  eye  sees  not  those  objects  which  are  ap- 
plied close  unto  it,  and  even  lye  upon  it ;  but  when  the  objects  are  to 
some  distance  removed,  it  clearly  discerns  them  :  so,  we  have  little  sense 
of  the  good  which  we  have  in  our  enjoyments,  until  God,  by  the  remo- 
val thereof,  teach  us  better  to  prize  what  we  once  enjoyed.  It  is  true, 
the  generality  of  sober  and  thinking  people  among  the  Neiv-Eglanders. 
did  as  highly  value  the  government  of  Sir  William  Phips,  whilst  he  lived, 
as  they  do  his  memory,  since  his  death  ;  nevertheless  it  must  be  confes- 
sed, that  the  blessing  which  the  country  had  in  his  indefatigable  zeal,  to 
serve  the  publick  in  all  its  interests,  was  not  so  valued  as  it  should  have 
been. 

It  was  mentioned  long  since  as  a  notorious  fault  in  Old  Egypt,  that  it 
ivas  Loquax  4*  lnge7iiosa  in  Contumeliam  Prcefectortim  Provincia  :  si  quis 
forte  vitaverit  Cuipam,  Contumeliam  non  effugit  :  And  New-England  ha« 
been  at  the  best  always  too  faulty,  in  that  very  character,  a  province  very 
talkative,  and  ingenious  for  the  vilifying  of  its  publick  servants. 

But  Sir  William  Phips,  who  might  in  a  calm  of  the  commonwealth 
have  administred  all  things  with  as  general  an  acceptance  as  any  that 
have  gone  before  him,  had  the  disadvantage  of  being  set  at  helm  in  a  time 
as  full  of  storm  as  ever  \hd.i  province  had  seen  ;  and  the  people  having 
th^ir  spirits  put  into  a  tumult  by  the  discomposing  and  distetnpering  va- 
riety of  disasters,  which  had  long  been  rendring  the  time  calamitous, 
it  was  natural  for  them,  as  'tis  for  all  men  then,  to  be  complaining ;  and 
you  may  be  sure,  the  riders  must  in  such  cases  be  always  complained  of, 
Hod  the  chief  romplHints  must  be  heaped  upon  tho«e  that  are  commanders 

Vor,.  I.  ?6 


2m  MAGiN ALIA  CHKISTi  AMERICANA:  [Book  It 

in  chief.     Nor  has  a  certain  proverb  in  Asia   been  improper  in  America, 
He  deserves  no  7nan^s  good  Tford,  of  whom  every  man  sliall  speak  Ti'dl. 

Sir  William  vA'as  very  hardly  handled  (or  tongved  at  least)  in  the  lib- 
erty which  people  took  to  make  most  unbecoming  and  injurious  reflec- 
tions upon  his  conduct,  and  clamour  against  him,  even  ibr  those  very 
actions  which  were  not  only  necessary  to  be  done,  but-  highly  beneficial 
unto  themselves  ;  and  though  he  would  ordinarily  smile  at  Xh^ir  frc-ward- 
ness,  calling  it  his  country  pay,  yet  he  sometimes  resented  it  with  some 
uneasiness  ;  he  seemed  unto  himself  sometimes  almost  as  bad  as  rolled 
about  in  Regiilus''  barrel  ;  and  had  occasion  to  think  on  the  Italian  pro- 
verb, To  XL- ait  for  one  Xi-ho  does  not  come  ;  to  lye  a  bed  not  able  to  sleep; 
and  to  find  it  impossible  to  please  those  u'liom  tt-e  serve ;  are  three  griefs 
enovgli  to  kill  a  man. 

But  i\?,fron'ard  as  the  people  were,  under  the  cpedemical  vexations  of  the 
age,  yet  there  were  very  few  that  would  acknowledge  unto  the  very  last, 
it  zcillbe  hardly  possible  for  us  to  see  another  governovr  that  shall  more  in- 
tirely  love  and  serve  the  country :  yea,  had  the  country  had  the  choice  of 
their  own  governour,  'tis  judged  their  votes,  more  than  forty  to  one, 
would  have  still  fallen  upon  him  to  have  been  the  man  :  and  the  General 
Assembly  therefore  on  all  occasions  renewed  their  petitions  unto  the  King 
for  his  continuance. 

Nevertheless,  there  was  a  little  party  of  men,  who  thought  they  must 
not  sleep  till  they  had  caused  him  to  fall :  and  they  so  vigorously  prosecuted 
certain  articles  before  the  Council-board  at  Whitehall  against  him,  that 
they  imagined  they  had  gained  an  order  of  his  Majesty  in  Council,  to 
suspend  him  immediately  from  his  government,  and  appoint  a  committee 
of  persons  nominated  by  his  enemies,  to  hear  all  depositions  against  him; 
and  so  a  report  of  the  whole  to  be  made  unto  the  King  and  Council. 

But  his  Majesty  was  too  well  informed  of  Sir  William's  integrity  to 
permit  such  a  sort  of  procedure  ;  and  therefore  he  signified  unto  his^i 
most  honourable  Council,  that  nothing  should  be  done  against  Sir  Wil- 
liam,  until  he  had  opportunity  to  clear  himself;  and  thereupon  he  sent 
his  royal  commands  unto  Sir  William  to  come  over.  To  give  any  re- 
torting accounts  of  the  principal  persons  who  thus  adversaried  him, 
would  be  a  thing  so  contrary  to  the  spirit  of  Sir  William  Phips  himself, 
who  at  his  leaving  of  A'etv- England  bravely  declared  that  he  freely  for- 
gave them  all ;  and  if  he  had  returned  thither  again,  would  never  have] 
taken  the  least  revenge  upon  them,  that  this  alone  would  oblige  me,  if  I| 
liad  no  other  obligations  of  Christianity  upon  me,  to  forbear  it ;  and  it 
may  be,  for  some  of  them,  it  would  be  to  throrv  zzxitcr  upon  a  drorvnec 
mouse. 

Nor  need  I  to  produce  any  more  about  the  articles  which  these  mer 
exhibited  against  him,  than  this;  that  it  was  by  most  men  believed,  that 
if  he  would  have  connived  at  some  arbitrary  oppressions  too  much  used 
by  some  kind  of  officers  on  the  King's  subjects, jTett.'  perhaps,  or  none  oi 
those  articles  had  ever  been  formed  ;  and  that  he  apprehended  himself 
to  be  provided  with  a  full  defence  against  them  all. 

Nor  did  his  Excellency  seem  loth  to  have  had  his  case  tried  undei 
the  bra;;en  tree  of  Gariac,  if  there  had  been  such  an  one,  as  that  men- 
tioned by  the  fabulous  Murtadi,  in  his  prodigies  of  Egypt,  a  tree  which 
had  iron  branches  with  sharp  hooks  at  the  end  of  them,  that  when  any 
false  accuser  approached,  as  the  fabel  says,  immediatelj'  flew  at  him,  and 
stuck  in  him,  until-  he  had  ceased  injuring  his  adversary. 

Wherefore  in  obedience  unto  the  King's  commands,  he  took  his  leave 
of  Boston  on  thes(^.venteeuth  oi  J\'ovcmbcr,  1694,  attended  with  all  propej 


Book  II. J     OK,  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND:  203 

testimonies  of  respect  and  honour  from  the  lodij  of  the  people,  which  he 
had  been  the  head  unto  ;  and  with  addresses  unto  their  Majesties,  and 
the  chief  IMinisters  of  State  from  the  (jeneral  Assembly,  humbly  im- 
ploring, that  they  might  not  be  deprived  of  the  happiness  which  they 
had  in  such  an  head. 

Arriving  at  Jl'hitehull,  he  found  in  a  few  days,  that  notwithstanding  all 
the  impotent  rage  of  his  adversaries  particularly  vented  and  printed  in 
a  -i.iUanoiis  libel,  as  well  as  almost  in  us  many  other  ways  as  there  are 
mouths,  at  which  Fijal  sometimes  has  vomited  out  its  infernal  tires,  he 
had  all  humane  assura?ice  of  his  returning  in  a  ver}'  few  weeks  again  the 
governour  of  JS'ezi^-England. 

Wherefore  there  were  especially  tn-o  designs,  full  of  sen  ice  to  the 
whole  English  nation,  as  well  as  his  own  particular  country  of  .Xen-- Eng- 
land, which  he  applied  his  thoughts  unto.  First,  he  had  a  new  scene  of 
action  opened  unto  him,  in  an  opportunity  to  supply  the  Crown  with  all 
naval  stores  at  most  easie  rates,  from  those  eastern  parts  of  tit^Massachu- 
sc<  province,  which  through  the  conquest  that/ie  had  made  thereof,  came 
to  be  inserted  in  the  Mussachuset-charter.  As  no  man  was  more  capable 
than  he  to  improve  this  opportunity  unto  a  vast  advantage,  so  his  inclina- 
tion to  it  was  according  to  his  capacity. 

And  he  longed  with  some  impatience  to  see  the  King  furnished  from 
bis  ooi'H  dominions,  with  such  lloating  and  stately  castles,  those  zjooden- 
tt"a//s  of  Great  Britain,  for  much  of  which  he  has  hitherto  traded  with 
foreign  kingdoms.  J\'ext,  if  I  may  say  next  unto  this,  he  had  an  eye  upon 
Canada ;  all  attempts  for  the  reducing  whereof  had  hitherto  proved 
abortive. 

It  was  but  a  few  months  ago  that  a  considerable  fleet,  under  Sir  Fran- 
cis Wheeler,  which  had  been  sent  into  the  West-Indies  to  subdue  .Marte- 
nico,  was  ordered  then  to  call  at  JS'exa- England,  that  being  recruited 
there,  they  might  make  a  further  descent  upon  Canada  ;  but  heaven 
frowned  upon  that  expedition,  especially  by  a  terrible  sickness,  the  most 
like  the  plague  of  any  thing  that  has  been  ever  seen  in  America,  whereof 
there  died,  e'er  they  could  reach  to  Boston,  m  I  was  told  by  Sir  Francis 
himself,  no  less  than  thirteen  hundred  sailors  out  of  tizenty  one,  and  no  less 
than  eighteen  hundred  soldiers  out  of  tn-entyfour. 

It  was  now  therefore  his  desire  to  have  satistied  the  King,  that  his 
whole  interest  in  America  lay  at  stake,  while  Canada  was  in  French 
hands  :  and  therewithal  to  have  laid  before  several  noblemen  and  gentle- 
men, how  beneticial  an  undertaking  it  would  have  been  for  them  to  have 
pursued  the  Ca/jac/mn-business,  for  which  the  j\e7i:-Englanders  were  now 
grown  too  feeble  ;  their  country  being  too  far  now,  as  Bede  says  Eng- 
land once  was,  Omni  Milite  S^' floridce  Jiracntutis  Alacritate  spoliata. 

Besides  these  tzvo  designs  in  the  thoughts  of  Sir  William,  there  was  a 
third,  which  he  had  hopes  that  the  King  would  have  given  him  leave  to 
have  pursued,  after  he  had  continued  so  long  in  his  government,  as  U> 
have  obtained  the  more  general  zi-elfare  which  he  designed  in  the  former 
instances.  I  do  not  mean  the  making  of  A'ezu- England  the  seat  of  a 
Spanish  «rade,  though  so  vastly  profitable  a  thing  was  likely  to  have  been 
brought  about,  by  his  being  one  of  an  honourable  company  engaged  in 
such  a  project. 

But  the  Spanish  -wreck,  where  Sir  William  had  made  his  first  good-  voy- 
age, was  not  the  ojdy,  nor  the  richest  wreck,  that  he  knew  to  be  lying 
under  the  water.  He  knew  particularly,  that  when  the  ship  which  had 
Governoar  Roadilla  aboard,  was  cast  awav,  there  was,  as  Peter  Martyr 


^;04  MAGNALIA  CHRISTI  AMERICANA ;  [Book  11. 

says,  an  entire  table  of  gold  of  three  thousand  three  hundred  ami  ten  pound 
'tveight. 

The  Duke  of  AlbemarWs  patent  for  all  such  wrecks  now  expiring,  Sir 
William  thought  on  the  inotto  which  is  upon  the  gold  medal,  bestowed  by 
the  late  King,  with  his  Knighthood  upon  him.  Semper  Tibi  pendeat  Hamus  : 
and  supposing  himself  to  have  gained  sufficient  information  of  the  right 
way  to  such  a  wreck,  it  was  his  purpose  upon  his  dismission  from  his 
government,  once  more  to  have  gone  unto  his  old  fishing-trade,  upon  a 
mighty  shelf  of  rocks  and  banks  of  sands  that  lye  where  he  had  inform- 
ed himself. 

But  as  the  prophet  Haggai  and  Zechariuh,  in  their  psalm  upon  the 
grants  made  unto  their  people  by  the  Emperors  of  Persia  have  that  re 
dection,  Mans  breath  goeth  forth,  he  returns  to  Ids  earth;  in  that  very  day 
his  ihoiights  perish.  My  reader  must  now  see  what  came  of  all  these 
consldevixhle  thoughts.  About  the  middle  of  February,  1694,  Sir  William, 
foi'nd  hidiPlf  indisposed  with  a  cold,  which  obliged  him  to  keep  his 
chamber  ;tbut  under  this  indisposition  he  received  the  honour  of  a  visit 
from  a  very  eminent  person  at  Whitehall,  who  upon  sufficient  assurance, 
bad  him  Get  well  as  fast  as  he  could,  for  in  one  month^s  time  he  should  be 
again  dispatched  away  to  his  government  of  New-England. 

Nevertheless  his  distemj)er  proved  a  sort  oi malignant  feaver,  whereof 
many  about  this  time  died  in  the  city  ;  and  it  suddenly  put  an  end  at 
once  unto  his  days  and  thoughts,  on  the  eighteenth  of  February ;  to  the 
extream  surprize  of  his  friends,  who  honourably  interred  him  in  the 
church  of  St.  Mary  Woolnoih,  and  with  him,  how  mucli  oi  New- England'' s 
happiness ! 

§  21.  Although  he  has  now  no  more  a  portion  for  ever  in  any  thing 
that  is  done  under  the  su7i,  yet  justice  requires  that  his  memory  be  not  for- 
gotten. I  have  not  all  this  while  said  he  was  faultless,  nor  am  1  unwilling 
to  use  for  him  the  words  which  Mr.  Calamy  had  in  his  funeral  sermon 
for  the  excellent  Earl  oi  Warwick,  It  must  be  confessed,  lest  I  should,  prove 
a  flatterer^  he  had  his  infirimties,  which  I  trust  Jesus  Christ  has  covered  with 
the  robe  of  his  righteousnes^  my  prayer  to  God  is,  that  all  his  infirmities  may 
he  buried  ih  the  grave  of  oblivion,  and  that  all  his  virtues  and  graces  may 
supervive ;  although  perhaps  there  \vere  no  infirmities  in  that  noble  per- 
son, which  Mr.  CaZa/n?/ counted  so. 

Nevertheless  I  must  also  say,  that  if  the  anguish  of  his  publick  fa- 
tigues threw  Sir  William  into  ?ioy  faults  of  passion  ;  they  were  but  faults 
of  passion  soon  recalled  :  and  spots  being  soonest  seen  in  ermin,  there 
was  usually  the  most  made  of  them  that  could  be,  by  those  that  were 
least  free  themselves. 

Aftej  all,  I  do  not  know  that  I  have  been,  by  any  personal  obligations 
or  circumstances,  charmed  into  any  partiality  for  the  memory  of  this  wor- 
thy man  ;  but  I  do  here,  from  a  real  satisfaction  of  conscience  concern- 
ing him,  declare  to  all  the  world,  that  1  reckon  him  to  have  been  really  a 
very  worthy  man  ;  that  few  men  in  the  world  rising  from  so  mean  an  ori- 
ginal as  he,  would  have  acquitted  themselves  with  a  thousandth  part  of 
his  capacity  or  integrity  ;  that  he  lefl  unto  the  world  a  notable  example  of 
a  disposition  to  do  good,  and  encountered  and  overcame  almost  invincible 
temptations  in  doing  it. 

And  I  do  most  solemnly  profess,  that  1  have  most  conscientiously  en- 
deavoured the  utmost  sincerity  and  veracity  of  a  christian,  as  well  as  an 
historian,  in  the  history  which  I  have  now  given  of  him.  I  have  not  writ- 
ten of  Sir  William  Phips,  as  they  say  Xenophon  did  of  Cyrus,  JVon  ad  His- 
toric FiJcm,  sedad  Ffirgiem  veri  imperii;  what  should  have  l>«cn,  rathov 


Book  II.]      OR,  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  205 

than  what  really  •was.  If  the  envy  of  his  few  enemies  be  not  now  quiet ; 
I  must  freely  say  it,  that  for  many  weeks  before  he  died,  there  was  not 
one  man  among  his  personal  enemies  whom  he  would  not  readily  and 
chearfully  have  done  all  the  kmd  offices  of  a  friend  unto  :  wherefore 
though  the  gentleman  in  England  that  once  published  a  vindication  of 
Sir  William  Phips  against  some  of  his  enemies,  chose  to  put  the  name  of 
■publicans  upon  them,  they  must  in  this  be  counted  worse  than  tlie  Publi- 
cans of  whom  our  Saviour  says,   They  love  those  that  love  him. 

And  I  will  say  this  further,  that  when  certain  persons  had  found  the 
shdl  of  a  dead  man,  as  a  Greek  writer  of  epigrams  has  told  us,  they  all 
fell  a  weeping,  but  only  one  of  the  company,  who  laughed  and  flouted, 
and  through  an  unheard-of  cruelty,  threw  stones  at  it,  which  stones  won- 
derfully rebounded  backupon  the  face  of  him  that  threw  them,  and 
miserably  wounded  him  :  thus  if  any  shall  be  so  itnchrislian,  yea,  so  inhu- 
mane, as  libellously  to  throw  stones  at  so  deserved  a  reputation  as  this 
gentleman  has  died  withal,  they  shall  see  a  just  rebound  of  all  their 
calumnies. 

But  the  name  of  Sir  William  Phips  will  be  heard  honourably  men- 
tioned in  the  trumpets  of  immortal  fame,  when  the  names  of  many  tha; 
antipathied  him  will  either  be  buried  in  eternal  oblivion,  without  any  sa~ 
\  cer  vates  to  preserve  them  ;  or  be  remembred,  but  like  that  of  Judas  ia 
I  the  gospel,  or  Pilate  in  the  creed,  with  eternal  infamy. 
i       The  old  Persians  indeed,  according  to  the  report  of  Agathias,  exposed 
j  their  (fead  friends  to  be  torn  in  pieces  by  wild  beasts,  believing  that  if  the\' 
lay  long  v.nxaorried,  they  had  been  unzn'orthy  persons  ;  but  all  attempts  of 
surviving  malice  to  demonstrate  in  that  way  the  -xorth  of  this  dead  gen- 
tleman, give  me  leave  to  rate  off  with  indignation. 

And  1  must  with  a  like  freedom  say,  that  great  was  the  fault  of  A'ct^- 
1  Englandno  more  to  value  a  person,  whose  opportunities  to  serve  all  their 
interests,  though  very  eminent,  ye{  were  not  so  eminent  as  hi?  inclina- 
tions. If  this  whole  continent  carry  in  its  very  name  of  Amhrica,  au 
■unaccountable  ingratitude  unto  that  brave  man  who  first  led  any  numbers 
of  Europeans  thither,  it  must  not  be  wondred  at,  if  now  and  then  a  par- 
ticular country  in  that  continent  afford  some  instances  of  ingratitude  : 
but  I  must  believe  that  the  ingratitude  of  many,  both  to  God  and  man, 
for  such  benefits  as  that  country  of  Ne-w-England  enjoyed  from  a  govern- 
■  )ur  of  their  own,  by  whom  they  enjoyed  ^reai  quietness,  rcilh  very  rforfhy 
deeds  done  unto  that  nation  by  his  providence,  WJis  that  v/hich  hastned  the 
removal  of  such  a  benefactor  from  them. 

However,  as  the  Cyprians  buried  their  friends  in  honey,  to  whom  they 
gnve  gall  when  they  were  born  ;  thus  whatever  gall  might  be  given  Ic 
'his  gentleman  while  he  lived,  I  hope  none  will  be  so  base,  as  to  put  any 
.:hing  but  honey  into  their  language  of  him  now  after  his  decease.  An«* 
-iideed,  since  'tis  a  frequent  thing  among  men  to  wish  fur  the  presence  o< 
our  friends,  when  they  are  dead  and  gone,  whom,  while  they  were  pre 
sent  with  us,  we  undervalued  ;  there  is  no  way  for  us  to  fetch  back  oiii 
bir  William  Phips,  and  make  him  yet  living  with  us,  but  by  setting  up  :; 
■'ratue  for  him,  as  'tis  done  in  these  pages,  that  may  out-last  an  ordinary 
'^nonumejit. 

Such  was  the  original  design  of  erecting  s^afwes,  and  if  in  Venice  there 
■ere  at  once  no  less  than  an  hundred  and  sixty-two  marble,  and  twenty- 
■hree  brazen  statues,  erected  by  the  order,  and  at  the  expcncc  of  th(' 
publick,  in  honour  of  so  many  valiant  soldiers,  uiio  had  merited  well  oi 
hat  commonwealth,  I  am  sure  JS'erv- England  has  had  those,  whose  merit' 
:  ill  for  as  good  an  acknowledgment ;  and,  whatever  they  did  hefnrr.  i- 


206  MAGNALl A  CHRISTI  AMERICANA;  [Book  IT, 

will  be  well,  if  after  Sir  William  Phips,  they  find  many  as  meritorious  as 
he  to  be  50  acknowledged. 

Now  I  cannot  my  self  provide  a  better  statue  for  this  memorable  per- 
son, than  the  words  uttered  on  the  occasion  of  his  death  in  a  very  great 
assembly,  by  a  person  of  so  diffused  and  embalmed  a  reputation  in  the 
church  of  God,  that  such  a  character  from  him  were  enough  to  immor- 
talize the  reputation  of  the  person  upon  whom  he  should  bestow  it. 

The  Grecians  employed  still  the  most  honourable  and  considerable  per- 
sons they  had  among  them,  to  make  a  funeral  oration  in  commendation 
of  soldiers  that  had  lost  their  lives  in  the  service  of  the  publick  :  and 
when  Sir  William  Phips,  the  Captain-General  of  NcxD-England,  who 
had  often  ventured  his  life  to  serve  the  publick,  did  expire,  (hat  reve- 
rend person,  who  was  the  president  of  the  only  University  then  in  the£/!- 
glish  America,  preached  a  sermon  on  that  passage  of  the  sacred  writ, 
Isa.  Ivii.  I.  Alerciful  men  are  taken  away,  none,  considering  that  the  right- 
eous are  taken  away  from  the  evil  to  come  ;  and  it  gave  Sir  William  Phips 
the  following  testimon3^ 

'  This  province  is  beheaded,  and  lyes  a  bleeding.  A  Goverxour  is 
•Jakcii  away,  who  was  a  merciful  man;  some  think  too  merciful :  and  if 
'  so,  'tis  best  erring  on  that  hand  ;  and  a  righteous  man  ;  who,  when  he 
"  had  great  opportunities  of  gaining  by  injustice,  did  refuse  to  do  so. 

'  He  was  a  known  friend  unto  the  best  interests,  and  unto  the  Church- 
"  es  of  God  :  not  ashamed  of  owning  them  :  no,  how  often  have  I  heard 
'  him  expressing  his  desires  to  be  an  instrument  of  good  unto  them  !  He 

•  was  a  zealous  lover  of  his  country,  if  any  man  in  the  world  were  so  : 
'  he  exposed  himself  to  serve  it  ;  he  ventured  his  life  to  save  it  :  in  that, 
'  a  true  jYehemiah,  a  governour  that  sought  the  welfare  of  his  people. 

'  He  was  one  who  did  not  seek  to  have  the  government  cast  upon  him  :; 

•  no,  but  instead  thereof  to  my  knowledge,  he  did  several  times  petition] 

•  the  King,  that  this  peoj)le  might  iilways  enjoy  the  great  priviledge  of\ 
■  chusing  their  own  governour ;  and  I  have  heard  him  express  his  desires,! 

•  that  it  might  be  so,  to  several  of  the  chief  ministers  of  state  in   the^ 

•  Court  of  England.  | 

'  He  is  now  dead,  and  not  capable  of  being  flattered:  but  this  I  must] 
'  testifie  concerning  him,  that  though  by  the  providence  of  God  I  have] 
'  been   with   him  at   home   and   abroad,  near  at  home,  and  afar  off,  by; 
'  land  and  by  sea,  /  never  saw  him  do  any  evil  action,  or  heard  him  speak  ant 
'  thing  unbecoming  a  christian.  ^ 

"  The  circumstances  of  his  death  seem  to  intimate  the  anger  of  Godl 
'  in  that  he  was  in  the  midst  of  his  days  removed  ;  and  I  know  (though /ea 
'  did)  tiiat  he  hni] great  pin-poscsin  his  heart,  which  probably  would  hav< 
'  taken  effect,  if  lie  had  lived  a  few  months  longer,  to  the  great  advantag* 
'  of  thn  province  ;  but  now  he  is  gone,  there  is  not  a  man  living  in  ihi 
'world  capacitated  for  those  undertakings  ;  jXew-England  knows  not  yel 
<  what  they  have  lost!'  i 

'  The  recitation  of  a  testimony  so  great,  whether  for  the  author  or' 
the  matter  of  it,  has  now  made  a  stattie  for  the  governour  of  JVete-- 
Kugland,  which 

.Vfc  poicril  Ferruni,  ncc  cdax  aholcre  vetustas. 

And  there  now  remains  nothing  more  for  me  to  do  about  it,  but  only  to 
'•■cite  iiercwithala  vvcH-known  story  related  by  Svidas,  That  cxn  envious 
luiin,  once  going  to  pull  down  a  slalvc  which  had  been  raised  unto  the 
memory  of  one  whom  he  maligned,  he  only  got  this  by  it,  that  the  stattee 
iciUine-,  l-'nockedout  his  br'.ins. 


Book  II.]       OR,  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  207 

But  Poetry  as  well  as  History  must  pay  its  dues  unto  him.  If  Cicero''s 
poem,  intituled,  Quadrigce,  wherein  he  did  with  a  poetical  chariot  extol 
the  exploits  of  Cwsar  in  Britain  to  the  very  skies,  were  now  extant  in 
the  world,  I  would  have  borrowed  some  Jlightx  of  that  at  least,  for  the 
subject  novv  to  he  adorned. 

I-^ut  instead  thereof  let  the  reader  accept  the  ensuing  Elegy. 


UPON  THPJ 

DEATH 

OF 

Sir  WILLIAM  PHIFS,  Knt. 

:,ATE  CAPTAIN  GENERAL  AND  GOVERNOUR  IN  CHIEF  OF  THE  PROVINCE  OF 
THE  MASSACHUSET-BAY  IN  NEW-ENGLAND,  WHO  EXPIRED  AT  LONDON, 
FKB.   1694—5. 

And  to  Mortality  a  sacrifice 

Falls  he,  whose  deeds  rnust  hir7i  immortalize  ! 

Rejoice  Messieurs ;  J\"etops  rejoice  ;   'tis  true, 
1;  e  Philistines,  none  will  rejoice  but  you  : 
Loving  of  all  he  dy'd  ;  who  love  him  not 
Now,  have  the  grace  of  publicans  forgot. 
Our  Almanacks  foretold  a  great  eclipse, 
This  they  foresaw  not,  of  our  greater  PHIPS. 
PHIPS  our  great  friend,  our  wonder,  and  our  glorV: 
The  terror  of  ourybes,  the  world's  rare  story. 
England  will  boast  him  too,  whose  noble  mind 
Impelled  hy  Angels,  did  those  treasures  find, 
Long  in  the  bottom  of  the  ocean  laid, 
V>  hich  her  three  hundred  thousand  richer  made, 
By  silver  yet  ne'er  canker'd,  nor  defil'd 
By  Honour,  nor  betray'd  when  Fortune  smil'd. 
Since  this  bright  Phabus  visited  our  shoar. 
We  saw  no  fogs  but  what  were  rais'd  betore  : 
Those  vanish'd  too  ;  harass'd  by  bloody  zi'ars 
Our  land  saw  peace,  by  his  most  generous  cares. 
The  rcohish  Pagans  at  his  dreaded  name, 
Tam'd,  shrunk  before  him,  and  his  dogs  became  ! 
Fell  Moxus  and  fierce  Docka7i.-ando  fall, 
Charm'd  at  the  feet  of  our  brave  general. 

Fly-blow  the  dead,  pale  Envy,  let  him  not 
(What  hero  ever  did  ?)  escape  a  blot. 
All  is  distort  with  an  inchanted  eye. 
And  heighth  will  make  what's  right  still  stand  awry. 
He  rvas,  Oh  that  he  ix-as  !  his  faults  we'll  tell. 
Such  faults  as  these  we  A;?ieu.',  and  lik'd  them  well 

Just  to  an  injury  ;  denying  none 
Their  dues ;  but  self-dcnving  oft  his  o^vn 


208  MAGNALIA  CHRISTI  AMERICANA: 

Good  to  a  miracle  ;    resolv'd  to  do 
Good  unto  all,  whether  they  would  or  no. 
To  make  us  good,  great,  wise,  and  all  things  else, 
He  wanted  but  ihc  gift  of  miracles. 
On  him.  vain  Mob,  thy  mischiefs  cease  to  throw  ; 
Bad,  but  alone  in  this,  the  times  were  so. 

StoiU  to  a  prodigy  ;  living  in  pain 
To  send  back  Quebeck-btdlets  once  again. 
Thunder,  his  musick,  sweeter  than  the  spheres, 
Chira'd  roaring  canons  in  his  martial  ears. 
Frigats  of  armed  men  could  not  withstand, 
''Tvvas  tryed,  the  force  of  his  one  swordless hand' 
Hand,  which  in  one,  all  of  Briareus  had, 
And  Hercules^  twelve  toils  but  pleasures  made. 

Too  humble ;  in  brave  stature  not  so  tall, 
As  low  in  carriage,  stooping  unto  all. 
Rais'd  in  estate,  in  figure  and  renown. 
Not  pride  ;  higher,  and  yet  not  protider  grown. 
Of  pardons  full ;  ne'er  to  revenge  at  all. 
Was  that  which  he  would  satisfaction  call. 

True  to  his  mate  ;  from  whom  though  often  flown, 
A  stranger  yet  to  every  love  but  07ie. 
Write  him  not  childless,  whose  whole  people  were 
Sons,  orphans  now,  of  his  paternal  care. 

Now  lest  ungrateful  brands  we  should  incur, 
V^our  salary  we'll  pay  in  tears,  great  Sir  ! 

To  England  often  blown,  and  by  his  Prince 
Often  sent  laden  with  preferments  thence. 
Preferr'd  each  time  he  went,  when  all  was  done 
That  eitrth  could  do,  heaven  fetch'd  him  to  a  crown. 

'Tis  he  :  with  him  interr'd  how  great  designs  * 
Stand  fearless  now,  ye,  eastern  firs  and  pines. 
With  naval  stores  not  to  enrich  the  nation, 
Stand,  for  the  universal  conflagration. 
Mines,  opening  unto  none  but  him,  now  stay 
Close  under  lock  and  key,  till  the  last  day  : 
In  this,  like  to  the  grand  aurifick  stone, 
By  any  but  great  souls  not  to  be  known. 
And  thou  rich  table,  with  Bodilla  lost, 
In  the  fair  Galeon,  on  our  Spanish  coast. 
In  weight  three  thousand  and  three  hundred  pound, 
But  of  pure  massy  gold,  lye  thou,  not  found, 
Safe,  since  /ic's  laid  under  the  earth  asleep. 
Who  learnt  where  thou  dost  xmdev  water  keep. 

But  thou  chief  loser,  poor  New-England,  speak 
Thy  dues  to  such  as  did  thy  welfare  seek. 
The  govern  our  that  vow'd  to  rise  and  fall 
With  thee,  thy  fate  shows  in  his  funeral. 
Write  now  his  epitaph,  'twill  be  thine  own. 
Let  it  be  this,  a  publick  spirit's  gone. 
Or,  but  name  Phips  ;  more  needs  not  beexprest: 
Both  Englandsy  and  next  ages,  tell  the  rest. 


POLTBIUS 


THE 


THIRD  BOOK 


OF    THE 


iw«sir©mii 


iH 


Q 


CONTANING    THE 

LIVES 

OF  MANY  REVEREND,  LEARNED,  AND  HOLY 

DIVINES, 

(arriving  such  FROM  EUROPE    TO  AMERICA)  BY    WHOSE    EVANGELICAL 
MINISTRY  THE  CHURCHES  OF 

HAVE  BEEN  ILLUMINATED, 


BY  COTTON  xMATHER, 


Testor^ Christianum  de  Christiana  vera  proferre. 

Tlein-m  nam  ©fey  're?iiTevirxiu^,My  o   /3<««  to7s    cvct^ertv  '«w^fA<jK«;T«To?,  'tf;^'    'stT<r 

Simeon  ^vieiaplirast.  ia  Vita  Chrysostomi.  . 
Equidem  eff'eror  studio  Patres  vestros,  quos  colui,  ^  dilext,  videndi. 


HARTFORD: 

PRINTED  FOR  SILAS  ANDRUS. 


1820. 
Vol.  I.     27 


N.i, 


INTRODUCTION. 


WHAT  was  it  that  obliged  Jerom  to  write,  his  book,  De  Viris  lUustri- 
bus  ?  It  was  the  common  reproach  of  old  cast  upon  the  christiaiis.  That, 
they  were  all  poor,  weak,  unlearned  men.  The  sort  of  m,en  sometime 
called  Puritans,  in  the  English  nation  have  been  reproached  with  the  same 
character ;  and  as  a  malignant  Stapletoo,  counted  the  terms  of  an  ass,  and 
a  fool',  good  enough  to  treat  our  incomparable  VVhitaker.  No  less  basely 
are  the  best  of  Protestants  often  termed  and  thought,  by  the  men,  who  know 
no  Christianity  but  ceremony.  There  hath  been  too  much  of  that  envy,  that 
Sapientior  sis  Socrate  Doctior  Augustino,  Calvenianus,  Si  modo  dicare, 
clam,  vel  propalam,  mox  Tartaris,  Moscis,  Afris,  Turcisque,  saevienti- 
bus,  jacebis  execratior.  A  wretchedness  often  seen  in  English  ;  I  shall  not 
English  it.  This  is  one  thing  that  has  laid  me  tinder  obligation,  here  to 
write  a  book,  De  Viris  lllustribus  :  in  the  whole  whereof,  I  will  with  a  most 
conscientious  and  religious  regard  of  truth,  save  our  history yVom  any  share 
in  that  old  complaint  o/"Melchior  Canus,  Dolenter  hoc  dico,  multo  a  Laer- 
tio  severius  Vitas  Philosopborumscriptas  esse,  quam  a  Christianis,  Vitas 
Christianorum  :  the  lives  of  philosophers  more  truly  written,  than  the 
lives  of  Christians. 

Reader,  behold  these  examples  ;  admire  and  follow  what  thou  dost  behold 
exemplary  in  them.  They  are  qff'ered  unto  the  publick,  with  the  intention 
sometimes  mentioned  by  Gregory  :  Ut  qui  Prceceptis  non  accendimur, 
saltern  Exemplis  incitemur  ;  atque  ac  Appetitu  Rectitudinis  nil  sibi  meus 
nostra  difficile  aestimet,  quod  perfecte  peragi  ab  aliis  videt  :  that  patterns 
may  have  upon  us  the  force  which  precepts  have  not. 

If  a  man  were  so  absurd,  as  to  form  his  ideas  of  the  primitive  christians, 
from  the  motistrous  accusations  of  their  adversaries,  he  woidd  soon  pcrswade 
himself,  that  their  God  was  the  Deus  Christianorum  Ononychites,  whose 
image  was  erected  at  Rome.  And  if  a  man  should,  have  no  other  ideas  of 
the  Puritan  christians  m  our  days,  than  what  the  tory  pens  of  the  sons  of 
Bolsecus  have  given  them,  we  would  think  that  it  was  a  just  thing  to  banish 
them  into  the  cold  swamps  of  the  North-America.  But  whe^i  truth  shall 
have  liberty  to  speak,  it  will  be  k7iow7i,  that  Christianity  never  was  more  ex- 
pressed unto  the  life,  than  in  the  lives  of  the  persons  that  have  been  thus  re- 
proached, among  the  legions  of  the  accuser  of  the  brethren.  It  speaks  in 
the  ensuing  pages'.  Here,  behold  them,  of  whoni  the  world  was  not  wor- 
thy, wandring  in  desarts  ! 

Arnobius  was  put  upon  an  apology,  against  our  particular  calumny, 
among  the  rest.  That  at  the  meetings  of  the  christians,  a  dog  tyed  unto 
the  candlestick,  drew  away  the  light,  whereupon  they  proceeded  unto 
the  most  adulterous  confusions  in  the  world.  And  a  great  man  in  his  wri- 
tings does  affirm,  I  have  heard  this  very  thing,  told  more  than  once,  with 
no  small  confidence  concerning  the  Puritans. 

Reader,  thou  shalt  now  see,  what  sort  of  men  they  were:  Zion  is  not  & 
city  of  fools.     As  Ignatius  in  his  famous  epistles  to  the  Trallians,  mention- 
ing their  pastor,  Polybius,  reports  him,  A  man  of  so  good  and  just  a  repu- 
tation, that  the  very  Atheists  did  stand  in  fear  of  him.     I  hope  our  Po 
tyBius,  will  afford  many  deserving  such  a  rharacier. 


21S  INTRODUCTION. 

It  was  mentioned  as  the  business  and  blessedness  of  John  Baptist,  To  turn 
the  hearts  of  the  fathers  to  the  children.  After  a  deal  of  more  ado  about 
the  sence  of  the  passage  thus  translated,  I  contented  my  self  with  another 
translation,  to  turn  the  hearts  of  the  fathers  with  the  children  ;  because 
IJind  the  preposition,  'e^ri,  as  we/las  the  prcpfx  ^,  in  Mai  iv.  6,  whence 
the  passage  is  taken  to  be  rendred  with,  rather  than  to.  The  sence  there' 
fore  I  took  to  be,  that  John  should  convert  both  old  and  j'oung.  But  farther 
thought  hath  offered  unto  me  a  further  gloss  upon  it :  to  turn  the  hearts  of 
the  fathers  to  the.  children,  is  to  turn  the  children  by  putting  the  hearts  of 
the  fathers  into  them;  to  give  them  such  hearts  as  were  in  Abraham,  and 
others  of  their  famous  and  faithful  fathers. 

Reader,  the  book  now  in  thy  hands,  is  to  manage  the  design  of  a  John 
Baptist,  and  convey  the  hearts  of  the  fathers  imfo  the  children. 

Archilocus  being  desirous  to  give  prevailing  and  effectual  advice  unto 
Lycambes,  by  an  elegant  Prosopopoeia,  brought  in  his  dead  father,  as  giv- 
ing the  advice  he  was  now  writing,  and  as  it  were  put  his  pen  into  his  fa- 
thers hands.  Cicero  being  to  read  a  lecture  of  temperance  and  modesty 
unto  Clodia,  raised  up  her  father  Appius  CaiusyVom  the  grave,  and  in  his 
name  delivered  his  directions.  And  now  by  introdaicing  the  fathers  o/"  New- 
England,  without  the  least  fiction,  or  figure  of  rhetorick,  /  hope  the  plain 
history  of  their  lives,  will  be  a  powerfid  way  of  propounding  their  fatherly 
counsels  to  their  posterity.  A  stroke  with  the  hand  of  a  dead  man,  has  be- 
fore now  been  a  remedy  for  a  malady  not  easily  remedied.  .^ 


THE  THIRD  BOOK. 


DE  VIRIS  ILLUSTRIBUS. 

IN  FOUR  PARTS. 

CONTAINING 

THE  LIVES 

OF  NEAR  FIFTY  DIVINES. 

CONSIDERABLE  IN  THE 

CHURCHES  OF  NEW-ENGLAND. 

'yredunt  de  nobis  quoc  non  probantur,  <S"  nolunt  inquiri,  ne  probentur  non 
esse,  qu(K  malunt  credidisse.  Tert.  Apol. 


Having  entertained  my  re:iders  with  a  more  imperfect  catalogue,  '  Of 
'  many  persons  whose  memories  deserve  to  be  embalmed  in  a  civil  his- 
*  tory ;'  I  must  so  far  consider,  that  it  is  an  ecclesiastical  history^  which  1 
have  undertaken,  as  to  hasten  unto  a  fuller  and  larger  account  of  those 
persons  who  have  been  the  ministers  of  the  gospel,  that  fed  the  ^ocA:s  t« 
the  wilderness :  and  indeed,  JVew-England  having  been  in  some  sort  an 
ecclesiastical  country  above  any  in  this  world,  those  men  that  have  here 
appeared  most  considerable  in  an  ecclesiastical  capacity,  may  most  rea- 
sonably challenge  the  most  consideration  in  our  history. 

Take  then  a  catalogue  of  New-England' s  first  ministers,  who  though 
they  did  not  generally  affect  the  exercise  of  church-govermnent.,  as  con- 
fined unto  classes,  yet  shall  give  me  leave  to  use  the  name  of  classes  in 
my  marshalling  of  them. 

THE    FIRST    CLASSIS. 

It  shall  be  of  such  as  were  in  the  actual  exercise  of  their  ministry  when 
they  left  England,  and  were  the  instruments  of  bringing  the  gospel  mto 
this  wilderness,  and  of  settling  churches  here  according  to  the  order  of 
the  gospel. 

□  1JW«V1  □n^nn  ■•  or,  our Jlrst  Good  Men. 

1.  Mr.  Thomas  Allen,  of  Charles-town. 

2.  Mr.  John  Allen,  of  Dedham. 

•    3.  Mr.  Avery,  of  Marblehead. 

4.  Mr.  Adam  Blachnan  of  Stratford. 

5.  Mr.  Richard  Blin7nan,  of  Glocester. 


214  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEWENGLAND.  fBooTc  Hi 

6.  Mr.  Briicy,  of  Bruinford. 

7.  Mr.  Edmund  Brozim,  of  Siulbury. 

8.  Mr,  Peter  Bulkly,  of  Concord. 

9.  Mr.  Jonathan  Burr,  of  Dorchester. 

10.  Mr.  Charles  Chauncey,  of  Scituate. 

11.  Mr    Thomas  Cobbet,  of  Ljn. 

12.  Mr.  John  Cotton,  of  Boston. 

13.  Mr.  Timothy  Dalton,  of  Hampton. 

14.  Mr.  John  Davenport,  of  New-Haven. 

15.  Mr.  Richard  Denton,  of  Stamford. 

16.  Mr.  Henry  Dunstar,  of  Cambridge. 

17.  Mr.  Samuel  Eaton,  of  New-Haven. 

18.  BIr.  John  Elliot,  of  Roxbnry. 

19.  Mr.  John  Fisk,  of  Chelmsford. 

20.  Mr.  Hcyiry  Flint,  of  Braintree. 

21.  Mr.  Fordham,  of  Southampton. 

22.  Mr.  Green,  of  Reading. 

23.  Mr.  John  Harvard,  of  Charles-town. 

24.  Mr.  Francis  Higginson,  of  Salem. 

25.  Mr.  JVilliam  Hook,  of  New-Haven. 

26.  Mr.  TTiomas  Hooker,  of  Hartford. 

27.  Mr.  Peter  Hobart,  of  Hingham. 

28.  Mr.  Epliraim  Huet,  of  Windsor. 

29.  Mr.  Hull,  of  the  Isle  of  Sholes. 

30.  Mr.  James,  of  Charles-town. 

31.  Mr.  Jones,  of  Fairfield. 

32.  Mr.  Knight,  of  Topsfield. 

33.  Mr.  Knor£:les,  of  Watertown. 

34.  Mr.  Leverick,  of  Sandwich. 

35.  Mr.  John  Lothrop,  of  Barnstable. 

36.  Mr.  Richard  Mather,  of  Dorchester. 

37.  Mr.  J\Iuud,  of  Dover. 

38.  Mr.  Muverick,  of  Dorchester. 

39.  Mr.  John  Mayo,  of  Boston. 

40.  Mr.  John  Millar,  of  Yarmouth. 

41.  Mr.  Aioxon,  of  Springfield. 

42.  Mr.  Samuel  J\''ewman.  of  Rehoboth. 

43.  Mr,  J\'orris,  of  Salem. 

44.  Mr.  John  Norton,  of  Boston. 

45.  Mr.  James  JVoyse,  of  Newberry. 

46.  Mr.  Thomas  Parker,  of  Newberry. 

47.  Mr.  Ralph  Partridge,  of  Duxbuiy. 

48.  Mr.  Peck,  of  Hingham. 
19.   Mr.  Hugh  Peters,  of  Salem. 

50.  r<Ir.  Thomas  Peters,  of  Saybrook. 

51.  Mv.  George  Phillips,  of  Watertown. 

52.  Mr.  Philips,  of  Dedham. 

53.  3Ir.  Abraham  Pierson,  of  Southampton. 

54.  3Ir.  Peter  Pruddsn,  of  Milford. 

55.  Mr.  Rryner,  of  Plymouth. 
"i6.  Mr.  Ezekiel  Rdgfrs,  of  Rowly. 
hi.  BI||  Nathaniel  Rogers,  of  Ipswich. 
58.  -inF.              Saxton,  of  Scituate. 
rl.  Mr.  Thnnias  Shcpard.  of  Cambridge 


Book  III.)         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  215 

60.  Mr.  Zachary  Symms,  of  Charles-town. 

61.  Mr.  Skellon,  of  Salem. 

62.  Mr.  Ralph  Smiih,  of  Plymouth. 

63.  Mr.  Smith,  of  Wetherstield. 

64.  Mr   Samuel  Stone,  of  Hartford. 

66.  Mr.  Aicholas  Street,  of  New-Haven. 

66.  Mr.  William  Thompso7i,  of  Br. nniree. 

67.  Mr.  William  Waltham,  of  Marblehead. 

68.  Mr.  JVathanael  Ward,  of  Ipswich,  and  his  sou,  Mr.  John  Ward, 

of  Haverhil. 

69.  Mr.  John  Warham,  of  Windsor. 

70.  Mr.  Weld,  of  Roxbury. 

71.  Mr.  Wheelright,  of  Salisbury. 

72.  Mr.  Henry  Whitjield,  of  Guilford. 

73.  Mr.  Samuel  Whiteing,  of  Lyn. 

74.  Mr.  John  Wilso7i,  of  Boston. 

75.  Mr.  Witherel,  of  Scituate. 

76.  Mr.  William  Worcester,  of  Salisbury. 

77.  Mr.  Young,  of  Southold. 

Behold,  one  seven  more  than  severi  cZeca/fs  of  persons,  who  being  devot- 
ed unto  the  sacred  ministry  of  our  Lord,  were  the  first  that  enlightened 
the  dark  regions  of  America  with  their  ministry  !  Know  reader,  that  it 
was  by  a  particular  diversion  given  by  the  hand  of  heaven,  unto  the  in- 
tentions of  that  great  man,  Dr.  William  Ames,  that  we  don't  now  find  his 
name  among  the  first  in  the  catalogue  of  our  New-English  zi-orthies.  One 
of  the  most  eminent  and  judicious  persons  that  ever  lived  in  this  world, 
was  intentionally  a  New  England  man,  though  not  eventually,  when  that 
■profound,  that  sublime,  that  subtil,  that  irrefragable,  yea  that  angelical 
doctor,  was  designing  to  transport  himself  into  New-England ;  but  he 
was  hindred  by  that  providence,  which  afterwards  permitted  his  widow, 
his  children,  and  his  library,  to  be  translated  hither.  .And  now,  our  fa- 
thers, where  are  they?  These  prophets  have  they  lived  for  ever?  'Twas 
the  charge  of  the  Almighty  to  other  Kings,  Touch  not  mine  anointed,  and 
do  my  prophets  no  harm:  but  the  King  of  Terrors  pleading  an  exemption 
from  that  charge,  has  now  touched  every  one  of  these  holy  men  ;  how- 
evCT,  all  the  harm  it  has  done  unto  them,  has  been  to  carry  them  from 
this  present  evil  world,  unto  the  spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect.  I  may 
now  write  upon  all  these  oW  ministers  of  New-England,  the  epitaph  which 
the  apostle  hath  left  upon  the  priests  of  the  Old  Testament,  These  were 
not  suffered  to  continue,  by  reason  of  death ;  adding  the  clause  which  he 
hath  left  upon  the  patriarchs  of  that  Testament,  These  all  died  in  faith. 
Wherefore  we  pass  on  to 

THE  SECOND  CL.4SSIS. 

It  shall  be  of  young  scholars,  whose  education  for  their  designed  minis- 
try, not  being  finished,  yet  came  over  from  England  with  their  friends, 
and  had  their  education  perfected  in  this  country,  before  the  College  wa? 
come  unto  maturity  enough  to  bestow  its  laurels. 

1.  Mr.  Sam^iel  Arnold,  of  Marshtield. 

2.  Mr.  John  Bishop ^  of  Stamford. 

3.  Mr.  Edward  Bnlkly,  of  Concord. 


216  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  HI. 

4.  Mr,  Carter,  of  Woburn. 

5.  Mr.  Francis  Dean,  of  Andover. 

6.  Mr.  James  Fitch,  of  Norwich. 

7.  Mr.  Hunford,  of  Norwalk. 

8.  Mr.  Jahn  Higginson,  of  Salem. 

9.  Mr.  Hough,  of  Reading. 

10.  Blr.  James,  of  Easthampton. 

11.  Mr.  i^o^er  Aca'^on,  of  Milford. 

12.  Mr.  John  Sherman,  of  Watertown. 

13.  Mr,  Thomas  Thacher,  of  Bos^toa. 

14.  Mr   Joh7i  Woodbridge,  of  Newberry. 

Of  these  two  sevens,  almost  all  are  gone,  "where  to  be  is,  hy  far  ihi 
best  of  all.  But  these  were  not  come  to  an  age  for  service  to  the  church 
of  God,  before  the  wisdom,  and  prudence  of  the  JVew-Englanders  did  re- 
markably siguifie  it  self,  in  the  founding  of  a  College,  from  whence  the 
most  of  their  congregations  were  afterwards  supplied  ;  a  river,  the  streams 
"whereof  made  glad  the  city  of  God.  From  that  hour  Old-England  had 
more  mmisters  from  New,  than  our  Nexo-England  had  since  then,  from 
Old  ;  nevertheless  after  a  cessation  of  ministers  coming  hither  from  Eu- 
rope, for  twenty  years  together,  we  had  another  set  of  them,  coming  over 
to  help  us ;  wherefore  take  yet  the  names  of  two  sevens  more. 

We  will  now  proceed  unto, 

THE  THIRD  CLASSIS. 

It  shall  be  of  such  ministers,  as  came  over  to  New-England  after  the 
re-establishment  of  the  £pzscopa/-church-government  iu  Fngland,  and 
the  persecution,  which  then  hurricanoed,  such  as  were  non-conformists 
unto  that  establishment. 

1.  Mr.  James  Mien,  of  Boston, 

2.  Mr,  John  Bailey,  of  Watertown, 

3.  Mr,  r/ioTTias  Baz7t/,  of  Watertown, 

4.  Mr.  £a7-ne<,  of  New  London. 

5.  Mr.  James  Brown,  of  Swansey. 

6.  Mr.  Thomas  Gilbert,  of  Topstield. 

7.  Mr.  James  Keith,  of  Bridge  water. 

8.  Mr.  Samuel  Lee.  of  Bristol. 

9.  Mr,  C/iar/es  ./Ifor/on,  of  Charlestown. 

10.  Mr.  Charles  Nicholet,  of  Sniem. 

11.  Mr.  John  Oxenbridge,  of  Boston. 

12.  Mr.  Thomas  T/ior?l^o?^,  of  Yarmouth. 

13.  Mr.  T/tojnas  fffl//e?/,  of  Barnstable. 

14.  Mr.  William  Woodrop,  of  hdncdi?,\.ev. 

It  is  well  known,  that  quickly  after  the  revival  of  the  English  Hierar 
chy,  those,  whose  consciences  did  not  allow  them  to  worship  God,  in  some 
ways  and  modes  then  by  law  established,  were  pursued  with  a  violence, 
which,  doubtless  many  thousands  of  those  wbom  the  Church  of  England, 
in  its  national  constitution  acknowledges  for  her  sins,  were  so  far  from  a;?- 
proving  or  assisting,  that  they  abhorred  it.  What  spirit  acted  the  party 
that  raised  this  persecution,  one  may  guess  from  a  passage,  which  I  find 
in  a  book  of  Mr.  Giles  Firrnius,    A  lady  assured  him  that  she  signifying  un- 


Book  III.]  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.  217 

to  a  parliament-man,  her  dislike  of  the  act  of  uniformity,  when  they  were 

about  it,  and  saying,  I  see  you  are  laying  a  snare  in  the  gate,  he  replied,  ^y, 

if  we  can  find  any  way  to  catch  the  rogues,  "xe  zrill  have  them!  It  is  well 

known  that  near  ?a'e  and  tzvcnty  hundred  faithful  ministers  of  the  Gospel, 

were  now  silenced  in  one  black  day,  because  they  could  not  comply  with 

some  things,  by  themselves  counted  sinful,  but  by  the  imposers  confessed 

indifferent.  And  it  is  affirmed,  that  by  a  modest  calculation,  this  persecution 

procured  the  untimely  death  of  three  thousand  non-conformists,  and  the  ru- 

ine  of  threescore  thousand  families,  within  five  and  twenty  years.     Many 

retired  into  JVezc- England,  that  they  might  have  a  little  rest  at  noon,  with 

the  fiocks  of  our  Lord  in  this  wilderness  ;  but  setting  aside  some  eminent 

persons  of  a  JVew- English  original,  whicl>were  driven  back  out  of  Europe 

into  their  own  country  again,  by  that  storm.     These fezi;  were  the  most  of 

the  ministers,  that  fled  hither  from  it.     1  will  not  presume  to  give  the 

i  reasons,  why,   no  more  ;  but  observing  a  glorious  providence  of  the  Lord 

Jesus  Christ,  in  moving  the  stars  to  shine,  where  they  were  most  wanted,  I 

1  will  conclude,  lamenting  the  disaster  of  A''ew- England,  in  the  interruption 

i  which  a  particular  providence  of  heaven  gave  unto  the  designs  of  that  in- 

:  comparable  person  Dr.  John  Ozven,  who  had  gone  so  far  as  to  ship  himself, 

with  intents  to  have  taken  this  country  in  his  way  to  his  eternal  rest :   it 

,  must  have  been  our  singular  advantage  and  ornament,  if  we  had  thus  en- 

•  joyed  among  us  one  of  the  greatest  men,  that  this  last  age  produced. 

REMARKS. 

Especially  upon  the  Firsi  Class,  in  our  Catalogue  of  Ministers. 

I.  All,  or  most,  of  the  ministers  that  make  up  our  two  tirst  classes,  came 
over  from  Engla7id  within  the  two  first  lustres  of  years,  after  the  first  settle- 
ment of  the  country.  After  the  year  1640,  that  part  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, which  took  up  arms  in  the  old  cause  of  the  long  Parliament,  and 
which  among  all  its  parliament-men,  commanders,  lord-lieutenants,  ma- 
jor-generals, and  sea-cnptains,  had  scarce  any  but  conformists  ;  I  say,  that 
part  of  the  Church  of  E7igland,  knowing  the  Puritans  to  be  general!}- 
inclinable  unto  those  principles  of  such  writers  as  Bilson  and  Hooker, 
whereupon  the  Parliament  then  acted  ;  and  seeing  them  to  be  generally 
of  the  truest  English  spirit,  for  the  preservation  of  the  English  liberties 
and  properties,  for  which  the  Parliament  then  declared,  (although  there 
were  some  non-conformists  in  the  King's  array  also  :)  it  was  found  neces- 
sary to  have  the  assistance  of  that  considerable  people.  Whereupon 
ensued  such  a  change  of  times,  that  instead  of  Old  England's  driving  its 
best  people  into  Ne-e,  it  was  it  self  turned  \nio  New.  The  body  of  the 
Parliament  nx\A  it?,  friends,  which  wQve  conformists  in  the  beginning  of 
that  miserable  war,  before  the  war  was  ended,  became  such  as  those  old 

\non-confor iiiists ,  whose  union  with  them  in  political  interests  produced  an 
!union  in  religious.  The  Romanizing  Laudians  miscarried  in  their  enter- 
prize  ;  the  Anglicane  church  could  not  be  carried  over  to  the  Gallicane. 
This  was  not  the  first  instance  of  a  shipwrack  befalling  a  vessel  bound  for 
'Rome ;  nor  will  it  be  the  last :  a  vessel  bound  such  a  voyage,  must  be 
i'np-jsracked,  though  St.  Paul  himself  were  aboard. 

II.  The  occasion  upon  which  these  excellent  ministers  retired  into  an 
'inrrid  wilderness  of  America,  and  enconntred  the  dismal  hardships  of  such 
u  wilderness,  was  the  y'ioXeni  persecution,  wherev^'ith  a  prevailing  party 

n  the  Church  of  England-  harassed  them.      In  their  own  land  they  were 
^^01.  I.  '28 


21TB  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  111. 

hereby  deprived,  not  only  of  their  livings,  hut  also  of  their  liberty  to  ex- 
ercise their  ministry,  wi)ich  was  dearer  to  them  than  their  livings,  yea, 
than  their  very  lives  :  and  they  were  exposed  unto  extreme  siiff'erings, 
because  they  conscientiously  dissented  from  the  use  of  some  things  in  the 
worship  of  God,  which  they  accounted  nns.  But  I  leuve  it  unto  the 
consideration  of  mankind,  whether  thh  forbidding  of  such  men  to  do  their 
duty,  were  no  ingredient  of  that  iniquity,  which  immediately  upon  the  de- 
parture of  these  good  men  brought  upon  Great  Britain,  and  especially 
upon  the  greatest  authors  of  this  persecution,  a  nvruth  unto  the  uttermost^ 
in  the  ensuing  desolations.  All  that  1  si  all  add  upon  it,  is,  that,  1  re- 
member, the  prophet  speaking  of  what  had  been  done  of  old,  by  the  Assy- 
rians, to  the  land  of  the  Chcldaans,  uses  an  expression,  which  we  trans- 
late, in  Isa.  xxiii.  12.  He  brought  it  unto  ruine  :  but  there  is  a  Punic  word, 
Mapatra.  which  old  Feslns  (and  Servius)  affirm  to  signify,  cottages ;  ac- 
cording to  Philargyrius,  it  signifies.  Casus  in  Eremo  habitantium  :  now 
that  is  the  very  word  here  used,  n'73Q  '"^^  ^^^  condition  of  cottagers 
■in  a  ■wilderness,  is  meant,  by  the  ruine,  there  spoken  of  Trulj^  such 
was  the  mine,  which  the  ceremonious  persecutors  then  bronght  upon  the 
most  conscientious  non- conformists,  unto  their  unscriptural  ceremonies^ 
But  as  the  kingdom  of  darkness  uses  to  be  always  at  length  overthrowa 
by  its  own  policy  so  will  be  at  last  found  no  advantage  unto  that  party  in 
the  Church  of  England^  that  the  orders  and  actions  of  the  churches  by 
them  thus  produced,  become  an  history. 

III.  These  ministers  of  the  gospel,  which  were  (without  ani/  odi- 
ous comparison)  as  fliithful,  painful,  useful  ministers,  as  most  in  the  na- 
tion, being  thus  exiled  from  a  sinfod  nalioii,  there  were  not  known  to  be 
left  so  many  non-conformist  ministers,  as  there  were  counties  in  England  : 
and  yet  they  were  quickly  so  multiplied,  that  a  matter  of  izoenty  years 
after,  there  could  be  fotind  far  more  than  twenty  hundred,  that  were  so 
grounded  in  their  non- conformity,  as  to  undergo  the  loss  of  all  things, 
rather  than  make  slupvcrack  of  it.  When  Antiochus  commanded  all  the 
books  of  sacred  scripture  to  be  burnt,  they  were  not  only  preserved,  but 
presently  after  they  appeared  out  of  their  hidden  places,  being  translated 
into  the  Greek  tongue,  and  carried  abroad  unto  many  other  patrons.  It 
was  now  thought,  there  was  eifectual  care  taken,  to  destroy  all  those 
men,  that  made  these  books  the  only  rule  of  their  devotions  ;  but  behold, 
they  presently  appeared  in  greater  numbers,  and  many  othernations  be- 
gan to  be  ilkiminated  by  them. 

iV*,  Most,  if  not  all,  of  the  ministers,  who  then  visited  these  regions, 
were  either  attended  or  followed,  with  a  number  of  pious  people,  who 
had  lived  within  the  reach  of  their  ministry  in  £n;§-/anr/.  These,  who 
were  now  also  become  generally  non-conf or  mists .  having  found  the  power- 
ful impressions  of  those  good  men's  ministry  upon  their  souls,  continued 
there  sincere  affections  unto  that  ministry,  and  were  willing  to  accompa-; 
ny  it  unto  those  utmost  ends  of  the  earth.  Indeed,  the  ministers  of  JVeai- 
England  have  this  always  to  recommend  them  unto  a  good  regard  with 
the  Crown  of  England,  that  the  most  flourishing  plantation  in  all  the 
American  dominions  of  that  crown,  is  more  owing  to  them,  than  to  any 
sort  of  men  whatsoever. 

V.  Some  of  the  ministers,  and  many  of  tlie  gentlemen,  that  came  over 
with  the  ministers,  were  persons  of  considerable  estates  ;  who  therewith 
charitably  brought  over  many  poor  families  of  godly  people,  that  were 
not  of  themselves  able  to  bear  the  charges  of  their  transportation  ;  and 
they  were  generally  careful  also  to  bring  over  none  but  godly  servants 'a. 


Book  III.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  219 

their  own  families,  who,  afterwards  by  God's  blessing  on  ihcir  industry 
have  arrived,  many  of  them,  unto  such  plentiful  estates,  that  they  have 
had  occasion  to  tliiiik  of  the  advice,  vvbich  a  famous  person,  gave  in  a 
public  sermon,  at  their  first  coming  over  ;  You  (said  he)  that  are  aervanis, 
mark  'jahat  I  say  ;  I  desire  and  exhort  you  to  he  kind  a  Zi^iiHe  hence,  unto 
your  master's  children.  It  wonH  be  long  before,  you  that  came  zaith  nothing 
into  the  country,  will  be  rich  men,  ta-hen  your  masters,  having  b^iried  their 
rich  estates  in  the  country,  will  go  near  to  leave  their  families  in  a  memi 
condition  ;  wherefore,  zvhen  it  shall  be  well  with  you,  I  ciiurge  you  to  remem- 
ber them. 

Vi.  The  ministers  and  christians,  by  whom  jYew-England  was  tirst 
planted,  were  a  chosen  company  of  men  ;  picked  out  of,  perhaps,  all  the 
counties  in  England,  and  this  by  no  human  contrix'ance,  but  by  a  strange 
7vork  of  God  upon  the  spirits  of  men  that  were,  no  vvays,  acquainted  with 
one  another,  inspiring  them,  as  one  man,  to  secede  into  a  wilderness,  they 
knew  not  where,  and  suffer  in  that  wilderness  they  know  not  what.  It 
was  a  reasonable  expression  once  used  by  that  eminent  person,  the  pre- 
sent lieutenant-governour  of  .Vew-England  in  a  very  great  assembly, 
God  sifted  three  nations,  that  h  might  bring  choice  grain  into  this  wilderness. 
VII.  The  design  of  these  refugees,  thus  carried  into  the  wilderness, 
was,  that  they  might  there,  sacrifice  unto  the  Lord  their  God :  it  was, 
i  that  they  might  m  untain  the  power  of  godliness  and  practise  the  evangel- 
I  ical  worship  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  in  all  the  parts  of  it,  without  any 
human  innovations  and  impositions  :  defended  by  charters,  which  at  once 
gave  them  so  far  the  protection  of  their  King,  and  the  election  of  so  many 
of  their  own  subordinate  rulers  under  him,  as  might  secure  them  the  iin- 
disturbed  enjoyment  of  the  church- order  established  amongst  them.  I 
shall  but  repeat  the  words  once  used  in  a  sermon  preached  unto  the  gen- 
eral court  of  the  Massackuset-co]ony,  at  one  of  their  anniversary  elec- 
tions. '  The  question  was  often  put  unto  our  predecessors.  What  went 
'  ye  out  into  the  wilderness  to  see  ?  And  the  answer  to  it,  is  not  only  too 
^excellent,  but  also  too  no^or/oi/s,  to  be   dissembled.       Let   all  mankind 

*  know,  that  we   came   into   the  wilderness,  because  we  would  worship 

*  God  without  that  Episcopacy,  thnt  common-prayer,  and  those  unwarrant- 

*  able  ceremonies,    with  which  the  land  of  our  fore  fathers'"  sepulchres  has 

*  been  defiled  ;  we  came  hither  because  we  would  have  our  posterity 
'  settled  under  the  pure  and  full  dispensations  of  the  gospel  ;  defended 
'  by  rulers  that  shoidd  be  of  our  selves.'' 

VIII.  None  of  the  least  concerns,  that  lay  upon  the  spirits  of  these  re- 
formers, was  the  condition  of  their  posterity :  for  which  cause  in  the  first 

constitution  of  their  churches,  they  did  more  generally  with  more  or  less 
expressiveness  take  in  their  children,  as  under  the  churchwatch  with  them- 
selves. They  also  did  betimes  endeavour  the  erection  of  a  College,  for 
the  training  up  of  a  successive  ministry  in  the  country  ;  but  because  it 
was  likely  to  be  some  while  before  a  considerable  supply  could  be  ex- 
pected from  the  college,  therefore  they  took  notice  of  the  younger,  hope- 
ful scholars,  who  came  over  with  their  friends  from  England,  and  assisted 
their  liberal  education  ;  whereby  being  fitted  for  the  service  of  the 
churches,  they  were  in  an  orderly  manner  called  forth  to  that  .service. 
Of  these  we  have  given  you  a  number ;  whereof,  I  think,  all  but  one  or 
two  are  now  gone  unto  their  fathers. 

IX.  Of  these  ministers,  there  were  some  few,  suppose  ten  or  a  dozen, 
that  after  divers  years,  returned  into  England,  where  they  were  emin- 
ently serviceable  unto  thoir  generation  :  bui^.  by  far,  the  biggest  part  of 


220  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  ill. 

them,  continued  in  this  country,  serving  their  generation  by  the  will  of 
God.  Moieover,  I  titKl  near  haIjo{  tnem  signally  tjlessed  with  sons,  who 
did  work  tor  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  in  the  ministry  of  the  gospel,  yea 
some  of  them  as  Mr.  Chancy,  Mr.  Elliot,  Mr.  liobart,  Mr.  Mather,  had 
(tioiigh  not  like  R  Jose,  a  wise  man  among  the  Jews,  of  whom  they  re- 
poit  tltat  he  had  eigiit  sons,  who  were  also  celebrated  for  wise  men  among 
them  ;  yet)  net  less  th:in  Juur  or  Jive  sons  a  piece  thus  employed  :  and 
though  Mr.  i'arker,  living  always  a  single  man,  had  no  children,  yet  he 
was  iriStrumental  to  bring  up  no  less  than  twelve  useful  ministers.  Among 
the  Jews  they  that  have  been  instructed  by  another,  are  called,  the  sons 
of  their  instrurtor.  We  read.  These  are  the  generations  of  Aaron  and 
Moses  ;  when  we  lind  none  but  the  sons  of  Aaron  in  the  enumerated  gen' 
orations.  But  in  the  Talmud,  it  is  thus  expounded,  Hos  Aaron  genuit, 
Moses  vero  docuit,  ideoq;  ejus  J\'onii7ie  censentur.  (Thus  the  sons  of  JVfe- 
rob,  are  called  the  sons  of  Michael,  as  the  7a//ft»(/ judges,  because  by  her 
eilucnted.)  And  on  this  account  no  less  than  twelve,  were  the  sons  of 
Mr.  Parker.  1  may  add,  that  some  of  our  ministers,  having  their  sons 
comfortably  settled,  at,  or  near,  the  place  of  their  own  ministry,  the  peo- 
plr  have  thereby  seen  a  comfortable  succession  in  tne  affairs  of  Christian- 
ity ;  thus,  the  writer  of  this  history,  hath,  he  knows  not  how  often,  seen 
it ;  tViat  his  grandfather,  baptized  the  grand-parent,  his  father  baptized 
the  parent,  and  he  himself  has  baptized  the  children  in  the  same  family. 

X.  In  the  beginning  of  the  country,  the  ministers  had  their  frequent 
meetings,  which  were  most  usually  after  their  publick  and  weekly  or 
monthly  lectures,  wherein  they  consulted  for  the  welfare  of  their  church- 
es ;  nor  had  they  ordinarily  any  difficulty  in  their  churches,  which  were 
not  in  these  meetings  offered  unto  consideration  ;  *for  their  mutual  direc- 
tion and  assistance  :  and  these  meetings  are  maintained  unto  this  day. 
The  private  christians  also  had  their  private  meetings,  wherew  they  wouli! 
seek  the/«ce,  and  sina;  the  jrraise  of  God  ;  and  confer  upon  some  ques 
tions  of  practical  religion,  for  their  mutual  edification.  And  the  countr;- 
still  is  fill  of  those  little  meetings  ;  yet  they  have  now  mostly  left  off  one 
circumstance,  which  in  those  our  primitive  times,  was  much  maintained 
naniely,  their  concluding  of  their  more  sacred  exercises  with  suppers  ■ 
whereof,  I  sincere'v  think,  I  cannot  give  a  better  account,  than  Tertull' 
an  gives  of  the  sxippers  among  the  futliful,  in  his  more  primitive  times: 
therein  their  spiritual  gains  countervailed  their  n-orldly  costs ;  they  remember 
ed  the  poor,  they  ever  began  with  prayer  ;  [and  other  devotions]  in  eatim 
and  drinkiyig  they  relieved  hunger,  but  showed  no  excess.  In  feeding  a 
supper  they  remeu^bred  they  were  to  pray  iyi  the  night.  In  their  discotirs' 
theif  considered  that  God  heard  them :  and  when  they  departed,  their  hehav 
iour  ra-as  so  religious  and  modest,  that  one  would  have  thought,  we.  had  rath- 
er been  at  a  sermon,  than  at  a  supper  Our  private  meetings  of  good  peo- 
ple to  pray  and  p'^aise  God,  and  hear  sermons,  either  preached  perhaps  by 
the  younger  candidates  for  the  ministr}',  (who  here  use  to /orm  them- 
selves, at  their  entrance  into  their  work,')  or  else  repeated  by  exact  wri- 
ters of  short  hand  after  their  pastors  ;  and  sometimes  to  spend  whole  day^' 
infasting  and  prayer,  especially  when  any  of  the  neighbourhood  are  in 
a  f/icti  an,  or  when  the  communion  of  the  Lord's  table  is  approaching; 
those  do  still  abound  among  us  ;  but  the  meals  that  made  7neatings  of  them, 
are  generally  laid  aside.  I  suppose,  'twas  with  some  eye  to  what  he 
had  seen  in  this  country,  that  IMr.  Firmin  has  given  this  report,  in  a  book 
printed  1681.  'Plain  mechanicks  have  I  known,  well  catechised,  and 
•  humble  christians,  excellent  in  practical  piety  :  they  kept  thoir  station. 


Book  III.J         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  221 

*did  not  aspire  to  be  preachers,  but  for  gifts  of  prayer,  few  clergy -men 
'  must  come  near  them.  1  have  known  some  of  them,  when  they  did 
'  keep  their  fasts,  (as  they  did  often)  they  divided  the  work  of  prayer  ; 

*  the  first  begun  with  confession;  the  second  went  on  with  petition  for 

*  themselves  ;  the  third  with  petition  for  church  and  kingdom  ;  the  fourth 
.^  with  thanksgiving  :  every  one  kept  his  own  part,   and  did  not  meddle 

*  with  another  part.  Such  excellent  matter,  so  compacted  without  tau- 
*tologies;  each   of  them  for  a  good  time,  about  an  hour,   if  not  more, 

■  apiece  ;  to  the  wondering  of  those  which  joined  with  them.     Here  was 

■  no  reading  of  liturgies :  these  were  old  Jacob's  sons,  they  could  wrestle 
and  prevail  with  God.' 

XI.  Besides  the  ministers  enumerated  in  the  three  classes  of  our  cata- 
logue, there  might  a  fourth  class  be  oflered,  under  the  name  of  anomalies 
of  New-England.  There  have  at  several  times  arrived  in  this  country, 
more  than  a  score  of  ministers  from  other  parts  of  the  world  ;  who  prov- 
ed either  so  erroneous  in  their  principles,  or  so  scandalous  in  their  practi- 
ces, or  so  disagreeable  to  the  church  order,  for  which  the  country  was 
planted,  that  I  cannot  well  croud  them  into  the  company  of  our  n-orthies  : 

JVon  bene  convenimit,  nee  in  una  sede  morantur. 

And,  indeed,  I  had  rather  m}'^  Church  fffs^orj/ should  speak  nothing,  than 
speak  not  -jL-ell  of  them  that  might  else  be  mentioned  in  it :  being  entirely 
of  Plutarch's  mind,  that  it  is  better  it  should  never  be  said,  there  was 
such  a  man  as  Plutarch  at  all,  than  to  have  it  said,  that  he  was  not  an 
honest,  and  a  ■worthy  man.  I  confess,  there  were  some  of  those  persons, 
whose  names  deserve  to  live  in  our  book  for  their  piety,  although  their 
particular  opinions  were  such,  as  to  be  disserviceable  unto  the  declared 
and  supposed  ?«ferfsfs  of  our  churches.  Of  these  there  were  some  godly 
Anabaptists ;  as  namely,  Mr.  Hanserd  Knollys,  (whom  one  of  his  adver- 
saries called.  Absurd  Knozi^less)  of  Dover,  who  afterwards  removing  back 
to  London,  lately  died  there,  a  good  man,  in  a  good  old  age.  And  3Ir. 
Miles,  of  Swansey,  who  afterwards  came  to  Boston,  and  is  now  gone  to 
his  rest.  Both  of  these  have  a  respectful  character  in  the  churches  of 
this  wilderness.  There  were  also  some  godly  Episcopalians ;  among 
whom  has  been  commonly  reckoned  Mr.  Blackstone  ;  who,  by  happening 
to  sleep  first  in  an  hovel,  upon  a  point  of  land  there,  laid  claim  to  all  the 
ground,  whereupon  there  now  stands  the  metropolis  of  the  whole  English 
America,  until  the  inhabitants  gave  him  satisfiiction.  This  man  was,  in- 
deed, of  a  particular  humour,  and  he  would  never  join  himself  to  an}'  of 
our  churches,  giving  this  reason  for  it  :  I  came  from  England,  because  1 
did  not  like  the  lord-hi^hops  ;  but  I  canH  join -with  you,  because  I  Tz'ovld  not 
he  under  the  lord-brethren.  There  were  some  likewise  that  fell  into 
gross  miscarriages,  and  the  hunter  of  souls  having  stuck  the  daris  of  some 
extreme  disorder  into  those  poor  hearts,  the  whole  flock  pushed  them 
out  of  their  society.  Of  these,  though  there  were  some  so  recovered, 
that  they  became  true  penitents ;  yet  inasmuch  as  the  zi-ounds  which  they 
received  by  their  falls,  were  not  in  all  regards  thoroughly  cured,  I  will 
choose  rather  to  forbear  their  names,  than  write  them  with  any  bhts  upopy 
them.  For  the  same  cause,  though  I  have  his  name  in  our  catalogue, 
yet  I  will  not  say  which  of  them  it  was,  that  for  a  while  became  a  Seeker, 
and  almost  a  (Quaker,  and  seduced  a  great  part  of  his  poor  people,  into 
his  beunldring  errors  :  at  last  the  grace  of  God  recovered  thi>  ^;en{lemati 
out  of  his  errors,  and  ho  hrT-ime  a  vfrv  good  and  sound  man.  after  his  re- 


2i;2  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  III. 

covery  :  but  alas,  it  was  a  perpetual  sting  unto  his  penitent  said,  that  he 
could  not  now  reduce  his  wandring  flock,  which  he  had  himself  seduced 
into  the  most  unhappy  aberrations.  They  wandred  on  obstinately  still 
in  their  errors  ;  and  being  irrecoverable,  he  was  forced  thereby  unto  a 
removal  from  them,  taking  the  charge  of  a  more  orthodox  flock,  upon 
Lo7ig- Island. 

Nor  know  I  where  better  than  among  these  anomalies,  to  mention  one 
Mr.  Lenthal,  whom  1  find  a  minister  at  Weijmoxith,  about  the  year  1637. 

He  had  been  one  of  good  report  and  repute  in  England;  whereas, 
here,  he  not  only  had  imbibed  some  Anti/iomian  weaknesses,  from  whence 
he  was  by  conference  with  Mr.  Cotton  soon  recovered  ;  but  also  he  set 
himself  to  oppose  the  way  of  gathering  churches.  Many  of  the  common 
people  eagerly  fell  in  with  him,  to  setup  a  church  state,  wherein  all  the 
baptised  might  be  communicants,  without  any  further  trial  of  them  ;  for 
which  end  many  hands  were  procured  unto  an  iyistrumeiit,  wherein  they 
would  have  declared  against  the  J\'erv-England  design  of  church- reforma- 
tion ;  and  would  have  invited  Mr.  Lenthal  to  be  their  pastor,  in  opposi- 
tion thereunto. 

Mr.  Lenthal,  upon  the  discourses  of  the  mt^gistrates  and  ministers  be- 
fore the  General  Court  who  quickly  checked  these  disturbances,  by 
sending  for  him,  as  quickly  was  convinced  of  his  error  and  evil,  in  thus 
disturbing  the  good  order  of  the  country.  His  conviction  was  followed 
with  his  confession;  and  in  open  court,  he  gave  under  his  hand  a  laudable 
retractation  ;  which  retractation  he  was  ordered  also  to  utter  in  the  as- 
sembly' at  Weymouth,  and  so  no  further  censure  was  passed  upon  him. 

In  Four  Parts  we  will  now  pursue  the  design  before  us. 


JOHANNES  IN  ERE3I0. 


MEMOIRS. 

RELATING    TO    THE 

LIVES, 

OF    THE    EVER-jMEMORABLE 

Mr.  JOHN  COTTON,  a/jo  died  23  d.  10  m.  1652. 
Mr.  JOHN  NORTON,  who  died  5  d.  2  m.  1663. 
Mr.  JOHN   WILSON,  who  died  1  d.  6  in.  1667. 
Mr.  JOHN  DAVENPORT,  who  died  \5  d.  1  m.  1670. 

F.VEREND  AND   RENOWNED  MINISTERS   OF   THE  GOSPEL,    ALL,    IN  THE  MORE 
IMMF.DIATE  SERVICE   OF   ONE  CHURCH,  IS   BOSTON. 

AND 

Mr.  THOMAS  HOOKER,  who  died  7  d.  5  m.  1647. 

PASTOR   OF   THE   CHURCH   AT  HARTFORD,   NEW-ENGLAND, 


PRESERVED  BY  COTTON  MATHER. 


THE  FIRST  PART. 

Forte  nimis  Videor  Laudes  Caritare  Meorum  ; 
Forte  nimis  cineres  Fideor  celebrare  repostos ; 
JVon  ita  me  Facilem  Sine  Vero  Credite  ! 


TO  THE  READER, 

That  little  part  of  the  earth  which  this  age  has  known  by  the  name  of 
j\'ew-E7igland,  has  been  an  object  of  very  signal,  both  frowns  and  favours 
of  heaven.  '  Besides  tno«e  stars  of  ihe  first  magnitude,  which  did  some- 
times skine,  and  at  last  set  in  this  horizon,  there  have  been  several  men 
of  renown,  who  were  preparing  and  fully  resolved  to  transport  them- 
selves hither,  had  not  the  Lord  seen  us  unworthy  of  more  such  mercies. 
It  is  still  fresh  in  the  memory  of  many  yet  living,  that  that  great  man, 
Dr.  John  Owen,  had  given  order  for  his  passage  in  a  vessel  bound  for 
Boston ;  being  invited  to  succeed  the  other  famous  Johns,  who  had  been 
burning  and  shining  lights  in  that  which  was  the  first  candlestick,  set  up 
in  this  populous  town  ;  but  a  special  providence  diverted  him.  Long 
before  that,   Dr.  Anes.  (whose  family,  and  whose  library  New-Englavd 


224  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  III. 

has  had)  was  upon  the  wing  for  this  American  desart :  but  God  then  took 
him  to  the  heavenly  Canaan.  Whether  he  left  his  fellow  upon  earth  1 
know  not :  such  acuteness  o(  judgment,  and  affectionate  zeal,  as  he  ex 
celled  in,  seldom  does  meet  together  in  the  sanoe  person.  I  have  often 
thought  of  Mr.  Paul  Bayiie,  his  farewel  words  to  Dr.  Ames,  when  going 
for  Holland;  Mr.  Bayne  perceiving  him  to  be  a  man  of  extraordinar}' 
parts,  Beware  (said  he)  of  a  strong  head,  and  a  cold  heart.  It  is  rare  for 
a  scholastical  xcit,  to  be  joined  with  an  heart  warm  in  religion:  but  in  him 
it  was  so.  He  has  sometimes  said,  that  he  could  be  wiiling  to  walk  twelve 
miles  on  his  feet,  on  condition  he  might  have  an  opportunity  to  preach  a 
sermon  :  and  he  seldom  did  preach  a  sermon  without  tears.  When  he 
lay  on  his  death-bed,  he  had  such  tastes  of  the  first-fruits  of  glory,  as 
that  a  learned  physitian  (who  was  a  Papist)  wondring,  said,  Num  Protes- 
tantes  sic  solent  mori :  is  the  latter  end  of  Protestants  like  this  man's  ? 
But  although  some  excellent  persons  have,  by  a  divine  hand  been  kept 
from  coming  into  these  ends  of  the  earth,  yet  there  have  been  others, 
who  whilst  living  made  this  land  (which  before  their  arrival  was  an  hell 
of  darkness)  to  be  a  place  full  of  light  and  glory ;  amongst  whom  the 
champions,  whose  lives  are  here  described,  are  worthy  to  be  reckoned 
as  those  that  have  attained  to  the  first  three. 

There  are  many  who  have  (and  some  to  good  purpose)  endeavoured 
to  collect  the  memorable  passages  that  have  occurred  in  the  lives  of  emi- 
nent men,  by  means  whereof  posterity  has  had  the  knowledge  of  them. 
Hierom  of  old,  wrote  De  Viris  llluatribus  :  the  like  has  been  done  by 
Gennadi  us,  Epiphanins,  Isidore,  Prochorus,  and  other  ancient  authors. 
Of  later  times,  Schopfius,  his  Academia  Christi ;  Meursius  his  Athence  Ba- 
tava: ;  Verheiden,  his  Elogia  Theologorum,  Melchier  Adams,  Lives  of  mo- 
dern Divines,  have  preserved  the  memories  of  some  that  did  worthily, 
and  were  in  their  day  famous.  There  are  two  learned  men  who  have 
very  lately  engaged  in  a  service  of  this  nature,  viz.  Paidus  Freherus,  who 
has  published  two  volumes  in  folio,  with  the  title  of,  Theatrum  virorum. 
Eruditione  clarormn,  ad  hoc  usque  Tempora.  He  proceeds  as  far  as  the 
year  160O.  The  other  is  Hcnningus  Witten,  who  has  written,  Memoria; 
Theologorum  nostri  seculi.  It  is  a  trite  (^yet  a  true)  assertion,  that  histo- 
rical studies  are  both  profitable  and  pleasant.  And  of  all  historical  nar- 
ratives, those  which  give  a  faithful  account  of  the  lives  of  eminent  saints, 
must  needs  be  the  most  edifying.  The  greatest  part  of  the  sacred  wri- 
tings are  historical ;  and  a  considerable  part  of  them  is  taken  up  in  rela- 
ting the  actions,  speeches,  exemplary  lives,  and  deaths,  of  such  as  had 
been  choice  instruments  in  the  hand  of  the  Lord,  to  promote  his  glory 
m  the  world.  No  doubt  but  that  the  commemoration  of  the  remarkable 
providences  of  God  towards  his  servants,  will  be  some  part  of  their  work 
in  heaven  for  ever,  that  so  he  may  have  eternal  praises  for  tlie  wonders 
of  his  grace  in  Christ  towards  them.  It  must  needs  therefore  be  in  it 
self,  a  thing  pleasing  to  God,  and  a  special  act  of  obedience  to  the  Fifth 
Commandment,  to  endeavour  the  preservation  of  the  names,  and  honour 
of  them,  who  have  been  fathers  in  Israel.  On  which  account,  I  cannot 
but  rejoice  in  what  is  here  done.  Although  New-England  has  been  fa- 
voured with  many  faithful  and  eminent  ministers  of  God,  there  are  only 
three  of  them  all,  whose  lives  have  been  as  yet  published,  viz.  Mr. 
Cotton,  whose  life  was  written  by  his  immediate  successor  Mr.  Norton : 
and  my  father  Mather,  whose  was  done  by  another  hand,  and  is  repub- 
lished in  Mr.  Sam,.  Clark's  last  volume  ;  and  Mr.  Eliot  whose  was  done 
by  the  same  hand  which  did  thciC.  and  has  been  several  tunes  reprinted. 


Book  III.]        THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  22c, 

in  London.  Here  the  reader  has  presented  to  him  ^re  of  them,  who 
were  amongst  the  chief  of  ihe  fathers,  in  the  churches  of  jYew  England. 
The  same  hand  has  done  the  hke  olhce  of  love  and  duty,  for  many  others 
who  were  the  worthies  of  New-England,  not  only  in  the  churches,  but  in 
the  civil  state,  whom  the  Lord  Christ  saw  meet  to  use  as  instrumef.t^,  in 
planting  the  heavens,  and  laying  tlie  foundation  of  the  earth,  in  tiiis  new 
rcorld.  If  these  tind  a  candid  acceptance,  those  may  possibly  see  the  light 
in  due  time. 

Whether  what  is  herewith  emitted  and  written  by  my  son,  be  as  to  the 
manner  of  it,  well  performed,  1  have  nothing  to  say,  but  shall  leave  it 
unto  others  to  judge,  as  they  shall  see  cause  ;  only  as  to  the  matter  of 
the  history,  I  am  ascertained  that  things  are  truly  related.  For  although. 
I  had  little  of  personal  acquaintance  with  Mr.  Cotton,  being  a  child  not 
above  thirteen  years  old  when  he  died.  I  shall  never  forget  the  last 
sermon  which  he  preached  at  Cambridge,  and  his  particular  applicatioa 
to  the  scholars  there,  amongst  whom  1  was  then  a  student  newly  admit- 
ted ;  and  my  relation  to  his  family  since,  has  given  me  an  opportunity  to 
know  many  observable  things  concerning  him.  Both  Bostons  have  reason 
to  honour  his  memory  ;  and  New-England- Boston  most  of  all,  which 
oweth  its  name  and  being  to  him,  more  than  to  any  one  person  in  the 
world  :  he  might  say  of  Boston,  much  what  as  Augustus  said  of  Rome, 
Lateritiam  reperi,  marmoream  reliqui :  he  found  it  little  better  than  a 
wood  or  wilderness,  but  left  it  a  famous  town  with  two  churches  in  it. 
I  remember,  Dr.  Lightfoot,  in  honour  to  his  patron,  Sir  Roland  Cotton, 
called  one  of  his  sons,  Cotton :  it  doth  not  repent  me,  that  I  gave  my  eld- 
est son  that  name,  in  honour  to  his  grandfather  :  and  the  Lord  grant  that 
both  of  us  may  be  followers  of  him,  as  he  followed  Christ. 

As  for  the  other  three  worthies  who  have  taught  the  word  of  God  in 
this  place,  they  had  their  peculiar  excellencies. 

Mr.  Wilsoii  (like  John  the  aposlle)  did  excel  m  love;  and  he  was  also 
strong  in  faith.  In  the  time  of  the  Pequod  war,  he  did  not  only  hope, 
but  had  assurance,  that  God  would  make  the  English  victorious.  He  de- 
clared, that  he  was  as  certain  of  it,  as  if  he  had  with  his  eyes  seen  -he 
victories  obtained  ;  which  came  to  pass  according  to  his  faith.  I  well 
remember,  that  I  heard  him  once  say,  that  when  one  of  his  daughters 
was  sick,  and  given  up  as  dead,  past  recovery,  he  desired  Mr.  Cotton  to 
pray  with  that  child  ;  And  (said  he)  whilest  Mr.  Cotton  was  praying,  J 
was  sure  that  child  should  not  then  die,  but  live.  That  daughter  did  live  to 
be  the  mother  of  many  children  ;  two  of  which  are  now  useful  ministers 
of  Christ :  and  she  is  still  living,  a  pious  widow,  another  Anna,  serving 
God  day  and  night.  When  Mr.  Norton  was  called  from  the  church  of 
Ipswich  to  Boston,  Mr.  Nathanael  Rogers  (that  excellent  man,  who  was 
son  to  the  famous  Mr.  Rogers  of  Dedham,  in  Essex,  and  pastor  of  the 
church  of  Ipswich,  in  N.  E.)  opposed  Mr.  Norton'' s  removal  from  Ips- 
wich :  some  saying,  that  Mr.  Wilson  would  by  his  argument,  or  rheto- 
rick,  or  both,  get  Mr.  Norton  from  them  at  last ;  Mr.  Rogers  replied. 
That  he  was  afraid  of  his  faith  more  than  his  arguments.  Sometimes  he 
was  transported  with  a  prophetical  a^atus,  of  which  there  were  marvel- 
lous instances.  His  conversation  was  both  pleasant  and  profitable  ;  in 
that  he  could  relate  many  memorable  providences,  which  he  himself  had 
the  certain  knowledge  of.  Whilst  I  am  writing  this,  there  conies  to  my 
mind,  one  very  pleasant,  and  yet  very  serious  story,  which  he  told  me, 
and  I  do  not  remember  that  ever  I  met  with  it  any  where  but  from  him. 
It  was  this  :  tl^ere  was  one  Mr.  Snape,  a  Puritan  minister,  who  was  by 

Vol.  I.-  9.9 


226  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  HI. 

the  Bishops  cast  into  prison,  for  his  non-conformity  :  when  his  money  was 
spent,  the  jailor  was  unkind  to  hiui  :  but  one  day  as  Mr  Snape  was  on 
hi^  knees  at  prayer,  the  window  of  his  chamber  being  open,  he  perceiv- 
ed something  was  thrown  into  his  chamber  ;  but  resolved  he  would  hnish 
his  work  with  God,  before  he  would  ciivert  to  see  what  it  was.  When 
he  arose  from  his  knees,  he  saw  a  purse  on  the  chamber-lloor,  which 
was  iuU  o( gold,  by  which  he  could  make  his  keeper  better  naturedthan 
he  had  been.     Many  such  passages  could  that  good  man  relate. 

Mr.  Norton  was  one  whose  memory,  I  must  acknowledge,  I  have  pe- 
culiar cause  to  love  and  honour.  I  was  his  pupil  several  years.  He  had 
a  very  scholasikal  genius.  In  the  doctrine  of  grace  he  was  exceeding 
clear  ;  indeed  anottier  Austin.  He  loved  and  admired  Dr.  Tziiss  more 
than  any  man  that  this  age  has  produced.  He  has  sometimes  said  to  me. 
Dr.  Tiviss  is  Omni  Exceptionc  Major.  He  was  much  in  prayer  :  he 
would  ver}'  often  spend  whole  days  in  prayer,  with  fasting  before  the 
Lord  alone  in  his  study.  He  kept  a  strict  daily  ra'atch  over  his  own 
heart.  He  was  an  hard  student.  He  took  notice  in  a  private  diary,  how- 
he  spent  his  time  every  day.  If  he  found  himself  not  so  much  inclined 
to  diligence  and  study,  as  at  other  times,  he  would  reflect  on  his  heart  and 
ways,  lest  haply  some  unobserved  sin  should  provoke  the  Lord  to  give 
him  up  to  a  slothful  listless  frame  of  spirit.  In  his  diary,  he  would  some- 
times have  these  words,  Leve  desiderium  ad  studendum  :  Forsan  ex  pec- 
caio  admisso.  1  bless  the  Lord  that  ever  I  knew  Mr.  Norton,  and  that  I 
knew  so  much  of  him  as  I  did. 

As  for  xMr.  Davenport,  I  have  in  a  preface  to  his  sermon  on  the  Canti- 
cles, which  are  transcribed  for  the  press,  and  now  at  London,  given  what 
account  I  could  then  obtain,  concerning  the  remarkable  passages  of  his 
life.  I  several  times  desired  him  to  imitate  Junius,  and  some  others,  who 
had  written  their  own  lives.  He  told  me,  he  did  intend  it :  but  I  could 
not  find  any  thing  of  that  nature  among  his  manuscripts,  when  many 
years  ago  1  had  an  occasion  to  seek  after  it.  He  was  a  princely  preacher. 
I  have  heard  some  say,  who  knew  him  in  his  younger  years,  that  he  was 
then  very  fervent  and  vehement,  as  to  the  manner  of  his  delivery  :  but 
in  his  later  times,  he  did  very  much  imitate  Mr.  Cotton,  whom  in  the 
gravity  of  his  countenance,  he  did  somewhat  resemble.  Sic  ille  manus, 
sic  oraferehat. 

The  reader  will  find  many  observable  things  in  what  is  here  related 
concerning  Mr.  Hooker.     Yet  great  pity  it  is,  that  no  more  can  be  col- 
lected of  the  memorahles  relating  to  so  good  and  so  great  a  man  as  he 
was  ;  than  whom  Connecticut  never  did,  and  perhaps  never  will,  see  a 
greater  person.     Mr.  Cotton,  in  his  preface  to  Mr.  Norto7i^s  answer  to 
Jlpollonius,  says  of  Mr.  Hooker,  Dominatitr  in  Concionibus.     Dr.   Ames 
used  to  say.  He  never  kneiv  his  equal :  there  was  a  great  intimacy  between,! 
them  two.     1  remember  my  father  told  me,  that  Mr.  Hooker  was  the  au-  " 
thor  of  that  large  preface  which  is  before  Dr.  Ames,  his  Fresh  Suit  against 
Cere/nonies.     He  would  sometimes  say,  That  7iext  to  converting  grace,  he- 
blessed  God  for  his  acquaintance  with  the  principles  and  Vi-ritings   of  that, 
learned  man,  Mr.  Alexander  Richardson.     It  was  a  black  day  to  New-Eng-^. 
land,  when  that  great  light  was  removed. 

There  are  some  who  will  not  be  pleased,  that  any  notice  is  taken  of 
the  hard  measure  which  these  excellent  men  had  from  those  persecuting 
prelates,  who  were  willing  to  have  the  world  rid  of  them.  But  it  is  im- 
possible to  write  the  history  of  New-England,  and  of  the  lives  of  them 
who  were  the  chief  in  it,  and  yet  be  wholly  silent  in  that  matter.     That 


Book  III.]         TFIE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  227 

eminent  person,  Dr.  Tillotson  (the  late  Arch-Bishop  of  Canterhury)  did, 
not  above  four  years  ac;o,  sometimes  express  to  me,  his  resentments  of 
the  injury  which  had  been  done  to  the  first  planters  of  New-England, 
and  his  great  dislike  of  Arch-Bishop  Laud's  spirit  towards  them.  And 
to  my  knowledge,  there  are  Bishops  at  this  day,  of  the  same  christian 
temper  and  moderation  with  that  great  and  good  man,  lately  dead.  Had 
the  Sees  in  England,  fourscore  years  ago,  been  filled  with  such  Arch-Bish- 
ops,  and  Bishops,  as  those  which  King  William  (whom  God  grant  long  to 
live  and  to  reign)  has  preferred  to  Episcopal  dignity,  there  had  never 
been  a  Kew-England.  It  was  therefore  necessary  that  it  should  be  oth- 
erwise then,  than  at  this  day,  that  so  the  gospel  in  the  power  and  purity 
of  it,  might  come  into  these  dark  corners  of  the  earth,  and  that  here 
might  be  seen  a  specimen  of  the  new  heavens  and  a  new  earth,  wherein 
dwells  righteousjiess,  which  shall  e'er  long  be  seen  all  the  world  over,  and 
which,  according  to  his  promise  we  look  fur. 

Ikcrf.ase  Mather. 
Boston,  Nero-England,  May  16,  1695. 


INTRODUCTION. 

§  1.  When  the  God  of  Heaven  had  carried  a  nation  into  a  'isoilderness, 
upon  the  designs  of  a  glorious  reformation,  he  there  gave  them  a  singu- 
lar conduct  of  his  presence  and  spirit,  in  a  certain  pillar,  which  by  day 
appeared  as  a  cloud,  and  by  night  as  a  Jire  before  them  ;  and  the  report 
of  the  respect  paid  by  the  Israelites  unto  this  pillar,  became  so  noised 
among  the  Gentiles,  that  the  pagan  poets  deridt;d  them  on  this  account. 

Nil  prater  Nubes  Sf  cceli  Lumen  adorant, 

[Which  is,  I  suppose  the  true  reading  of  that  famous  verse  in  Juvenal : 
and  1  thus  translate  it,] 

Only  the    clouds  and  fires  of  Heaven  they  do  worship  at  all  times. 

But  I  must  novv  observe  unto  my  reader,  that  more  than  a  score  of 
years,  after  the  beginning  of  the  age  which  is  now  expiring,  our  Lord  Je- 
sus Christ,  with  a  thousand  wonders  of  his  p'ovidcnce,  carried  into  an 
American  wilderness,  a  people  persecuted  for  their  desire  to  see,  and 
seek  a  reformation  of  the  church,  according  to  the  scripture  :  of  which 
matter  I  cannot  give  a  briefer,  and  yet  fuller  history,  than  by  reciting  the 
memorable  words  of  that  great  man,  Dr.  John  Owen,  who  in  his  golden 
book  of  communion  with  God,  thus  expresses  it :  '  They  who  hold  com- 
'  munion  with  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  will  admit  nothing,  practice  nothing, 
'  in  the  worship  of  God,  but  what  they  have  his  warrant  for  ;  unless  it 
'  comes  in  his  name,  with  a.  Thus  saith  the  Lord  Jesus,  they  will  not  hear 
'  an  angel  from  heaven:  they  know,  the  apostles  themselves  were  to  teach 
'  the  saints,  only  what  he  commanded  them :  and  you  know,  how  many  in 
*  this  very  nation,  in  the  days  not  long  since  passed,  yea  how  many  thou- 


228  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLANl).         [Book  ill. 

'  sands,  left  their  native  soyl,  and  went  into  a  vast  and  howling  wilderness, 
'  in  tlie  uttermost  parts  of  the  world,  to  keep  their  souls  undetiled  and 
*  chaste  unto  their  dear  Lord  J;-sus,  as  to  this  of  his  worship  and  institu- 
'  tions.'  Now  though  the  reformed  church  thus  Jled  into  the  wilderness, 
enjoyed  not  the  miraculous  pillar,  vouchsafed  unto  the  erratick  church  of 
Israel,  for  about  fort}'  )'ears  together  ;  yet  for  that  number  of  years,  we 
enjoyed  many  n  person,  in  whom  the  good  spirit  of  God,  gave  a  conduct 
unto  us,  and  mercifuliy  dispensed  those  directing,  defending,  refreshing 
intliiences,  which  were  as  necessary  for  us,  as  any  that  the  celebrated 
pillar  of  cloud,  rinAfire,  could  have  afforded.  The  great  and  good  Shep- 
herd of  the  church,  fivoured  his  distressed  flocks  in  the  wilderness,  with 
iPMtxy  pastors,  that  were  k'arned,  prudent,  and  holy,  beyond  the  common 
rates  au'!  men  .ifter  his  o^i;n  heart:  and  it  would  be  an  ingratitude  many 
ways  pernicious,  if  the  churches  of  jVew-England  should  not,  like  those 
of  the  primitive  times,  have  their  diptychs,  wherein  the  memory  of  those 
eminent  confessors,  may  be  recorded  and  preserved. 

6  i.  Four  or  five  of  those  eminent  persons  are  now  to  have  their  lives 
described  unto  us,  and  offered  jnto  the  contemplation  and  imitation.-  es- 
pecially of  the  generation  which  are  now  rising  up,  after  the  death  of 
Cottoi!,  and  of  the  elders  that  out  lived  him,  and  had  seen  alt  the  great 
wor'-'s  of  the  Lord,  zvhich  he  did  for  New-England.  I  saw  a  fearful  degen- 
e^acy.  creeping,  1  cannot  say,  but  rushing  in  upon  these  churches  ;  I 
saw^  to  multiply  continually  our  dangers,  of  our  losing  no  small  points  in 
onvfj-sl  faith,  as  well  as  our^rs^  love,  and  of  our  giving  up  the  essentials 
of  that  church  order,  which  was  the  very  end  of  these  colonies  ;  I  saw  a 
visible  shrink  in  all  orders  of  men  among  us,  from  that  greatness,  and  that 
goodness,  which  was  in  the  first  grain,  that  our  God  brought  from  three 
sifted  kingdoms,  into  tins  land,  when  it  was  a  land  not  sown;  that  while 
the  Papists  in  Europe  have  grown  better  of  late  years,  by  the  growth  of 
Jansenism  among  them,  the  Protestants  have  prodigiously  waxed  worse, 
for  a  revolt  unto  Pcla^ianism,  and  Socijrianism,  or  what  is  half  way  to  it, 
has  not  been  more  surprising  to  me,  than  to  see  that  in  America,  while 
those  parts  which  were  at  first  peopled  by  the  reftise  of  the  English  na- 
tion, do  sensibly  amend  in  the  regards  of  sobi'iety  and  education,  those 
parts  which  were  planted  with  a  more  noble  viiie,  do  so  fast  give  a  pros- 
pect of  affording  only  the  degenerate  plants  of  a  strange  vine.  What 
should  be  done  for  the  stop,  the  turn  of  this  degeneracy  ?  It  is  reported 
of  the  Scythians,  who  were,  doubtless,  the  ancestors  of  the  Indians  first 
inhabiting  these  regions,  that  in  battels,  when  they  came  to  stand  upon 
the  graves  of  their  dead  fathers,  they  would  there  stand  immovable, 
'till  they  dyed  upon  the  spot  :  and,  thought  I,  why  may  not  such  a  meth- 
od now  effectually  engage  the  English  in  these  regions,  to  stand  fast  in 
their /fuV/i.  and  their  orc^er,  and  in  the  power  of  godliness  ?  I'll  shew 
them  the  graves  of  their  dead  fathers ;  and  if  any  of  them  do  retreaJ 
unto  a  contempt  or  neglect  of  learning,  or  unto  the  errors  of  another 
gospel,  or  unto  the  superstitions  of  wiil-worship,  or  unto  a  worldly,  a 
selfish,  a  little  conversation,  they  shall  undergo  the  irresistible  rebukes  of 
their  progenitors,  here  fetched  from  the  dead,  for  their  admonition  ;  and 
I'll  therewithal  advertise  my  New-Englanders,  that  if  a  grand-child  of  a 
Moses  become  an  Idolater,  he  shall,  [as  the  Jews  remark  w^onJudg.  xviii. 
30,]  be  destroj'ed.  as  if  not  a  Moses  but  a  AJanasseh,  had  been  his  father 
Besides,  Plus  Vivitur  Exemplis  quain  prccceptis .' 

§  3.  Good  men  ia  ttio  Church  of  England,  1  hope,  will  not  be  oflended 
at  it,  if  the  unreasonable  impositions,  and  intoler  able  persecutions,  of  cov- 


Bool  III.]         THE  HISTORY  Of  NEW-ENGLAND.  229 

tain  little-souled  ceremony  mongers,  which  drove  these  worthy  men  out 
of  their  native  conlry,  into  the  horrid  thickets  of  America,  be  in  their 
lives  complained  and  resented.  For  distinguishing  between  a  Romanizing 
faction  in  the  Church  of  England,  and  the  true  Protestant  Reforming 
Church  o/"  England,  (things  that  are  different  as  a  jezvel,  from  a  hey- 
lin,  or  a  Grindal  from  a  Laud  .')  the  first  planters  q{  Ne-jv- En  gland,  at 
their  first  coming  over,  did  in  a  publick  and  a  printed  address,  call  the 
Chnvch  oi  England,  their  dear  mother,  desiring  their  friends  therein,  to 
recommend  them  unto  the  mercies  of  God,  in  their  constant  prayers,  as  a 
Church  now  springing  out  of  their  ozn-n  bowels  :  nor  did  they  think,  that  it 
was  their  mother  who  turned  them  out  of  doors,  but  some  of  their  angry 
brethren,  abusing  the  name  of  their  mother,  who  so  harshly  treated  them. 
As  for  the  Romanizing  faction  in  the  Church  ©/"England,  or  that  party,  who 
resolving  (altogether  contrary  to  the  desire  of  the  most  eminent  persons, 
by  whom  the  common-prayer  was  made  English)  that  the  reforinaiion 
should  never  proceed  one  jot  further  than  the  first  essay  of  it,  in  the  for- 
mer century,  did  make  certain  unscriptural  canons,  whereby  all  tliat  could 
not  approve,  subscribe,  and  practise,  a  multitude  of,  (by  themselves  con- 
fessed purely  humane)  inventions  in  the  worship  of  God,  were  accursed, 
and  ipso  facto  excommunicate  ;  and  by  the  ill-obtained  aid  of  bitter  laws 
to  back  these  canons,  did  by  fines  and  goals  and  innumerable  violences, 
contrary  to  the  very  magna  charta  of  the  nation,  ruine  many  thousands 
of  the  soberest  people  in  the  kingdom  ;  and  who  continually  made  as 
many  Shibboleths  as  they  could,  for  the  discovering  and  the  extinguish- 
ing of  all  real  godliness,  and  never  gave  over  prosecuting  their  tri- 
partite plot,  of  Arminianism,  and  a  conciliation  with  the  patriarch 
of  the  west,  and  arbitrary  government  in  the  state,  until  at  last  they 
threw  all  into  the  lamentable  confusions  of  a  civil  war;  the  churches 
t){  New -En  gland  sa}'  Come  not  into  their  secret.  O  my  sotil.  We  dare  not 
be  guilty  of  the  schism,  which  we  charge  upon  that  party  in  the  Church  of 
England  :  and  if  anj'  faction  of  mer  will  require  the  assent  and  consent  of 
other  men,  to  avast  number  of  disputable  and  nninstitutcd  things,  and,  it 
may  be,  a  mathematical  falshood,  among  the  first  of  them,  and  utterl}^  re- 
nounce all  christian  communion  with  all  that  shall  not  give  that  assent  and 
consent,  we  look  upon  those  to  be  separatists  ;  we  dare  not  be  so  narrow- 
spirited  ;  the  churches  of  JVety-Eng/ararf  profess  to  make  only  the  subs'ian- 
tials  of  the  christian  religion  to  be  the  terms  of  our  sacred  fellowship  ;  wc 
dare  make  no  difference  between  a  Presbyterian,  a  Congregational,  an  Epis 
cnpalian,  and  an  Antipaido-baptist,  where  their  visible  piety,  makes  it  proba 
ble  that  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  has  received  them.  And  such  reverend  name- 
as  Hall  and  Kidder,  most  worthy  Bishops  now  adorning  the  English  Church, 
as  well  as  the  names  of  such  reverend  and  excellent  persons  among  the 
Dissenters,  as  Bates,  Anncsly,  How,  Mead  and  Alsop,  (with  man}'  others) 
are,  on  that  score,  together  precious  unto  this  part  of  the  christian  Ameri- 
ca. On  the  other  side,  the  true  Protestant  Reforming  Church  of  England, 
contains  the  whole  body  ofthefaithfid,  scattered  through  the  English  do 
minions,  though  of  different  perswasions  about  some  rites  ?i.nA  modes,  and 
lesser  points  of  religion  :  and  all  the  friends  of  the  last  reformation,  who, 
whether  they  think  there  needs  a  further  progress  in  that  work  or  no,  yet 
are  willing  to  make  the  word  of  God  the  rule  of  their  serving  him,  do  come 
under  this  denomination. 

Those  divines,  who,  with  Arch-Bishop  Usher  in  the  head  of  them,  did 
more  than  fifty  years  ago,  <iive  in  a  paper  touching  the  innovations  oi 
doctrine  and  of  discipline  in  the  Church  of  England,  and  make  near  fortv 


i30  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  [Book  IH. 

exceptions  against  things  in  the  Litvrgy,  were  still  as  good  members  of 
that  church,  as  they  that  hated  to  be  reformed;  and  the  assembly  of  di- 
vines at  Westminster,  which  made  the  catechisms  now  used  among  us, 
were  as  genuine  sons  of  the  church  after  they  became  non- conformists,  as 
while  they  lived  in  conformity,  which  every  one  of  them,  except  eight  or 
7iine,  did  nhen  they  lirst  came  together.  One  who  is  at  this  day  a  Right 
Reverend  Bishop,  has  in  his  Irenicnm,  well  expressed  the  sense  wLiih  I 
believe,  the  biggest  party  of  christians  in  the  realm,  three  to  one  have  of 
those  matters,  which  have  been,  the  apples  of  strife  among  us  :  '  That 
'  Christ,  who  came  to  take  away  the  insupportable  yoke  of  the  Jewish 
'  ceremonies,  certainl}^  did  never  intend  to  gall  the  necks  of  the  disci- 
'  pies  with  another  instead  of  it ;  and  it  would  be  strange,  the  church 
'  would  require  more  than  Christ  himself  did,  and  make  more  terms  of 
'  communion,  than  our  Saviour  did  of  disciple-sltip.  The  grand  commis- 
'  sion  the  apostles  were  sent  out  with,  was  only  to  teach,  what  Christ  had 
'  commanded  them  ;  not  the  least  intimation  of  any  power,  given  them  to 
'  impose  or  require  any  thing,  beyond  what  he  himself  had  spoken  to 
'  them,  or  they  were  directed  to,  by  the  immediate  guidance  of  the  spirit 

'  of  God.' And,  [speaking  of  the  reason,  why  our  first  compilers  of 

the  common-prayer,  took  in  so  much  of  the  Popish  service'\  '  Certainly, 
'  those  holy  men,  who  did  seek  by  any  means,  to  draw  in  others,  at  such 
'  a  distance  from  their  principles,  as  the  Papists  were,  did  never  intend, 
'  by  what  they  did  for  that  end,  to  exclude  any  truly  tender  consciences, 
'  from  their  communion  ;  that  which  they  laid  as  a  bait  for  them,  was 
'  never  intended  by  them  as  an  hook  for  those  of  our  own  profession.' 
And  if  this  be  the  true  Church  of  England,  give  me  leave  to  say,  the 
churches  of  New-England,  are  no  inconsiderable  part  of  it ;  and  that 
accordingly  we  may  have  a  room  in  it,  I  may  safely  in  the  name  of  them 
all;  offer,  (as  did  the  renowned  author  of  our  Martyr- Books,  when  they 
demanded  subscription  from  him.)  to  subscribe  the  New  Testament. 

Upon  the  whole  then,  if  any  be  displeased  at  my  report  of  the  unjust 
impositions  and  persecutions,  which  drove  into  America,  as  good  christians, 
and  protestanis,  as  any  that  were  left  behind  them,  it  will  not  be  the  true 
Church  of  England  ;  for  why  should  that  be  called,  the  Church  of  England, 
which  has  caused  thousands  of  as  real  and  thorough  christians,  as  any  up-  -. 
on  earth,  to  say.  It  is  no  better  to  dwell  in  the  wilderness,  than  with  such  an 
contentious  and  angry  one  !  That  Church  of  England,  which  alone  is  wor- 
thy to  be  called  so,  will  bewail,  as  I  know  divers  excellent  persons  now 
in  the  Episcopal  Sees  have  done,  the  injuries  offered  unto  our  puritan 
fathers. 

§  4.  Let  my  reader,  thus  prepared,  now  entertain  himself,  as  far  as  he 
pleases,  with  our  four  Johns,  to  whose  lives,  I  have  upon  the  counsel  and 
command  of  an  ever-honoured  parent,  appendiced  the  life  of  a  famous 
Thomas  in  this  publication  ;  Johns,  with  whom  among  the  five  or  six 
hundred  noted  persons  o{  that  name,  celebrated  by  07ie  historian,  I  find 
not  many  that  were  worthy  to  be  compared  ;  Johns,  fuller  of  light  and 
grace  and  the  good  spirit,  than  all  those  four  or  five  and  twenty  of  that 
name,  who  have  sat  in  the  chair  that  pretends  to  infill  ibi/ity.  And,  if  he 
pleases,  let  him  sec  that  old  little  observation  confirmed,  that  as  the 
name  Henry  has  been  happy  in  kings,  Elizabeth  in  queens,  Edward  in 
lawyers,  William  in  physicians,  Francis  \n  scholars,  Robert  in  soldiei's  and 
state-men,  so  John  has  been  happy  in  divines.  Even  a  divine  Jehojadah, 
when  he  comes  to  be  reckoned  among  the  priests  of  the  Lord,  must  have 
put  upon  him,  the  name  of  John  \l  Chron.  vi,  9.]     But  let  him  consider 


Book  III.}  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  231 

these  lives,  as  tendered  unto  the  publick,  upon  an  account  n«  less  than 
that  of  keeping  alive,  as  far  as  this  poor  essay  may  contribute  thereunto, 
the  interests  of  dying  religion  in  our  churches.     I  remember  a  learned 
man's  conjecture,  that  [in  1  Tim.  iii.  15.]  it  is  Timothy,  and  not  the  church, 
which  is  called,    The  pillar  and  ground  of  Faith:  such   able,  holy,   and 
faithful  ministers  as  Timothy,  are  the  jjreat  proclaimers  and  preservers  of 
truth,  for  the  Church  of  God  :  such  were  these  famous  Johns  while  they 
lived,  and  now  they  are  dead,  I  have  done  my  endeavour  that  they  may 
still  be  such  unto  the  churches,  unto  whom  1  owe  my  all.     Til  say  but 
this,  the  last  words  of  the  most  renowned  prebend  of  Canterbury,    Dr. 
Peter  du  Moulin,  who  died  a  very  old  man,  about  eleven  years  ago,  were, 
Since  Calvinism  is  cried  do-ucn  [Actum  est  de  Religione  Christi  apud  An- 
glos] Christianity  is  in  danger  to  be  lost  in  the  English  nation.       Alluding 
;  to  what  he  said,  about  his  John  Calvin,  I  will  take  leave  to  say  with  re- 
spect unto  our  Johii  Cotton,  and  the  rest  that  here  accompany  him,  Chris- 
tianity zaill  be  lost  among  us,  if  their  faith  and  zeal,  must  all  be  buried  zi-ilh- 
them:  which,   God  forbid  !  as  there  would  be  an  hazard,  that  the  early 
,  and  better  times  oi  New-England  would  have  the  true  story  thereof,  with- 
j  in  a  while,  as  irrecoverably  lost,    as  the  story  of  the  world,  relating  to 
I  those  times,  which  Varro  distinguished  unto  Incognit,  d^nd  fabulous,  pre- 
i  ceding  the  historical,  and  we  should  shortly  have  as  wretched  narratives 
of  the  first  persons  and  actions  in  this  land,  as  Justin  gives  of  the  Jezc-s, 
\  when  he  makes  Moses  the   son  of  their  Joseph,  and  the  sixth  of  their 
j  kings,  or  when  he  makes  them  expelled  from  Egypt,  because  the   Gods 
I  would  not  otherwise  allay  a  plague  that  raged  there,   or  such  as  are  giv- 
en by  Pliny,  when  he  makes  Moses  a  magician,  or  Strabo,  that  makes  him 
an  Egyptian  priest;  if  no  speedy  care  be  taken  to  preserve  the  memora- 
^  bles  o^oav  frst  settlement;  so  I  wish,  the  \a.udab\e  principles  and  practiceii 
I  of  that^rs<  settlement,  may  be  kept  from  utterly  being  lost  in  our  aposta- 
sies, by  the  care  which  is  now  taken  thus  to  preserve  what  was  memora- 
ble, of  the  men  that  have  delivered  them  down  unto  us. 

§  5.  Finally  ;  when  the  apostles  had  set  before  christians  the  saints, 

which  were  a  cloud  of  xi)itnesses,  by  imitating  of  whose  exemplary  bchav- 

'  iour  we  might  enter  into  rest,  he  concludes  with  a  looking  unto  Jesus ;  or, 

according  to  the  emphasis  of  the  original,  a  looking  off'  (from  them)  unto 

'  Jesus,  as  the  incomparably  most  perfect  of  all.     So,  let  my  reader   do, 

'when  all  that  was  imitable  in  the  lives  of  these  worthy  men,  has  had  his 

contemplation  and  admiration  ;  they  all  yet  had  their  defects,  and  there- 

ifore,  look  off"  unto  Jesus ;  follou-ing  them  no  farther  than  they  folloxn-ed  him. 

lit  is  a  notable  passage,   [in  Luke  vii.  28.]  which  we  mis-translate  ;  The 

\least  in  the  kingdom  of  God,  is  greater  than  John.      In  the  Greek,   what 

)We  translate,  The  least,  is,  he  that  is  lesser ;  that  is,   he  that  is  younger. 

•  [Minor  still  has  been  the  same  with  junior.'\      Our  Lord  means  himself, 

'who  was  lesser,  that  is,  younger  than  John  his  fore-runner ;  but,  greater 

than  he!     Truly,  whatever  was  excellent  in  these  our  Johns,   I   would 

I  pray,   that  the  minds  of  all  that  see  it,  may  be  raised  still  to  think,   our 

yprecious  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  is  greater  than  these  Johns  :  all  their  excellen- 

icies  are  in  him  transcendantly,  infinitely  ;  as  they  were  from  him  derived. 

\High  thoughts  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  provoked  by  reading  the  descrip- 

jtions  of  these  his  excellent  servants,  that  had  in  them  a  little  oi'him,  and 

were  no  fai'ther  excellent  than  as  they  had  so,  will  make  me  an  abundant 

recompence,  for  all  the  difficulties,  and  all  the  temptations,  with  which 

my  -writing  is  attended.     And  as  it  quicken^  xXiQJoys  of  my  hastening  death. 


232  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  [Book  HI. 

when  I  have  through  grace,  a  prospect  of  being  then  in  that  state  where 
to  the  spirits  of  these  just  men  made  perfect,  are  all  of  them  gathered,  so 
I  would  have  this  now  to  out-do  all  those  jo^s,  to  be  Tvith  Jesus  Christ,  that 
surely,  is  by  far  the  best  of  all. 

Monumenta  Scpulchralia  Justis  non  faciunt,  nam  Dicta  eorum  Sunt  Memo- 
rioi  Eorum. 

Sentent.  Judaic,  in  Bereschit.  Rabba. 


CHAPTER  I. 

CoTTONUs  Redivivus:  or,  The  Life  of  Mr.  John  Cotton. 

In  quo  Lumen  Religionis  4'  Devotionis,  Fumus  generatus  ex  Lumine  Scierc 
tioe  non  extinguit,  ille  perfeciiis  est:  SedQuis  est  Hie,  ut  adoremus  turn? 
Algazel,  in  Libro  Staterae.  Resp.  Hie.  est !  — 

§  1.  Were  I  master  of  the  pen,  wherewith  Palladius  embalmed  his 
Chrysoslom,  the  Greek  patriark,  or  Posidonius  eternized  his  Austin,  the 
Latin  oracle,  among  the  ancients  ;  or,  were  I  owner  of  the  quill  where- 
with among  the  moderns,  Beza  celebrated  his  immortal  Calvin,  or  Fabius 
immortalized  his  venerable  fieza ;  the  merits  of  John  Cotton  would  oblige 
me  to  employ  it,  in  the  preserving  his  famous  memory.  If  Boston  ife 
the  chief  seal  o(  .Yew- England,  it  was  Cotton  that  was  the  father  and  glo- 
ry of  Boston:  upon  which  account  it  becomes  apiece  of  pure  justice,  that 
the  life  of  him,  who  above  all  men  gave  life  to  his  country,  should  bear 
no  little  tigure  in  its  intended  history  ;  and  indeed  if  any  person  in  this 
town  or  land,  had  tbe  blessedness  which  the  Roman  historian  long  since 
pronounced  such,  even,  to  do  thitigs  worthy  to  be  u-rit,  and  to  write  things 
worthy  to  he  read,  it  was  he  ;  who  now  claims  a  room  in  our  pages.  If  it 
were  a  comparison  sometimes  made  of  the  reformers,  Pomeranus  was  a 
grammarian,  Justus  Jonas  was  an  orator,  Melanclhon  was  a  logician,  but 
Luther  was  all :  even  that  proportion,  it  may  without  envy  be  acknow- 
ledged, that  Cotton  bore  to  the  rest  of  our  New-English  divines  ;  he  that, 
whilst  he  was  living  had  this  vertue  extraordinarily  conspicuous  in  him. 
tliat  it  was  his  delight  always,  to  acknowledge  the  gifts  of  God,  in  other  men, 
must  now  he  is  dead,  have  other  men  to  acknowledge  of  him  what  Eras- 
mus does  of  Jerom,  In  hoc  uno  conjunctum  fuit  4'  Eximium,  quicquid  in 
alns  partim  admiramur. 

§  'Z.  There  was  a  good  heraldry  in  that  speech  of  the  noble  Romamts, 
It  is  7iot  the  blood  of  my  progenitors,  but  my  christian  profession  that  makes 
me  noble.  But  oar  John  Cotton,  besides  the  advantage  of  his  christian 
profession,  had  a  descent  from  honourable  progenitors,  to  render  him 
doubly  honourable.  His  immediate  pz-on-e/ufors  being  by  some  injustice, 
deprived  of  great  revenues,  his  father  Mr.  Roland  Cotton  had  the  educa- 
tion of  a  lawyer  bestowed  by  his  fiiends  upon  him,  in  hopes  of  his  being 
the  better  capacitated  thereby  to  recover  the  estate,  whereof  his  family 
had  been  wronged  ;  and  so  the  profession  of  a  lawyer,  was  that  unto' 
which  this  gentleman  applied  himself  all  his  days.  But  our  John  Cotton, 
in  this  happier  than  Austiii,  whoae  father  was  carefuller  to  make  an  ora- 
tor than  a  christian  of  him,  while  his  gracious  mother  was  making  him  on 
greater  accounts,  a  son  of  her  many  tears,  had  a  very  pious  father  in  this 
worthy  lawyer,  as  well  as  a  pious  mother,  to  interest  hira  in  the  covenant 


Book  III.]  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  £-33 

of  God,  That  worthy  man  was  indeed  very  singular  in  two  most  imita- 
hle  practices.  One  was,  that  when  any  of  his  neiglibours  desirous  to  sue 
one  another,  addressed  him  for  council,  it  was  his  manner,  in  the  most 
perswasive  and  obhging  terms  that  could  be,  to  endeavour  a  reconcilia- 
tion between  both  parties  ;  preferring  the  consolations  of  a  peace-maker, 
before  all  the  fees,  that  he  might  have  got  by  blowing  up  of  differences. 
Another  was,  that  every  night  it  was  his  custom  to  examine  himself,  with 
reflections  on  the  transactions  of  the  day  past;  wherein,  if  he  ^und  that 
he  had  not  either  f?one  good  unto  others,  or  got  good  unto  his  own  soul,  he 
would  be  as  much  grieved  as  ever  the  famous  Titvs  was,  whe&  he  could 
complain  in  the  evening,  Amici  Diem  PerdidiJ  Of  such  parents  was  Mr. 
John  Cotton  born,  at  the  town  o(  Derby,  on  the  fourth  of  December :  in 
the  year  1585. 

§  3.  The  religious  parents  of  Mr.  Cotton,  were  solicitous  to  have  him 
indued  with  a  learned  as  well  as  a  ^  4  I's  education;  and  being  neither 
so  rich,  that  the  Mater  drtis  couli  have  no  room  to  do  her  part,  nor  so 
poor  that  the  Res  Augusta  Domi,  should  clog  his  progress,  they  were  well 
fitted  thereby,  to  bestow  such  an  education  upon  him.  His  first  instruc- 
tion was  under  a  good  school-master,  one  3Ir.  Johnson,  in  the  town  of 
Derby  :  whereon  the  intellectual  endowments  of  all  sorts,  with  which 
the  God  of  our  spirits  adorned  him,  so  discovered  themselves,  that  at  the 
age  of  thirteen,  his  proficiency  procured  him  admission  into  Trinity-Col- 
lege in  Cambridge.  Indeed  the  proverb,  soon  ripe  soon  rotten,  has  often 
been  too  hastily  applied  unto  rathe  ripe  wits,  in  young  people  ;  not  only 
Oecolampadixis  and  Melancthon,  who  commenced  Batchelonrs  of  Arts,  at 
fourteen  years  of  age,  and  Luther,  who  cogimenced  Master  of  Arts  at 
twenty  ;  but  also  our  Dr.  Juel  sent  unto  Oxford,  our  Dr.  Usher  sent  un- 
to Dublin,  and  our  Mr.  Cotton  sent  unto  Cambridge,  all  at  the  age  of  thir- 
teen, do  put  in  a  bar  to  the  universal  application  of  that  proverb.  While 
Mr.  Cotton  was  at  the  university,  his  diligent  head,  with  God's  blessings, 
made  him  a  rich  scholar;  and  his  generous  mind  found  no  little  nourish- 
ment by  that  labour,  which  like  the  sage  philosopher,  he  found  szceeter 
than  idleness  :  insomuch  that  his  being  elected  fellow  of  Trinity  College, 
as  the  reward  of  his  quick  proficiency,  was  diverted  by  nothing  but  this, 
that  the  extraordinary  charges  for  their  great  hall  then  in  building,  did 
put  by  their  election.  And  there  was  this  remarkable  in  the  education 
of  this  chosen  vessel,  at  the  university  :  that  while  he  continued  there,  his 
father's  practice  was,  by  the  special  providence  of  God,  augmented  so 
much  beyond  what  it  had  been  before,  as  was  enough  to  maintain  him 
there:  upon  which  observation  Mr.  Coi!^o?i  afterwards  would  say,  'Trees 
God  that  kept  me  at  the  University .'  Indeed  some  have  said,  that  the  great 
notice  quickly  taken  of  the  eminency  in  the  son,  was  one  reason,  why 
his  father  not  only  came  to  be  complemented  on  all  sides,  and  Omnes  Om- 
nia Bona,  dicere,  ^  laudare  Fortunas  ejus,  qui  Filium  haberet  Tali  Ingenii, 
praiditum,  but  also  had  his  clients  more  than  a  little  multiplied. 

§  4.  Upon  the  desires  of  £/na/iMe/-Colledge,  Mr.  Cotton  was  not  only 
removed  unto  that  Colledge,  but  also  preferred  unto  afellorn-ship  in  it ;  in 
order  whereunto,  he  did  according  to  the  critical  and  laudable  statutes  of 
the  house,  go  through  a  very  severe  examen  of  his  fitness  for  such  a  sta- 
tion ;  wherein  'twas  particularly  remarked,  that  the  Poser  trying  his  ife- 
hrexi)  skill  by  the  third  chapter  of  Isaiah,  a  chapter  which,  containing 
more  hard  words  than  any  one  paragraph  of  the  bible,  mi^ht  therefore 
have  puzled  a  very  good  Hebrician,  yet  he  made  nothing  of  it  He  nap, 
afterwards  the  Head  Lecturer,  the  Dean,  the   Catechist,  in  that  famous 


234  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  III. 

CoUedge  ;  and  became  a  Tidor  to  many  scholars,  who  afterwards  proved 
famous  persons,  and  had  cause  to  bless  God  for  the  faithful,  and  ingenious 
and  laborious  comnntnicativcness  of  this  their  tutor.     Here,  all  his  acade- 
mical exercises,  whether  in  disputatious  or  in  common  places,  or  whatever 
else  did  so  smell  of  the  lamp,  that  the  wit.  the  strength,  the  gravity,  and 
the   fuloess,  both  of  reason  and   of  reading  in   them,  caused  him   to  be 
much   admired  by  the  sparkling  wits  of  the  university.     But  one  thing 
among  ttfe  rest,  which  caused  a  great  notice  to  be  taken  of  him.  through- 
out the  whole  university,  was  his  funeral  oration  upon  Dr.  Some,  the 
Master  of^Peter  House,  wherein  he  approved  himself  such  a  master  of 
Fericlaan,  or  Ciceronian  oratory,  that  the   auditors  were  even  r^adv  to 
have  acclaimed,  Xon  Vox  Hominem  Sonat!     And   that  which  added  unto 
the  reputation,  thus  riiised  for  him,  was  an   University- sermon,  wherein 
aiming  more  to  preach  self  than  Christ,  he  used  such  florid  strains,  as 
extremely  recommended  him  unto   the  most,  who  relished  the  -xisdoin  of 
'.fords  above  the  iji'ords   of  'u-'isdom :  though  the  pompous  eloquence  of 
that  sermon,  afterwards  gave  such  a  distaste  unto  his  own  renewed  soul. 
that  with  a  sacred  indignation  he  threw  his  notes  into  the  fire. 

§  5.  Hitherto  we  have  seen  the  life  of  Mr.  Cotton,  while  be  was  not 
yet  alive!     Though  the  restraining  and  preventing  grace  of  God,  had 
kept  him  from  such  out-breakings  of  sin,  as  defile  the  lives  of  most  in 
the  world,  yet  like  the  old  man,  who  for  such  a  cause  ordered  this  epi- 
taph to  be  written  on  his  grave,  Here  lies  an  old  man,  who  lived  but  seven 
years,  he  reckoned  himself  to  have  been  but  a  dead,  man,  as  bein?  alien' 
ated  from  the  life  of  God,  until  he  had  experienced  that  regeneration,  in". 
his  own   soul,  which  was  ?/i/is  accomplished.     The  Holy  Spirit  of  God 
had  been  at  work  upon  his  young  heart,  by  the  ministry  of  that  Rever- 
end and  renowned  preacher  of  righteousness,  Mr.  Perkins  ;  but  he  resist- 
ed and  smothered  those  convictions,  through  a  vain  perswasion,  that  if  he 
became  a  godly  man,  'twould  spoil  him  for  being  a  learned  one.     Yea, 
such  was  the  secret  enmity  and  prejudice  of  an  nnregenerate  soul,  against 
■real  holiness,  and  such  the  torment,  which  our  Lord's  icitnesses  sive  to  the; 
consciences  of  the  earthly-minded,  that  when  he  heard  the  bell  toll  for 
the  funeral  of  Mr.  Perkins,  his  mind  secretly  rejoiced  in  his  deliverance 
from  that  powerful  ministry,  by  which  his  conscience  had  been  so  oft 
beleagured  :  the  remembrance  of  which  thing  afterwards,  did  break  his 
heart  exceedingly!     But  he  was,  at  length,  more  eifectually  awakened, 
by  a  sermon  of  Dr.  Sibs,  wherein  was  discoursed  the   misery  of  those, 
who  had  only  a  negative  righteousness,  or  a  civil,  sober,  honest  blam^'less- 
ness  before  men.     Mr.  Cotton  became  now  very  sensible  of  his  own  mis- 
erable  condition  before  God  ;  and  the  arrnms  of  these  convictions,  did 
stick  so  fast  upon  him,  that  after  no  less  three  year's  disconsolnt'^  apprehen- 
sions under  thera,  the  grace  of  God  made  him  a  thoroughly  renem-ed 
christian,  and  tilled  him  with  a  sacred  joy,  which  accompanied  him  unto 
the  fulness  of  joy  for  ever.     For  this  cause,  as  persons  trulv  converted 
unto  God  have  a  mightv  and  lasting  affection  for  the  instruments  of  their 
conversion  ;  thus  Mr.  Cotton'' s  venfration  for  Dr.  Sihs,  wa«  after  this  very 
particular  and  perpetual  :   and  it  caused  him  to  have  the  picture  of  that 
great  man,  in  that  part  of  his  house,  where  he  mis;ht  oftenest  look  upon 
it.     But  so  the  yoke  of  sore  temptations  and  afflictions  and  Ions  spiritual 
trials,  fitted  him  to  be  an  eminently  useful  servant  of  God  in  his  gene-' 
r.ition  ! 

§  6.  Some  time  after  this  change  upon  the  soul  of  Mr.  Cotton,  it  came 
nnto  hi^  turn  again  to  preach  at  St.  Maries :  and  because  ^e  was  to  preach, 


iiooK  III.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  235 

an  hierh  expectation  was  riised,  through  the  zvhole  university,  that  they 
should  have  a  sermon,  tlourishing  indeed,  with  all  the  learning  of  the 
whole  university  Many  difficulties  hail  Mr.  Cotton  in  his  own  rnmd  now. 
what  course  to  steer.  On  the  one  side  he  considered,  that  if  he  should 
p-each  with  a  scriptural  and  christian  plainyiess,  he  should  not  onlj'" 
wound  his  own  fame  exceedingly,  but  also  tempt  carnal  men  to  revive  an 
oM  cavil,  that  religion  made  sdiolars  turn  dunces,  whereby  the  name  of 
God  might  suffer  not  a  little.  On  the  other  side,  he  considered,  that  it 
was  his  duty  to  preach  with  such  a  flainncss,  as  became  the  oracles  of 
God,  which  are  intended  for  the  conduct  of  men  in  the  paths  of  life,  aad 
not  for  theatrical  ostentations  and  entertainments,  and  tlie  Lord  needed 
not  any  sin  of  ours  to  maintain  his  own  glory.  Hereupon  Mr.  Cotton 
resolved,  that  he  would  preach  a  plain  sermon,  even  such  a  sermon,  as 
in  his  own  conscience  he  thought  would  be  most  pleasing  ui;tothe  Lord 
Jesus  Christ ;  and  he  discoursed  practically  and  powerfully,  but  very 
solidly  upon  the  plain  doctrine  of  repentance.  The  vain  wits  of  the 
university,  disappointed  thus,  with  a  more  excellent  sermon,  that  shot 
some  troublesome  admonitions  into  their  consciences,  discovered  their 
vexation  at  this  disappointment,  by  their  not  humming,  as  according  to 
their  sinful  and  absurd  custom,  they  had  formerly  done  ;  and  the  Vice- 
Chancellor,  for  the  very  same  reason  also,  graced  him  not,  as  he  did 
others  that  pleased  him.  Nevertheless,  the  satisfaction  which  he  enjoy- 
ed in  his  own  faithful  soul,  abundantly  compensated  unto  him,  the  loss  of 
any  human  favour  or  honour;  nor  did  he  go  without  many  encourage- 
ments from  some  doctoi's,  then  having  a  better  sence  of  religion  upon 
them,  who  prayed  him  to  persevere  in  the  good  way  of  preaching,  which 
he  had  now  taken.  But  perhaps  the  greatest  consolation  of  all,  was  a 
notable  effect  of  the  sermon  then  preached  !  The  famous  Dr.  Preston, 
then  a  fellov/  of  Q^iieen''s  CoUedge  in  Cambridge,  and  of  great  note  in  the 
university,  came  to  hear  Mr.  Cotton  with  the  same  itching  ears,  as  others 
%vere  then  led  withal.  For  some  good  while  after  the  beginning  of  the 
sermon,  his  frustrated  expectation  caused  him  to  manifest  his  uneasiness 
all  the  ways  that  were  then  possible  ;  but  before  the  sermon  was  ended, 
like  one  of  Peter's  hearers,  he  found  himself  pzercecZ  at  the  heart:  his 
heart  within  him  was  now  struck  with  such  resentments  of  his  own  inte- 
rior state  before  the  God  of  heaven,  that  he  could  have  no  peace  in  his 
own  soul,  till  with  awou7ided  soul,  he  had  repaired  unto  Mr.  Cotton;  from 
whom  he  received  those  further  assistances,  wherein  he  became  a  spir- 
itual father,  unto  one  of  the  greatest  men  in  his  age. 

§  7.  The  well-disposed  people  of  Boston  in  Lincolnshire,  after  this, 
invited  Mr.  Cotton  to  become  their  minister;  with  which  invitation,  out 
of  a  sincere  and  serious  desire  to  serve  our  Lord  in  his  gospel,  after  the 
solemnest  addresses  to  heaven  for  guidance  in  such  a  solemn  affair,  he 
complied.  At  this  time  the  mayor  of  the  town,  with  a  more  corrupt 
party,  having  procured  another  scholar  from  Camhridge,  more  agreeable 
to  them,  would  needs  have  him  to  pre?ich  before  Mr.  Cotton :  but  the 
church-warden  pretending  to  more  of  influence  upon  their  ecclesiastical 
matters,  over  ruled  it.  However  when  the  matter  came  to  a  vote, 
amongst  those  to  whom  the  right  of  election  did  by  charter  belong,  there 
was  an  equi-vote  for  Mr.  Cotton,  and  that  other  person  ;  only  the  mayor, 
who  had  the  casting  vote,  by  a  strange  mistake  pricked  for  Mr.  Cotton. 
When  the  mayor  saw  his  mistake,  a  new  vote  was  urged  and  granted  ; 
wherein  it  again  proved  an  equi-vote  ;  but  the  mayor  most  unaccountably 
mistook  agaiu;  as  he  did  before.    Extreamly  displeased  horeat,  he  pressed 


236  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  111. 

for  a  third  vote  ;  but  the  rest  would  not  consent  unto  it  ;  and  so  the  elec- 
tion fell  upon  Mr.  Cotton,  by  the  involuntary  cast  of  that  very  hand,  which 
had  most  opposed  it.  This  obstruction  to  the  settlement  of  Mr.  Cottonia 
Boston,  being  thus  conquered,  another  followed  :  for  the  Bishop  of  the 
Diocess,  having  understood  that  Mr.  Cotton  was  infected  with  Puritanism, 
set  himself  immediately  to  discourage  his  being  there  ;  only  he  could  ob- 
ject nothing,  but,  That  Mr.  Cotton  being  a  young  man^  he  was  not  so  Jit 
upon  that  score,  to  be  over  such  a  numerous  and  such  a  factious  people.  And 
Mr.  Cotton  having  learned  no  otherwise  to  value  himself,  than  to  concur 
»vith  the  apprehensions  of  the  Bishop  ;  intended  therefore  to  return  unto 
Cambridge :  but  some  of  his  friends,  against  his  inclination,  knowing  the 
trice  -^'ay  of  doing  it,  soo*n  charmed  the  Bishop  into  a  declared  opinion, 
that  Mr.  Cotton  was  an  honest,  and  a  learned  man.  Thus  the  admission 
of  Mr.  Cotton  unto  the  exercise  of  his  ministry  in  Boston,  was  accom- 
plished. 

§  8.  Mr.  Cotton  found  the  more  peaceable  reception  among  the  people, 
through  his  own  want  of  internal  peace  ;  and  because  his  continual  exer- 
cises, from  his  internal  temptations  and  afflictions,  made  all  people  see, 
that  iftstead  of  serving  this  or  that  party,  his  chief  care  was  about  the 
salvation  of  his  otan  soul.  But  the  stirs,  which  had  been  made  in  the 
town,  by  the  Arminian  controversies,  then  raging,  put  him  upon  further 
exercises  ;  whereof  he  has  himself  given  us  a  narrative  in  the  ensuing 
words  :  '  When  I  was  tirst  called  to  Boston  in  Lincolnshire,  so  it  was,  that 
'  Mr.  Baron,  son  of  Dr.  Baron,  (the  divinity  reader  of  Cambridge)  first 
'  broached,  that  which  was  then  called  Lvtheramsm,  since  Arminianism  ; 
'  as  being  indeed  himself,  learned,  acute,  plausible  in  discourse,  and  fit 
'  to  insinuate  into  the  hearts  of  his  neighbours.  And  though  he  were 
<  H  physitian  by  profession  (and  of  good  skill  in  that  art)  yet  he  spent  the 
'  greatest  strength  of  his  studies,  in  clearing  and  promoting  the  Arminian 

*  tenents.     Whence  it  came  to  pass,  that  in  all  the  great /eas/s  of  the 

*  town,  the  chiefest  discourse  at  the  table,  did  ordinarily  inW  upon  Armin- 
"  ian  points,  to  the  great  offence  of  godly  ministers,  both  in  Boston,  and 
'  neighbour-towns.  I  coming  among  them,  a  young  man,  thought  it  a  part 
■•  both  of  modesty  and  prudence,  not  to  speak  much  to  the  points,  at  first, 
'  among  strangers  and  ancients  :  until  afterwards,  after  heai'ing  of  many 
'  discourses,  in  public  meetings,  and  much  private  discourse  with  the 
'  doctor,  I  had  learned  at  length,  where  all  the  great  strength  of  the  doc- 

*  tor  lay.     And  then  observing  (by  the  strength  of  Christ)   how  to  avoid 

*  such  expressions  as  gave  him  any  advantage  in  the  expressions  ofothers^ 

*  I  began  publickly  to  preach,  and  in  private  meetings  to  defend  the  doc-: 
'  trine  of  God's  eternal  election,   before  a\\  foresight  of  good  or  evil,  in 

"  the  creature  ;  and  the  redemption  (ex  gratia)  only  of  the  elect ;  the  ef- 
'  fectual  vocation  of  a  sinner,  Per  irresistibilem  Graticc  vim,  without  all 
'  respect  of  the  preparations  of  free  will ;  and  finally,  the  impossibility 

*  of  the  fall  of  a  sincere  believer,  cither  totally  or  finally  from  a  state  of 
•grace.     Hereupon,   when  the   doctor  had  objected   many  things,  and 

'  heard  my  answers  to  those  scruples,  which  he  ivas  wont  most  plausibly 
'  to  urge  ;  presently  after  our  publick   feasts  and  neighbourly  meetings, 
'  were  silent  from  all  further  debates  about  predestination,  or  any  of  the, 
'  points  which  depend  thereupon,  and  all  matters  of  religion  were  car-. 
•'  ried  on  calmly  and  peaceably.' 

About  half  a  year  after,  Mr.  Cotton  had  been  at  Boston,  thus  usefully 
employed,  he  visited  Cambridge,  that  he  might  then  and  there  proceedi 
BatcheVor  of  Divinity ;  which  he  did  :  and  his  Loncioad  Ckrum,  on  Mat^' 


Book  III.]  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW  ENGLA5iD.  237 

V.  13,  Fos  estis  Sal  Terne,  was  highly  esteemed  by  the  judicious.  Nor 
was  he  less  admired  for  his  very  singular  acuteness  in  disputation,  when 
be  answered  the  divinity  act  in  the  schools  ;  wherein  he  had  for  his  op- 
ponent a  most  acute  antagonist,  namely  Dr.  Chappel,  who  was  afterwards 
Provost  of  3V/jHV2/-CoUedge  in  Dnblin ;  and  one  unhappily  successful  in 
promoting  the  new  Pclagianisin. 

§  9.  Settled  now  at  Boston,  his  dear  friend,  holy  Mr.  Bayns,  recom- 
mended unto  him  a  pious  gentlewoman,  one  Mr?.  Elizabeth  Hor rocks,  the 
sister  of  Mr.  James  Horrocks,  a  famous  minister  in  Lancashire,  to  become 
his  consort  in  a  married  estate.  And  it  was  remarkable,  that  on  the  very 
day  of  his  wedding  to  that  eminently  vertuous  gentlewoman,  he  first  re- 
ceived that  assurance  of  God's  love  unto  his  own  soul,  by  the  spirit  of 
God,  effectually  applying  his  promise  of  eternal  grace  and  life  unto  him, 
which  happily  kept  with  him  all  the  rest  of  his  days  :  for  which  cause 
he  would  afterwards  often  say,  God  made  that  day,  a  day  of  double  mar- 
riage tome!  The  zvife,  which  by  \\\e  favour  of  God  he  had  now  found, 
was  a  vei'y  great  help  unto  him,  in  the  service  of  God  ;  but  especially 
upon  this,  among  many  other  accounts,  that  the  people  of  her  own  sex, 
observing  her  more  than  ordinary  discretion,  gravity,  and  holiness,  would 
still  improve  the  freedom  of  their  address  unto  her,  to  acquaint  her  with 
the  exercises  of  their  own  spirits  ;  who  acquainting  her  husband  with 
convenient  intimations  thereof,  occasioned  him  in  his  publick  ministry 
more  particularly  and  profitably,  to  discourse  those  things  that  were  ot 
everlasting  benefit. 

§  10.  After  he  had  been  three  years  in  Boston,  his  careful  studies  and 
prayers  brought  him  to  apprehend  more  of  evil  remaining  unreformed  in 
the  Church  of  England,  than  he  had  heretofore  considered  ;  and  from 
this  time  he  became  a  conscientious  non- conformist,  unto  the  unscriptu- 
ral  ceremonies  and  conslitutions,  yet  maintained  by  that  church  ;  but 
such  was  his  interest  in  the  hearts  of  the  people,  ihat  his  non-conformith 
instead  of  being  disturbed,  was  indeed  embraced  by  the  greatest  part  of  the 
town.  However,  at  last,  complaints  being  made  against  him  unto  the 
Bishop's  courts,  he  was  for  a  while,  then  put  under  the  circumstances  of 
a  silenced  minister  ;  in  all  which  while,  he  would  still  give  his  presence  at 
the  publick  sermo7is,  though  never  at  the  common  prayers  of  the  con- 
formable. He  was  now  offered,  not  only  the  liberty  of  his  ministry,  but 
very  great  preferment  in  it  also,  if  he  would  but  conform  to  the  scrupled 
rites,  though  but  in  one  act,  and  but  for  07ie  time  :  nevertheless,  his  tender 
soul,  afraid  of  being  thereby  polluted,  could  not  in  the  least  comply  with 
such  temptations.  A  storm  of  many  troubles  upon  him,  was  now  gather- 
ing ;  but  it  was  very  strangely  diverted  !  For  that  very  man  who  had 
occasioned  this  affliction  to  him,  now  became  heartily  afflicted  for  his  our, 
sin  in  doing  of  it ;  and  a  stedfast,  constant,  prudent  friend  ;  presenting  u 
pair  of  gloves  to  a  proctor  of  an  higher  court,  then  appealed  unto  thai 
proctor  without  Mr.  Cotton's  knowledge,  swore.  In  Animam  Domini,  that 
yir.  Cotton  WZ.S  a  conformable  man :  which  things  issued  in  Mr.  Cotton's 
being  restored  unto  the  exercise  of  his  ministry. 

§  11.  The  storm  of  persecution  being  thus  blown  over,  Mr.  Cotton  en- 
joyed rest  for  many  years.  In  which  time  he  faithfully  employed  his 
great  abilities,  not  in  gaining  men  to  this  or  thcit  party  of  christians,  but 
in  acquainting  them  with  the  moi^e  essential  and  substantial  points  of 
Christianity.  In  the  space  of  twenty  years  that  he  lived  at  Boston,  on  the 
Lord's  days  in  the  afternoons,  he  thrice  went  over  the  body  of  divinity  in 
■a  cctechistical  S'02/ •'  '^nd  gave  the  be?»ds  of  his  discourse  to  youns  scho- 


238  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEVV-ENGLAND.         [Book  III. 

lars,  and  others  in  the  town,  that  they  might  answer  to  his  questions  in 
the  coijgregMtion  ;  and  the  answers  he  opened  and  appHed  unto  the  gen- 
eral advantage  of  the  hearers.  Whilst  he  was  in  this  way  handling  the 
sixth  cotnmaridmenl,  the  words  of  God  which  he  uttered  were  so  quick 
and  powerful,  that  a  woman  among  his  hearers,  who  had  heen  married 
sixteen  yems  to  a  second  husband,  now  in  horror  of  conscience,  openly 
confessed  her  murdering  her  former  husband,  by  poison,  though  there- 
by she  exposed  herself  to  the  extremity  of  being  burned.  In  the  fore- 
nooRS  of  the  Lord's  days,  he  preached  over  the  tirst  six  chapters  in  the 
Gospel  o[  John,  the  ivho'e  hook  o(  Ecdesiastes  ;  the  prophecy  of  Zepha- 
niah,  the  prophecy  of  Zcchariah,  and  many  other  scriptures.  When  the 
Lord's  Supper  was  admiiiislred,  which  was  once  a  month,  he  handled 
the  eleventh  chapter  in  the  first  epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  and  the  thir- 
teenth chapter  in  the  second  book  of  the  Chronicles  ;  and  some  other 
pertinent  paragraphs  of  the  Bible.  In  his  lecUires,  he  went  through  the 
whole  first  and  second  Epistles  of  John ;  the  whole  book  of  Solomon''s 
Song  ;  the  Parables  of  our  Saviaurto  the  seventeenth  chapter  of  Matthew. 
His  house  also  was  full  of  young  students  ;  whereof  some  were  sent  un- 
to him  out  oi  Germany,  some  out  of  Holland,  but  most  out  of  Ca/ft6mZo-e  ; 
for  Dr.  Preston  would  still  advise  his  near  iiedged  pupils,  to  go  live  with 
Mr.  Cotton,  that  they  might  be  fitted  for  publick  service  ;  insomuch  that 
it  was  grown  almost  a  proverb  That  J\lr.  Cotton  was  Dr.  Preston's  sea- 
soning vessel :  and  of  those  that  issued  from  this  learned  family,  famous 
and  useful  in  their  generation,  the  well-known  Dr.  Hill  was  not  the  least. 
Moreover,  he  kept  a  daily  lecture  in  his  house,  which,  as  very  reverend 
ear-witnesses  have  expressed  it,  He  performed  with  much  grace,  to  the 
edification  of  the  hearers  :  and  unto  this  lecture  many  pious  people  in  the 
town,  would  constantly  resort,  until  upon  a  suspicion  of  some  inconven- 
iency,  which  might  arise  from  the  growing  numeronsness  of  his  auditory, 
he  left  it  off.  However,  besides  his  ordinary  lecture  every  Thursday, 
he  preached  iJ/trjoe  more  ;  every  week,  on  the  week-days;  namely  on 
Wednesdays  and  Thursdays,  early  in  the  morning,  and  on  Saturdays  at 
three  in  the  afternoon.  And  besides  these  immense  labours,  he  was 
frequently  employed  on  extraordinary  days,  kept  Pro  Temporis  S/-  Causis, 
whereon  he  would  spend  sometimes  no  less  than  six  hours  in  the  word 
and.  prayer.  Furthermore,  it  was  his  custom,  once  a  year,  to  visit  his 
native-town  of  Derby,  where  he  was  a  notable  exception  to  the  general 
rule  of,  A  prophet  without  honour  in  his  own  country  ;  and  by  his  vigilant 
cares,' this  town  was  for  many  years  kept  supplied  with  able  and  faithful 
ministers  of  the  gospel.  Thus  was  this  good  man  a  most  indefatigable 
doer  of  good. 

§  12.  The  good  spirit  of  God,  so  plentifully  and  powerfully  accom- 
panied the  ministry  of  this  excellent  man,  that  a  great  reformation 
was  thereby  wrought  in  the  town  of  Boston.  Profaneness  was  extin- 
guished, superstition  was  abandoned,  religion  was  embraced  and  prac- 
tised among  the  body  of  the  people  ;  yea,  the  mayor,  with  most  of 
the  magistrates,  were  now  called  Puritans,  and  the  Satanical  party  was 
become  insigniiicant.  As  to  the  matter  o{  7ion-conformity,  Mr.  Cotton  was 
come  to  forbear  the  ceremonies  enjoyned  in  the  Church  of  England  ; 
for  Avliich  he  gave  this  account.  '  The  grounds  were  !wo  :  first.  The  sig- 
'■  nijicary  and  e{f,cacy  put  upon  them,  in  tlie  pref  ice  to  the  book  of  Common- 

•  Pravcr  :   That  they  were  nrlther  d.itmb  nor  dark,  but  apt  to  stir  up  the  dull 
■  7nind  of  man.  to  the  remctnbrance  of  his  duty  to  God,  by  some  notable  and 

•  .•■•prrixi;  sigiiiftrnrio'ii.   'j.'hrrcby  he  mail  be  edified  :  or  ^yords   to   the   like- 


Book  III.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  239 

'  purpose.  The  second  was  the  limitation  o{  chitrch-po'dcer,  even  oltho 
"  highest  apostolical  commission,  to  the  observation  of  the  commanUmenis 
'of  Christ,  Mat.  xxviii.  20.  Which  made  it  appear  to  me  utterl}'  nn\  w- 
'  tul  for  any  church-power  to  enjoyn  the  observation  o{  indifferent  certmo- 

*  nies,  which  Clirist  had  not  commanded  :  and  all  the  ceremonies  were 

*  alike  destitute  of  the  commandment  of  Christ,  though  they  had  been  in- 
'  different  otherwise  ;  which,   indeed   others   have  justly   pleaded  they 

*  were  not.'  But  this  was  not  all  :  for  Mr.  Cotton  was  also  come  to  be- 
lieve, that  scripture  bishops  were  appointed  to  rule  no  larger  a  diocess 
than  a  particular  congregation  ;  and  that  the  ministers  of  the  Lord,  with 
the  keys  of  ecclesiastical  government,  are  given  by  him  to  a  congrega- 
tional church.  It  hence  came  to  pass,  that  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  was 
now  worshipped  in  Boston,  without  the  use  of  ll>.e  liturgy,  or  of  those 
vestments,  which  are  by  Zanchy  called  Execrabile^  Vestes  ;  yea,  the  si:fn 
of  the  cross  was  laid  aside,  not  only  in  baptism,  but  also  iu  the  mayor's 
mace,  as  worthy  to  be  made  a  JVehushtan,  because  it  had  been  so  much 
abused  unto  idolatry.  And  besides  all  this,  there  were  some  scores  of  pious 
people  iu  the  town,  who  more  exactly  formed  themselves  into  an  Evan- 
gelical Church-State,  by  entring  into  covenant  with  God,  and  with  one 
another,  to  folloru  after  the  Lord,  in  the  purity  of  his  worship.  However, 
the  main  bent  and  aim  of  Mr.  Cotton's  ministry  was,  to  preach  a  crucified 
Christ ;  and  the  inhabitants  o{  Boston  observed,  that  God  blessed  themm 
their  secular  concernments,  remarkably  the  more,  through  his  dwelling 
among  them  :  for  many  strangers,  and  some  too,  that  were  gentlemen  of 
good  quality,  resorted  unto  Boston,  and  some  removed  their  habitation? 
thither,  on  his  account  ;  whereby  the  prosperity  of  the  place  was  very 
much  promoted, 

§  13.  As  his  desert  of  it  was  very  high,  so  the  respect  %Thicli  he  met 
•withal  was  far  from  low.     The  best  of  his  hearers  loved  him  greatly,  and 
the  worst  of  ihem  feared  him,  as  knowing  that  he  was  a  righteous  and  an 
holy  man.    Yea,  such  was  the  greatness  of  his  learning,  his  wisdom,  his  ho- 
liness, that  great  men  took  no  little  notice  of  him.     A  very   honourable 
person  rode  thirty  miles  to  see  him  :  and  afterwards  professed,  That  he  had 
as  lieve  hear  Mr.  Cotton's  ordinary  exposition  in  his  family,  as  any  minis- 
ter''s  publick  preaching  that  he  knew  in  England.      Whilst  he  continued  in 
Boston  Dr.  Preston  would  constantly  come  once  a  year  to  visit  him,  from 
his  exceeding  value  for  Mr.  Cotton'' s  friendship.   Arch-Bishop  Williams  did 
likewise  greatly  esteem  him  for  his  incomparable  parts  ;  and  when  he  was 
keeper  of  the  great  seal,  he  recommended  Mr.  Cotton  to  the  royal  favour. 
Moreover, the  Earl  oi Dorchester  and  ofLindsey,  had  much  regard  unto  him: 
I    which  happened  partly  on  this  occasion ;  the  Earl's  coming  into  Lincoln- 
!    shire,  about  the  dreining  of  some  fenny  grounds.   Mr.  Cotton  was  then  in  his 
j    course  of  preaching  on  Gal.  ii.  20.    Intending  to  preach  on  the  duties  of 
!    living  by  faith  in  adversity ;  but  considering  that  these  noblemen  were  not 
I    much  acquainted  with  afflictions,  he  altered  his  intentions,  and  so  ordered 
I    it,  that  when  they  came  to  Boston,  he  discoursed  on  the  duties  of  living  by 
1  faith  in  prosperity  :   when  the  noblemen  were  so  much  taken  with  what 
they  heared,  that  they  assured  him,  if  at  any  time  he  should  want  a  friend 
at  court,  they  would  improve  all  their  interest  for  him.     And  when  Mr. 
!    Cotton  did  plainly,  but  wisely  admonish  them,  of  certum  pastimes  on  the 
!    Lord's  day,  whereby  they  gave   some  scandal,  they  took  it  most  kindly 
1    from  him,  and  promised  r  reformation.     But  none  of  the  roses  cast  on 
;    this  applauded  ac^or,  smothered  ihcd  humble,  that  loving,   that  gracious 
•lispositioD.  which  was  his  perpetual  ornament. 


240  THE  HISTORV  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  III. 

§  14.  At  ieugth,  doubtless  to  chastise  the  seldom  unchastised  evils  ol 
divisions,  crept  in  among  the  christians  of  Boston,  it  pleased  the  God 
of  Heaven  to  deprive  them  of  Mr.  Cotion^s  ministry,  by  laying  a  tertian 
ague  upon  him  for  a  year  together.  But  being  invited  unto  the  Earl  of 
Lincoln'' s,  in  pursuance  to  the  advice  of  his  physicians,  that  he  should 
change  the  air,  he  removed  thither  ;  and  thereupon  he  happily  recover- 
ed. Nevertheless,  by  the  same  sickness  he  then  lost  his  excellent  wife  ; 
who  having  lived  with  him  childless  for  eighteen  years,  went  from  him 
now,  to  be  for  ever  with  the  Lord;  whereupon  he  travelled  further  a 
field,  unto  London,  and  some  other  places,  whereby  the  recovery  of  his 
lost  health  was  further  perfected.  About  a  year  after  this,  he  practically 
appeared  in  opposition  to  Tertidlianism,  by  proceeding  unto  a  second  mar- 
riage ;  wherein  one  Mrs.  Sarah  Story,  vl  vertuous  widow,  very  dear  to 
his  former  wife,  became  his  consort  ;  and  by  her  he  had  both  sons  and 
daughters. 

§  15.  Although  our  Lord  hath  hitherto  made  the  discretion  and  vigilancy 
of  Mr.  Thomas  Leveret  (afterwards  a  doH6/i//tonoMretZ  elder  of  the  church, 
in  another  land)  the  happy  occasion  of  diverting  many  designs  to  molest 
Mr.  Cotton  iov  hi?,  non-conformity,  y/ei  when  the  sins  of  the  place  had 
ripened  it,  for  so  dark  a  vengeance  of  heaven,  as  the  removing  of  this 
eminent  light,  a  storm  of  persecution  could  no  longer  be  avoided.  A  de- 
bauched fellow  in  the  town,  who  had  been  punished  by  the  magistrates 
for  his  debaucheries,  contrived  and  resolved  a  revenge  upon  them,  for 
ih.e.\y  justice  :  and  having  no  more  effectual  way  to  vent  the  cursed  malice 
of  his  heart,  than  by  bringing  them  into  trouble  at  the  High  Commission 
Court,  up  he  goes  to  London,  with  informations  to  that  court,  that  the 
magistrates  did  not  hieel  at  the  sacrament,  nor  observe  some  other  cere- 
monies by  law  imposed.  When  some  that  belonged  unto  the  court  signi- 
fied unto  this  informer,  that  he  must  put  in  the  minister'' s  name  :  JVay, 
(said  he)  the  minister  is  an  honest  man,  and  never  did  me  any  wrong  : 
but  it  being  further  pressed  upon  him,  that  all  his  complaints  would  be 
insignificant,  if  the  minister's  name  were  not  in  them,  he  then  did  put  it 
in  :  and  letters  missive  were  dispatched  incontinently,  to  convent  Mr. 
Cotton,  before  the  infamous  High  Commission  Cow  t.  But  before  we  relate 
what  became  of  Mr,  Cotton,  we  will  enquire  what  became  of  his  ac- 
cuser. The  renowned  Mr.  John  Rogers  of  Dedham,  having  been  oa 
his  lecture  day,  just  before  his  going  to  preach,  advised,  that  Mr.  Cotton 
was  brought  into  this  trouble,  he  took  occasion  to  speak  of  it  in  the  ser- 
mon, with  just  lamentations  for  it  ;  and-among  others,  he  used  words  to 
this  purpose  :  As  for  that  man,  who  hath  caused  a  faithful  pastor,  to  be 
driven  from  his  JJ,ock,  he  is  a  wisp.  Used  by  the  hand  of  God  for  the  scow- 
ring  of  his  people  :  but  mark  the  words  now  spoken  by  a  minister  of  the 
Lord  !  I  am  verily  perswaded,  the  judgments  of  God,  will  overtake  the  mar, 
that  has  done  this  thing  :  either  he  will  die  under  an  hedge,  or  something 
else,  more  than  the  ordinary  death  of  men  shall  hefal  him.  Now  behold, 
how  this  prediction  was  accomplished  :  this  miserable  man  quickly  after 
this,  dyed  of  the  plague,  under  an  hedge,  in  Yorkshire  ;  and  it  was  a 
long  time,  e'er  any  could  be  found,  that  would  bury  him.  This  His  to 
turn  persecutor. 

§  1 6.  Mr.  Cotton  knowing  that  Utters  missive  were  out  against  him,  from 
the  High  Commission  Court,  and  knowing,  that  if  he  appeared  there,  he 
coi'  Id  expect  no  other,  than  to  be  choaked  with  such  a  perpetual  impris- 
onment, as  had  already  murdered  such  men  as  Bates  and  Udal,  he  con- 
cealed himself  as  well  as  he  could,  from  the  raging  pur&evants.     Appli- 


Book  III.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  241 

cation  was  made,  in  the  meantime,  to  the  Earl  of  Dorset,  for  the  fulfil- 
ment of  his  old  engagement  unto  Mr.  Cotton  ;  and  the  earl  did  indeed 
intercede  for  him,  until  the  Arch-bishop  oi'  Canterhiry,  v/ho  would  often 
wish,  Ok  /  that  I  could  meet  with  Cotton!  rendred  all  his  intercessions 
both  ineffectual  and  unseasonable.  Hereupon  that  noble  person  sent 
word  unto  him,,  that  if  he  had  been  guilty  of  drimkenness ,  or  uncleanness, 
or  any  such  lesser  fait,  he  could  have  obtained  his  pardon  ;  but  inas- 
much as  he  had  been  guilty  of  nan- conformity,  and  pv.ritanism,  the  crime 
was  unpardonable  ;  and  therefore,  said  he,  you  must  fly  for  your  safety. 
Doubtless,  it  was  from  such  unhappy  experiments  that  Mr.  Cution  after- 
wards published  this  complaint  :  The  ecclesiastical  courts,  are  like  the  courts 
of  the  high  priests  and  Pharisees,  Tzhich  Solomon  hy  a  spirit  of  prophecy 
stileth,  dens  of  lions,  and  mountains  of  leopards.  And  those  zvho  have  to  do 
with  them,  have  found  themmarkets  of  the  sins  of  the  people  the  cages  ofunchan- 
ness,  the  forges  of  extortion,  the  tabernacles  of  bribery,  and  they  have  been 
contrary  to  the  end  of  civil  government,  which  is  the  punishment  of  evil- 
doers, and  the  praise  of  them  which  do  well. 

0  17.  Mr.  Cotton,  therefore,  now,  with  supplications  unto  the  God  of 
Heaven  for  his  i'wect'ion  joined  consultations  of  good  men  on  earth  ;  and  among 
others,  he  did  with  some  of  his  Boston  friends,  visit  old  Mr.  Dod,  unto 
whom  he  laid  open  the  difficult  case  now  before  him,  without  any  intima- 
tion of  his  own  inclination,  whereby  the  advice  of  that  holy  man,  mi.^ht 
have  been  at  all  forestalled.  Mr.  Dod  upon  the  whole,  said  thus  unto  him  : 
/  am  old  Peter,  and  therefore  must  stand  still,  and  bear  the  brunt ;  but  you 
being  young  Peter,  may  go  whether  you  will,  and  ought,  being  persecuted 
in  one  city,  to  flee  unto  another.  And  when  the  Boston  friends  urged,  that 
they  would  support  and  protect  Mr.  Cotton,  though  privately  ;  and  that  if 
he  should  leave  them,  very  many  of  them  would  be  exposed  unto  extreme 
temptation  :  he  readily  answered,  That  the  removing  of  a  minister,  was 
like  the  draining  of  a  fish  pond  :  the  good  fish  will  follow  the  water,  but  eels^ 
and  other  baggage  fish,  will  stick  in  the  mud.  Which  things  when  Mr. 
Cotton  heard,  he  was  not  a  little  confirmed  in  his  inclination  to  leave  the 
land.  Nor  did  he  forget  the  concession  of  Cyprian,  that  a  seasonable 
flight,  is  in  effect,  a  confession  of  our  faith  :  for  it  is  h  profession  that  our 
faith  is  dearer  unto  us,  than  all  the  enjoyments  from  which  we  fly.  But 
that  which  is  further  memorable  in  this  matter,  is,  that  as  the  great  God 
often  makes  his  truth  to  spread  by  the  sufferings  of  them  that  profess  the 
truth ;  four  hundred  were  converted  by  the  death  of  one  persecuted 
Cecilia:  and  the  Scotch  Bishop  would  leave  oft' burning  of  the  faithful, 
because  the  smoke  of  Hamilton  infected  as  many  as  it  blew  upon.  Thus 
the  silencing  and  removing  of  Mr.  Cotton,  which  was  to  him,  a  thing  little 
short  of  martyrdom,  was  an  occasion  of  more  thorough  repentance  in 
sundry  of  his  bereived  people,  who  now  began  to  consider,  that  God  by 
taking  away  their  minister,  was  punishing  their  former  unfruitfulness 
under  the  most  fruitful  ministry,  which  they  had  thus  long  enjoyed.  And 
there  was  yet  another  such  effect  of  the  matter,  which  is  now  to  be  related. 

§  18.  To  avoid  them  that  thirsted  for  his  ruine,  Mr.  Cotton  travelled 
under  a  changed  fiame  and  garb,  with  a  full  purpose  of  going  over  for 
Holland  ;  but  when  he  came  near  the  place,  where  he  would  have  ship- 
ped himself,  he  met  with  a  kinsman,  who  vehemently  and  effectually 
perswaded  him  to  divert  into  London.  Here  the  Lord  had  a  work  for  hina 
to  do,  which  he  little  thought  of.  Some  reverend  and  renowned  ministers 
of  our  Lord  in  that  great  city,  who  yet  had  not  seen  sufficient  reason  to 
expose  themselves  nnio  persecutions  for  the  sake  of  nan- conformity,  but 

Vol.  L  31 


.242  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  [Book  HI. 

looked  upon  the  imposed  ceremonies  as  iRdilTerent  and  siifterabSe  trifles, 
and  weighed  not  the  aspect  of  the  second  coinandviriit,  upon  all  the  paris 
■,\nd  tuearis  o(  instil II ied  U'orship,  took  this  opportunity  for  a  conference. 
ivith  Mr.  Cotton  ;  being  persvvaded,  that  since  he  was  r,o  passio7iate,  bv.f 
n  T'erj/jj/cZic/oMs  ?/ia?i,  they  should  prevail  vvilli  him  rather  to  conform. 
than  to  leave  his  work  and  his  land.  Unto  the  motion  of  a  conference  Mr 
Cotton  most  readily  yielded  ;  and  tirst.  all  their  arguments  for  conformity, 
togeiher  \vithMr.i>;//?e/c^'s,  Mr.  H7iarc/i/-s,andMr.  /S^rinrs,were  produced; 
all  of  which  Mr  Cotton  answered,  unto  their  wonderful  satisfaction. 
Then  he  gave  his  arguments  for  his  non- conformity.,  and  the  reasons  why 
he  must  rather  forgo  his  ministry,  or  at  least  his  country.,  than  wound  hig 
conscience  with  unlaw  ful  compliance.s  ;  the  issue  whereol  wtis,  that  instead 
of  bsinging  Mr.  Coi/on  back  to  what  he  liad  now  forsaken,  he  brought 
them  otT  altogether  from  what  they  had  hitherto  practised  :  every  one 
of  those  eminent  persons.  Dr.  Good-xin.  Mr  A'yc,  and  Mr.  Davenport, 
now  became  all  that  he  was,  and  at  last  left  the  kingdom  for  their  being 
so.  But  Mr.  Cotton  being  now  at  London,  there  were  three  places  which 
offered  themselves  to  him  for  his  retreat ;  Holland,  Bnrbadoes,  anCiA''ew- 
England.  As  for  Holland,  the  character  and  condition,  which  famous 
Mr.  Hooker  bad  reported  thereof,  took  off  his  intentions  ol  rem.oving 
thither.  And  Barbadoes  had  not  near  such  encouraging  circumstances, 
upon  the  best  accounts,  as  Ne-iiu- England  ;  where  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
had  a  more  than  ordinary  thing  to  be  done  for  his  glory,  in  an  American 
wilderness,  and  so  would  send  over  a  more  than  ordinary  man,  to  be  em- 
ployed in  the  doing  of  it.  Thither,  even  to  that  religious  and  reformed 
plantation,  after  the  solemnest  applications  to  heaven  for  direction,  this 
great  person  bent  his  resolutions  :  and  letters  procured  from  the  church 
of  Boston,  by  Mr.  H'inthrop,  the  governour  of  the  colony,  had  their 
influence  on  the  matter. 

§  19.  The  God  that  had  carried  him  through  the^^re  of  persecution,  was 
now  graciously  with  him  in  his  passage  through  the  -water  of  the  Atlantic 
ocean,  and  he  enjoyed  a  comfortable  voyage  oxer  ih^  great  and  wide  sta. 
There  were  then  three  eminent  ministers  of  God  in  the  ship  ;  namely. 
Mr.  Cotton,  Mr.  Hooker,  and  Mr.  Stone;  which  glorious  triumvirate 
coming  together,  made  the  poor  people  in  the  wilderness,  at  their  com- 
ing, to  say,  that  the  God  of  heaven  had  supplied  them,  with  what  would 
in  some  sort  answer  their  three  great  necessities  ;-  Cotton  for  their  cloth- 
ing. Hooker  for  their  /?s/ij'h^,  and  Stotie  for  their  building  :  but  by  one 
or  other  of  these  three  diviiies  in  the  ship,  there  was  a  sermon  preached 
every  day,  all  the  while  they  were  aboard,  yea  they  had  three  sermons,  or 
expositions,  for  the  most  part  every  day  :  of  Mr.  Cotton  in  the  morning, 
Mr.  Hooker  in  the  afternoon,  Mr.  Stone  after  supper  in  the  evening. 
And  after  they  had  beei^^  month  upon  the  seas,  Mr.  Cotton  received  a 
jnercy,  which  God  had  now  for  twenty  years  denied  unto  him,  in  the 
birth  of  his  eldest  son,  whom  he  called  Sea-born,  in  the  remembrance  of 
the  never-to-be-forgotten  blessings,  which  he  thus  enjoyed  upon  the 
seas.  But  at  the  end  of  seven  weeks  they  arrived  at  JVew-Englavd,  Sep- 
tember 3,  iu  the  year  1633  ;  where  he  put  a  shore  at  jXew-Boston,  which 
in  a  few  years,  by  the  smile  of  God  ;  especially  upon  the  holy  wisdom,, 
conduct,  and  credit  of  our  Mr.  Cotton,  upon  some  accounts  of  growth, 
came  to  exceed  Old  Boston  in  every  thing  that  renders  a  town  consider- 
able. And  it-is  remarkable,  that  his  arrival  at  Xcw-England,  was  just 
after  the  people  there,  had  been  by  solemn  fasting  and  prayer  seekiog 
unto  God,  that  inasmuch  as  they  had  been  engaging  to  walk  with  him  io 


Book  III.]  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  243 

his  orfiinances,  according  to  his  word,  he  would  mercifully  send  over  to 
them,  such  as  miyht  be  eyr.s  nnto  (hem  in  the  v:ildeniess,  and  strengtheu 
them  in  discerning  and  following  of  that  word. 

§  "0.  There  were  divers  cliurches  gathered  in  the  country,  before  the 
arrival  of  Mr.  Cotlon ;  but  upon  his  arrival,  the  points  of  church-order, 
were  with  more  of  exactness  revived,  and  received  in  them,  and  further 
observed  in  such  as  were  gathered  after  them.  He  found  the  whole 
country  in  a  perplexed  and  a  divided  estate,  as  to  their  civil  constitution, 
but  at  the  publick  desires,  preaching  a  sermon  on  those  words,  Hag.  ii. 
4,  Be  strong,  0  Zerubhabel,  saith  the  Lord;  and  be  strong,  O  Joshzia,  son 
of  Joscdech  the  high  priest  ;  and  be  strong  all  ye  people  of  the  land,  saith, 
the  Lord,  andmork:  for  I  am  zvitkyou,  saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts.  The  good 
spirit  of  God,  bj'  that  sermon,  had  a  mighty  influence  upon  all  ranks  of 
men,  in  the  infant  plantation ;  who  from  this  time  carried  on  their  affairs 
with  a  new  life,  satisfaction  and  unanimity.  It  was  then  requested  of 
Mr.  Cotton,  that  he  would,  from  the  laws  wherewith  God  governed  his 
ancient  people,  form  an  abstract  of  such  as  were  of  a  moral  and  a  last- 
ing equity:  which  he  performed  as  acceptablj' as  judiciously.  But  inas- 
much as  very  much  of  an  Athenian  democracy  was  in  the  mould  of  the  gov- 
ernment, by  the  royal  charter,  which  was  then  acted  upon,  Mr  Cotton 
effectually  recommended  it  unto  them,  that  none  should  be  electors,  nor 
elected  therein,  except  such  as  were  visible  subjects  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  personally  confederated  in  our  churches.  In  these,  and  many 
other  ways,  he  propounded  unto  them,  an  endeavour  after  a  theocracy, 
as  near  as  might  be,  to  that  which  was  the  glory  of  Israel,  the  pecidiar 
people. 

But  the  ecclesiastical  constitution  of  the  country,  was  that  on  which  he 
employed  his  peculiar  cares  ;  and  he  was  one  of  those  olive-trees,  which 
afibrded  a  singular  measure  of  oyl,  for  the  illumination  of  our  sanctuary, 

§  21.  Ttie  churches  now  had  rest,  and  u-ere  edified  :  and  there  ■u:ere  daily 
added  unto  the  churches,  those  that  were  to  be  saved.  Now,  though  the 
poor  people  were  fed  with  the  bread  of  adversity,  and  the  waters  of  af- 
fliction, yet  they  counted  themselves  abundantly  compensated  by  this, 
that  their  eyes  might  see  such  teachers,  as  were  now  to  be  seen  among 
them.  The  faith  and  the  order  in  the  churches,  was  generally  glorious, 
whatever  little  popular  confusions,  might  in  some  few  places  eclipse  the 
glory.  But  the  warm  sun  shine  will  produce  a  swarm  of  insects ;  whilst 
matters  were  going  on  thus  prosperously,  the  cunning  and  malice  of  Sa- 
tan, to  break  the  prosperity  of  the  churches,  brought  in  a  generation  of 
hypocrites,  who  crept  in  unawares,  turning  the  grace  of  our  God  into  las- 
civiousness.  A  company  of  Antinomian  and  Familistical  sectaries,  were 
strangely  crouded  in  among  our  more  orthodox  planters  ;  by  the  artifices 
of  which  busie  opinionists,  there  was  a  dangerous  blow  given,  first  unto 
the  faith,  and  so  unto  thp  peace  of  the  churches.  In  the  storm  thus  rais- 
ed, it  is  incredible  what  obloquy  came  to  be  cast  upon  Mr.  Cotton,  as  if  he: 
had  been  the  patron  of  these  destroyers  ;  merely  because  they  willing  to 
have  a  great  person  in  admiration,  because  of  advantage,  falsly  used  the 
name  of  this  great  person,  by  the  credit  thereof  to  disseminate  and  dis- 
semble their  errors ;  and  because  the  chief  of  them  in  their  private 
conferences  with  him,  would  make  such  fallacious  professio7i  of  gospel- 
truths,  that  his  christian  and  abus.ed  charity,  would  not  permit  him  to  be 
so  hasty  as  many  others  were,  in  censuring  of  them.  However,  the  re- 
port given  of  Mr.  Cotton  on  this  occasion,  by  one  Baily,  a  Scotchman,  in 
«  mo'«t  ccandalous  pamphlet,  called,  A  Disswasivey  written  to  cast  a.iiodium 


244  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  [Bouk  Hi. 

on  the  churches  of  JVew-Englandjhy  vilifying /inn,  that  was  one  of  their 
most  eminent  servants,  are  most  horrid  injuries  :  for  there  being  upon 
the  encouragement  of  the  success  which  the  old  JViccne,  Constantinopoii- 
tan,  Ephesine,  and  Chulcedonian  councils  had,  in  the  extinguishing  of 
several  successive  heresies,  a.  council  now  called  at  Cambridge,  Mr.  Cot- 
ton, after  some  debates  wiih  the  Reverend  Assembly,  upon  some  contro- 
verted points  of  just ijlcatioi:,  most  vigorously  joined  with  the  other  min- 
isters of  the  country,  in  testifying  against  the  hateful  doctrines,  whereby 
the  churches  had  been  troubled.  Indeed  there  did  hr\^\)en  paroxisms  in 
this  hour  of  temptation,'  between  Mr.  Cotton,  and  some  other  zealous  and 
worthy  persons,  which  though  they  did  not  amount  unto  the  heat  and 
heighih  of  those  thnt  happened  between  Chrysoslom  and  Epiphanivs,  or 
between  Hierom  and  Rt/Jfinus,  yet  they  inclined  him  to  meditate  a  removu-. 
into  another  culony.  But  a  certain  scandalous  writer,  having  publickh 
reproached  Mr.  Cotton,  with  hi?  former  inclination  to  remove,  there  wat 
thereby  provoked  his  publick  and  patient  answer  ;  which  being  a  sum- 
mery  narrative  of  this  whole  business,  I  shall  here  transcribe  it. 

'  There  was  a  generation  of  Familists  in  our  own,   and  other  towns, 
'  who  under  pretence-  of  holding  forth  what  I  had  taught,  touching  union 

*  with  Christ,  and  evideucing  that  union,  did  secretly  vent  sundry  and 
'  dai>2;erous  errors  and  heresies,  denying  all  itihereiit  righteousness,  and 
'  all  evidencing  of  a  good  estate  thereby  in  any  sort,  and  some  of  them 
'  also  denyi.'ig  the  immortality  of  the  sotd,  and  the  resurrection  of  the  body. 
*■  When  they  were  questioned  by  some  brethren  about  those  things,  they 
'  carried  it,  as  if  they  had  held  forth  nothing,  but  what  they  had  received 
'  fron>  me  :  whereof,  when  I  was  advised  to  clear  my  self,  1  publickly 
*•'  prenched  against  those  errors.  Then  said  the  brethren  to  the  erring 
'  party.  See  your  teacher  declares  himself  clearly  to  differ  from  you.  No 
'  mutter  (say  the  other)  what  he  saith  hi  publick,  ae  understand  him  other- 
'  wise,  oi'd  we  know  what  he  saith  to  us  in  private.  Yea,  and  1  my  self 
'  could  not  easily  believe,  that  those  erring  brethren  and  sisters,  were  so 
'corrupt  in  their  judgments  as  they  i\ ere  reported;  they  seeming  to 

*  me  forward  chrisUans,  and  utterly  denying  any  such  tenents,  or  any 
'  thing  else,  but  what  they  received  from  my  self.  All  ivhich  bred  in 
'  sundry  of  the  country,  a  jealousie  that  I  was  in  secret  (.'  fomenter  of  the 

*  spirit  of  familism,  if  not  leavened  my  self  th;>t  way.     Which  I  discern- 

*  ing,  it  wrought  in  me  thoughts  (as  it  did  in  many  other  sincerely  and 
'  godly  brethren  of  our  churchj  not  of  a  separation  from  the  churches, 
'  but  of  a  removal  to  A'ew- Haven,  as  beinj.  better  known  to  the  pastor, 
'  and  some  others  there,  than  to  such  as  were  at  that  time  jealous  of  me 

*  hcre^      The  true  ground  whereof  was  an  inward  loathness  to  be  irouble- 

*  some  U''to  godly  minds,  and  a  fear  of  the  unprofitableness  of  my  minis- 
'  try  th.ere,  where  my  way  was  suspected  to  be  doubtful  and  dangerous. 

*  I  chose  therff)re  rather  to  meditate  a  silent  departure  in  peace,  than  by 
'  tarrying  here,  to  make  way  for  thebrpaking  forth  of  temptations.  But 
'  when,  at  the  Synod,  I  had  discovered  the  corruption  of  the  judgment  ol 
<  the  erring  brethren,  and  saw  their  fraudulent  pretence  of  holding  forth 
'  no  other,  but  what  they  received  from  me  (when  as  indeed  they  plead 
'  for  gross  errors  contrary  unto  ?«?/ judgment)  I  thereupon  did  bear  wit- 
'  ness  :igainst  them  ;  and  when  in  a  private  conference  with  some  chief 

*  magistrates  and  elders,  I  perceived,  that  my  removal  upon  such  differ 
'  ences  was  unwelcome  to  them,  and  that  such  points  need  not  to  occa 

'  sion  any  distance  (neither  in  place  nor  in  heart)  amongst  brethren,  I  ihvu 


Book  III.J         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEVV-ENGLAND.  245 

'  rested  satisfied  in  my  abode  Jimongstthem,  and  so  have  continued,  by  the 
*  grace  of  Christ  unto  this  day.' 

'Tis  true,  such  was  Mr.  Cotton'' s  holy  ingenuity,  that  when  lie  per- 
ceived the  advantage,  which  erroneous  and  heretical  persons  in  his 
church,  had  from  his  abused  charity,  taken  to  spread  their  dangerous 
opinions,  before  he  was  aware  of  them,  he  did  publickly  sometimes  with 
tears  bewail  it,  Tliat  the  enemy  had  aown  so  many  tares  rchilst  he  had  been 
asleep.  Nevertheless  'tis  as  true,  that  nothing  ever  could  bo  baser  than 
the  disingenuity  of  those  pamphletteers,  who  took  advantage  hence,  to 
catch  these  tears  in  their  venemous  ink  horns,  and  employ  them  for  so 
many  blots  upon  the  memory  of  a  rightcons  man,  u-orthy  to  be  had  in  ever- 
lasting remembrance . 

§  22.  When  the  virulent  and  violent  Edxvards  had  been  after  a  most 
unchristian  manner,  bespattering  the  excellent  Burnmghs,  that  reviled 
gaint,  in  his  answer,  had  that  passage  ;  The  extreme  eagerness  of  some  to 
asperse  our  names,  makes  us  to  think,  that  God  hath  made  more  use  of  our 

names,  than  ice  were  aware  of. We  see  by  their  anger  even  almost  to 

madness,  bent  tliat  way,  that  they  had  little  hope,  to  prtvail  icith  all  their 
argument  against  the  cause  ive  prtfess,  till  they  could  get  down  our  esteem 

(such  as  it  was)  in  the  hearts  of  the  people. But  our  names  are  not  in 

the  power  of  their  tongues  and  pens  ;  they  are  in  the  hands  of  God,  ivJw 
will  preserve  them  so  far,  as  he  hath  use  of  them  ;  and  farther,  we  shall 
have  no  use  of  them  our  selves.  That  bitter  spirit  in  Baity,  must  for  such 
causes  expose  the  name  of  the  incomparable  Cotton,  unto  irreparable  in- 
juries :  for,  from  the  meer  hearsays  of  that  uncharitable  writer,  hastily 
published  unto  the  world,  the  learned  and  worthy  Dr.  Hoornbeck,  not  much 
less  against  the  rules  of  charity,  printed  a  short  account  of  Mr.  Cotton, 
whereof  an  ingenious  author  truly  says,  there  was  in  it,  Quotfere  Verba, 
tot  Errores  famosissiini ;  neque  tantum  quot  Capita,  tot  Carpenda,  sed 
quot  fere  Sententiarum  punctula,  tot  Dispungenda.  That  scandalous  ac- 
count, it  is  pity  it  should  be  read  in  English,  and  greater  pity  that  ever 
that  reverend  person  should  make  it  be  read  in  Latin ;  but  this  it  w;is  ; 
Cottonus, /(orrore  Ordinis  Episcopalis,  in  Alnul  Ext  re  mum  prolapsus.  Om- 
nia plebi  absque  Vinculo  Ecclcsiaruni  concedebat. Cottonus  i^te,  prvmuru 

in  Anglia,  alterius  Longe  Sententia;  fuerat  unde,  4'  plurimorum  Erroruni 
Heresiumque  Reus,  Maximus  Ordinis  istius,  vel  pofius  Ataxias,  promotor 
extitit  ;  habuitque  secum,  qucmadmodum  Montanus  olim  Maximillam,  sv.am 
Hutchinsonam,  de  quavari  4'  prodigiosa  multa  referunt.  From  these  mis- 
erable historians,  who  would  imagine  what  a  shir  has  been  abroad  casl 
upon  the  name  of  as  holy,  as  learned,  as  orthodox,  and  eminent  a  servant 
of  our  Lord,  in  his  Reformed  Churches,  as  was  known  in  his  age  !  Among 
the  rest,  it  is  particularly  observable  how  a  laborious  and  ingenious  for- 
eigner, in  his  Bibliotheca  Anglorum  Theologica,  having  in  his  index  men- 
tioned a  book  of  this  our  Mr.  Cotton,  under  the  style  of  Johannis  Cottoni, 
Via  Vitae,  Liber  Ufilissimus,  presently  adds,  Alius  Johannes  Cottonus  mala 
J\'otre  Homo:  whereas 'twas  only  by  the  misrepresentations  of  conten- 
tious and  unadvised  men,  that  John  Cotton,  the  experimental  author  ot 
such  an  useful  book,  must  be  branded  with  a  note  of  infamy.  But  if  the 
reader  will  deal  justly,  he  must  join  these  gross  calumnies  upon  (lotior., 
vvith  the  fables  ot  Luther  s  dev'i],  ZvingUus^  dreams,  Calvin' shTund?,  and 
Junius'  cloven  foot.  If  Hoornbeck  ever  saw  Cotton's  mild,  but  full  rep!\ 
|o  Baily,  which  as  the  good  spirited  Beverly  say i,  would  haxe  been  es- 
i  seemed  a  sufficient  refutation  of  all  these  wretched  slanders.  Nisi  Fra 
\'n'm  quorundrm  rn,:-p^  erunt  ad  veritatem,tanqv.o.ni  Aspidvra ,  ohtvratrp.  'tis 


24«  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  HI. 

impossible  to  excuse  his  wrongful  dealings  with  a  venerable  minister  of 
our  Lord  I  Pray,  Sir,  charge  not  our  Cotton  with  an  Horror  Ordinis 
Episcopalis ;  until  you  have  chastised  your  friend  Honorius  Reggius,  that 
is  Georgms  Hornius,  for  telling  us,  as  Voeiivs  quotes  it ;  Multorujn  Am- 
inos Subiit  Recordatio  illius,  quod  Venerubilis  Beza.  non  sine  tiofhctive 
Spiritu,  olim  rescripsit  Knoxo,  Ecclesice  ScoticcE  Reformatori  :  Sicut  Epis- 
copi  Papatum  pep  ere  runt,  ita  Oculis  pane  ipsis  jam  cernitur,  Psuedo  Epis- 
copos.  papains  lieliquias,  Epicureismuni  Terris  Invecturos.  Mque  hac 
'pramittere  Visum,  ut  eo  manifestius  esset  Brilanniam  diutius  Episcopos  non 
potuisse  ferre,  7iisi  in  Papisi/nt)n  ^  Atheismum  Labi  vellet.  Charge  not 
onr  Cotton  with  an  Omnia  Plebi  absque  Vinculo  Aliarmn  Ecclesiarum  con- 
ccdebat ;  until,  besides  the  whole  scope  and  scheme  of  his  ecclesiastical 
writings,  which  allow  no  more  still  unto  the  fraternity,  than  Parker, 
Ames,  Cartwright ;  and  advance  no  other  than  that  aristocrasie,  that  Beza, 
Zanchy,  Whitaker,  Bucer,  and  Blondcl  pleaded  for  ;  you  have  better  con- 
strued his  words  in  his  golden  preface  to  J\''oi-to7i''s  answer  unto  the  Syllo- 
ge  (^nwstionutn,  J^eque  nos  Regimen  proprie  dictum  alibi  quam  penes  Pres- 
hyteres  stabilendum  Cupimus  :  Convenimus  ainbo  in  Stibjecto  Regiminis  Ec- 
clesiastici :  Con'i>e7iimus  etiani  in  Regitla  Re7ninis.  ut  Adnii7iistre7itur  Omnia 
Juxfa  Cano7iem  Sacrarum  Scriptarum  :  Convenimus  etia-m  in  Fine  Regimi- 
nis, ut  Om7iia  Transiga>itur  ad  EdiJicatione7n  Ecclesioe,  no7i  ad  Pompam 
cut  Luxum  Secularem  :  Syiiodos  nos,  una  Vobiscum,  cu7n  opus  fuerit.  4" 
Suscipimus  4'  ve7iera7nu7\  Quantillum  est,  quod  Restat  quod  Distal  I  Ac- 
tus Regiminis,  qiios  vos  a  Sij7iodif>  peragi  Velletis,  eos  a  Sy7iodis  porrigi  Ec- 
clesiis.  4'  cib  Ecclesiis,  ex  Synodali  Diorthosf.i  peragi  jueCeremws.  Charge 
not  our  Cotton  with  an  Ataxias  Fromotor  Extitit,  until  you,  your  self. 
Doctor,  have  revoked  your  own  ^tc-o  concessions,  which  are  all  the  Atax- 
ies that  ever  could,  with  so  much  as  the  least  pretence,  be  imputed  unto 
this  renowned  person  ;  Ecclcsia  particularis  quoc/ibet  Subjcctum  est  Adce- 
quatuin  ^  propriuin  plenos  poteslatis  EcclesiasticiB ;  nee  Congrue  dicitnr  ejus 
Sytiodo  Dependentia,  and,  JYeque  e7iiin  Syiiodi  2»  alias  Ecclesias  potestatem 
habcnt  Impcra7itc7n,  quce  Super iorian  est,  i«  hiferiores  sihi  Subditos ;  JVon- 
Com7aunionis  Sente7itia  Potestatem  Summam  de7iotat.  As  for  the  Cottonus 
Plurimoruiii  Errormn  Hosresiuinque  Reus,  were  old  Austin  alive,  he 
would  have  charged  no  less  a  crime  than  that  of  sacriledge  upon  the  man, 
that  thus  without  all  colour,  should  i-ob  the  church  of  a  name  which 
would  justly  be  dear  unto  it ;  for  as  the  great  Caryl  hath  expressed  it. 
The  name  of  Cotton  is  as  a7i  ointment  pou7-ed  fo7-th.  Bat  for  the  top  of 
all  these  calumnies,  Cottoni  Hutchi7iso7ia,  instead  of  a  resemblance  to 
Montaiii  Maximilla,  the  truer  comparison  would  have  hften,  Mulier  ista, 
qua',  per  Calu7n7iiam  notissimam  Objiciebatur  Athanasio ;  all  the  favour 
which  that  prophetess  of  Tliyatira  had  from  this  angelical  man,  was  the 
sa;3ie,  that  the  provoked  Fuj^Z  showed  unto  the  Pylhoniss.  In  fine,  the  his- 
tories which  the  world  has  had  of  the  JVezv-  English  churches,  under  the 
inlluence  of  Mr.  Cotton,  I  have  sometimes  thought  much  of  a  piece,  with 
what  we  have  in  the  old  histories  of  Lysimachus ;  that  when  a  leprous,  a 
scabby  sort  of  people  were  driven  out  of  Egypt  into  the  wilderness,  there 
was  a  certain  man  called  Moses,  who  counselled  them  to  march  on  in  a 
body,  till  they  came  to  some  good  soyl.  This  Moses  commanded  them  to 
be  kind  unto  no  man  ;  to  give  bad  advice  rather  than  good,  upon  all  oc- 
casions ;  and  to  destroy  as  many  temples  as  they  could  find  ;  so,  after 
much  travel  and  trouble,  they  came  to  i\  fruitful  soyl,  where  they  did  all 
the  mischief  that  .Moses  had  recommended,  and  built  a  city,  which  was  at 
first  called  Hierosyla,  from  the  spoiling  of  the  temples  :  but  afterwards,  to 


Book  III.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  24? 

shun  the  disgrace  of  the  occasion,  the}'  changed  it  into  Hierosolyme,  and 
bore  the  name  of  Hicrosolymitans.  But  thu<  must  a  bad  report,  as  well 
as  a  good  report,  follow  such  a  man  as  Mr.  Cotton,  whose  only  fault  after 
all,  was  that,  with  which  that  memorable  ancient  Nazienzen  was  taxed 
sometimes  ;  namely,  the  fault  of  Mansuctude. 

§  23.  These  clouds  being  thus  happily  blown  over,  the  rest  of  his  days 
were  spent  in  a  more  settled  peace  ;  and  Mr.  Cotto  's  growing  and  spread- 
ing fame,  like  Joseph's  bough,  ran  over  tJu:  i^-all  of  the  Atlantic  ocean,  un- 
to such  a  degree,  that  in  the  year  1641,  some  great  persons  in  England, 
■were  intending  to  have  sent  over  a  ship  on  purpose  to  fetch  him  over, 
for  the  sake  of  the  service,  that  such  a  man  as  lie,  might  then  do  to  the 
church  of  God,  then  travelling  in  the  nation.  But  although  their  doubt 
of  his  willingness  to  remove,  caused  them  to  forbear  that  mefAof/ of  obtain- 
ing him,  yet  the  principal  members  in  both  houses  of  parliament  wrote 
unto  him,  with  an  importunity  for  his  return  into  England;  which  had 
prevailed  with  him,  if  the  dismal  showers  of  blood,  quickly  after  break- 
ing upon  the  nation,  had  not  made  such  afflictive  impressions  upon  him, 
as  to  prevent  his  purpose.  He  continued  therefore  in  Boston  unto  his 
dying  day  ;  counting  it  a  great  favour  of  Heaven  unto  him,  that  he  was 
delivered  from  the  unsettledness  of  habitation,  which  was  not  among  the 
least  of  the  calamities  that  exercised  the  apostles  of  our  Lord.  Nineteen, 
years  and  odd  months  he  spent  in  this  place,  doing  of  good  pubiickly  and 
privately,  unto  all  sorts  of  men,  as  it  became  a  good  man  full  of  faith,  and 
of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Here  in  an  expository  way,  he  went  over  the  Old  Testa- 
ment once,  and  a  second  time  as  far  as  the  thirtieth  chapter  of  Isaiah ;  and 
the  whole  Neix  Testament  once,  and  a  second  time,  as  far  as  the  eleventh 
chapter  to  the  Hebrems  Upon  Lord''s-days  and  lecture-days,  he  preach- 
ed thorow  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  ;  the  prophesies  of  Haggai  and  Zecha- 
riah ,  the  books  of  Ezra,  the  Revelation.  Ecclesiastes,  Canticles,  second' 
and  third  Epistles  of  John,  the  Epistle  to  Titus,  both  Epistles  to  Timothy ; 
the  Epistle  to  the  Romans ;  with  innumerable  other  scriptures  on  inci- 
dental occasions.  Though  he  had  also  the  most  remarkable  facult}',  per- 
haps of  any  man  living,  to  meet  every  remarkable  occasion,  with  pertin- 
ent reflections,  whatever  text  he  were  upon,  withou't  ever  wandring  out 
of  sight  from  his  text :  and  it  is  possible  there  might  sometimes  be  a  par- 
ticular operation  of  providence ,  to  make  the  rvorks  and  tc'orrfs  of  God  meet 
in  the  ministry  of  his  holy  servant.  But  thus  did  he  abound  in  the  ui-orki: 
of  the  Lord  1 

§  24.  At  length,  upon  desire,  going  to  preach  a  sermon  at  Cambridge, 

(which  he    did,    on    Isa.  liv.  13.    Thy  children  shall  be  all  taught  of  the 

Lord ;  and  from  thence  gave  many  excellent  councils  unto  the  students 

of  the  colledge  there)  he  took  wet  in  his  passage  over  the  ferry  ;  but  he 

1  presently  felt  the  effect  of  it,  by  the  failing  of  his  voice  in  sermon-time  ; 

;  which  ever  until  noz:,  had  been  a  clear,  neat,  audible  voice,  and  easih' 

i  heard  in  the  most  capacious  auditory.     Being  found  so  doing,   as  it  had 

I  often  been  his  declared  wish.  That  he  might  not  out  live  his  work!  (saying 

!  upon  higher  principles  than  once  Curius  Dentatus  did,  Malle  esse  se  Mor- 

\  tuum,  quam  Vivere;  that  he  had  rather  be  dead,  than /a-e  dead:  and  with 

1  Seneca,  Ultimum  malorum  est  ex  vivorum  A'w.vzero  exire,  ante  quammoria' 

i  m .)  his  illness  went  on  to  an  inflammation  in  his  lungs  ;  from  whence 

he  grew  somewhat  asthmatical ;  but  there  was  a  complication   of  other 

scorbutic  affects,  which  put  him  under  man}'  symptoms  of  his  approaching 

end.     On  the  eighteenth  of  JVovember,  he  took  in  course   for  his  text. 

rlie  four  last  verses  of  the  second  Epistle  to  Timothy,  giving  this  reason 


248  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Rook  Hi. 

for  his  insisting  on  so  many  verses  at  once,  becauae  else  (he  said)  /  shall 
not  live  to  make  an  end  of  this  Epistle  ;  but  he  chiefly  insisted  on  those 
words,  Grace  be  xcith  you  all.  Upon  the  Lorcfs  day  following,  he  preach- 
ed his  last  sermon  on  Joh.  i.  14.  about  that  glory  of  the  Lord  Jesvs  Christ, 
from  the  faith  to  the  sight  whereof,  he  was  now  hastening.  After  this 
in  that  study,  which  had  been  perfumed  with  many  such  days  before,  he 
now  spent  a  day  in  secret  humiliations  and  supplications,  before  the  Lord  ; 
seeking  the  special  assistances  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  for  the  great  work  of 
dying,  that  was  now  before  him.  What  glorious  transactions  might  one 
have  heard  passing  between  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  an  excellent  ser- 
vant of  his,  DOW  coming  unto  him,  if  he  could  have  had  an  hearing  place 
behind  the  hangings  of  the  chamber,  in  such  a  day  !  But  having  finished 
the  duties  of  the  day,  he  took  his  leave  of  his  beloved  study,  saying  to 
his  consort,  I  shall  go  into  that  room  no  more  !  And  he  had  all  along  ^re- 
sages  in  his  heart,  that  God  would  by  his  present  sickness,  give  him  an 
entrance  into  the  everlasting  kingdom  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Wherefore, 
setting  his  house  in  order,  he  was  now  so  far  from  unwilling  to  receive  the 
mercy-stroke  of  death,  as  that  he  was  desirous  to  be  with  Him,  u-iih  rvlwrn 
to  be,  is  by  far  the  best  of  all.  And  although  the  chief  ground  of  his  read- 
iriess  to  be  gone,  was  from  the  unutterably  sweet  and  rich  entertainments, 
which  he  did  by  foretast,  as  well  as  by  promise,  know  that  the  Lord  had 
reserved  in  the  heavenly  regions  for  him,  yet  he  said,  it  contributed  un- 
to this  readiness  in  him,  when  he  considered  the  saiiUs,  whose  companj' 
and  communion  he  was  going  unto  ;  particularly  Perkins,  Ames,  Preston. 
Hildersham,  Dod,  and  others,  which  had  been  peculiarly  dear  unto  him- 
self; besides  the  rest,  in  that  general  assembly. 

§  25.  While  he  thus  lay  sick,  the  ynagistrates,  the  ministers  of  the 
country,  and  christians  of  all  sorts,  resorted  unto  him,  as  unto  a  public 
father,  full  of  sad  apprehensions,  at  the  withdraw  of  such  a  pub  lick  bles- 
sing ;  and  the  gracious  zcords  that  proceeded  out  of  his  mouth,  while  he 
had  strength  to  utter  the  profitable  conceptions  of  his  mind,  caused  them 
to  reckon  these  their  -cisits  the  gainfidest  that  ever  they  had  made.  Among 
others,  the  then  president  of  the  college,  with  many  tears,  desired  of  Mr. 
Cotton  before  his  departure,  to  bestow  his  blessing  on  him  ;  saying,  / 
knorv  in  my  heart,  they  zchom  you  bless  shall  be  blessed.  And  not  long  be- 
fore his  death,  he  sent  for  the  elders  of  the  church,  whereof /ie  himself 
nlso  was  an  elder  :  who  having,  according  to  the  apostolical  direction, 
prayed  over  him,  he  exhorted  them  to  feed  the  flock  over  ■which  they  zt-ere 
overseers,  and  encrease  their  xi-atch  against  those  declensions  which  he 
i«aw  the  professors  of  religion  falling  into  :  adding,  /  have  now  through 
grace,  been  more  than  forty  years  a  servant  unto  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and 
have  ever  found  him  a  good  master.  When  his  collegve  Mr.  Wilson,  took 
his  leave  of  him  v/ith  a  wish,  that  God  would  lift  up  the  light  of  his  coun- 
tenance upon  him,  he  instantly  replied,  God  hath  done  it  already,  brother  ! 
He  then  called  for  his  children,  with  whom  he  left  the  gracious  covenant 
of  God,  as  their  never  failing  portion  :  and  now  desired,  that  he  might  be 
left  private  the  rest  of  his  minutes,  for  the  more  freedom  of  his  applica- 
tions unto  the  Lord.  So  lying  speechless  a  few  hours,  he  breathed  his 
blessed  soul  into  the  hands  of  his  heavenly  Lord  ;  on  the  twenty  third 
of  December  1652,  entring  on  the  sixty-eighth  year  of  his  own  age  :  and 
on  the  day,  yea  at  thehour,  of  his  constant  weekly  labours  in  the  lecture. 
wherein  he  had  been  so  long  serviceable,  even  to  all  the  churches  of 
JVerc-England.  Upon  Tuesday  the  twenty  eighth  of  December,  he  was 
most  honourably  interred,  v/ith  a  most  numerous  concourse  of  people. 


Book  III.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  249 

and  the  most  grievous  and  so\emn  funeral  that  was  ever  known  perhaps 
upon  the  Jimerican  strand  ;  and  the  lectures  in  his  church,  the  whole 
winter  following,  performed  by  the  neighbouring  ministers,  were  but  se 
man}^  funeral  sermons  upon  the  death  and  worth  of  this  extraordinary 
person  :  among  which,  the  tirst,  I  think,  was  preached  b^-  Mr.  liichard 
Mather,  who  gave  unto  the  bereaved  church  of  Boston  this  great  charac- 
ter of  their  incomparable  Cotton,  Let  us  pray,  that  Gad  xaouid  raise  up 
some  Eleazar  t/  succeed  this  Aaron  :  bnt  you  can  hardly  expect,  thai  so 
large  a  portion  of  the  spirit  if  God  should  dwell  in  any  nue,  as  dwelt  in  this 
blessed  man  !  And  generally  in  the  other  churches  through  the  country, 
the  expiration  of  this  general  blessing  to  them  all,  did  produce  funeral 
sermons  full  of  honour  and  sorrow  ;  even  as  many  miles  above  an  hun- 
dred, as  J\'ew-Haven  was  di-tant  from  JMassachuset-buy ,  when  the  tidings 
of  Mr.  Cotton's  decease  arrived  there,  Mr  Davenport  with  many  tears 
bewailed  it,  in  a  public  discourse  on  that  in  2  bam,  i.  26,  /  am  distressed 
for  thee,  my  ferc^/jer  Jonathan,  very  pleasant  hast  th:iu  been  untu  me.  Yea, 
they  speak  of  Mr.  Cotton  in  their  lamentatiiins  to  this  day  .' 

It  is  a  memorable  saying  of  Algazel,  In  quo  Lumen  Heligionis  &,•  Devo- 
tionis,  Fumus  generatus  ex  Lumine  Scientiie  non  exlinguit,  ille  perfectus 
est:  Sed  quis  est  hie,  ut  adoremus  eiim?  Reader,  I  will  show  thee  such  a 
man  ;  one  in  whom  the  /?o-/t^  of /ea/zimo- accompanied  ihe  fire  of  goodness, 
met  in  an  high  degree  :  but  thou  shalt  adore  none  but  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  who  made  him  such  a  man. 

§  26.  How  vast  a  treasure  of  learning  was  laid  in  the  grave,  which 
was  opened  on  this  occasion,  can  scarce  credibly  and  sufficiently  be  rela- 
ted. Mr.  Cotton  was  indeed,  a  most  universal  scholar,  and  a  living  system 
of  the  liberal  arts,  and  a  walking  library.  It  would  be  endless  to  recite  all 
his  particular  accomplishments,  but  only  three  articles  of  observation 
shall  be  offered.  First,  for  his  grammar  he  had  a  very  singular  skill  in 
those  three  languages,  the  knowledge  whereof  was  the  inscription  on  the 
cross  of  our  Saviour,  proposed  unto  the  perpetual  use  of  his  church.  The 
Hebrew  he  understood  so  exactly,  and  so  readily,  that  he  was  able  to  dis- 
course in  it.  In  the  Greek  he  was  a  critick,  so  accurate  and  so  well  versed, 
that  he  need  not,  like  Austin,  to  have  studied  in  his  reduced  age.  Thus, 
if  many  of  the  ancients  committed  gross  mistakes  in  their  interpretations  of 
the  scriptures,  through  their  want  of  skill  in  the  originals,  Mr.  Cotton 
was  better  qualitied  for  an  interpreter.  He  both  wrote  and  spoke  Latin 
also  with  great  facility  ;  and  with  a  most  Ciceronian  elegancy,  exempliti- 
ed  in  one  published  composure.  Next,  for  his  logic  he  was  compieatly 
furnished  therewith  to  encounter  the  subtilest  adversary  of  the  truth. 
But  although  he  had  been  educated  in  the  perij>atetick  way,  yet  like  the 
other  puritans  of  those  times,  he  rather  iiffected  the  Rama:n  discipline  ; 
and  chose  to  follow  the  methods  of  that  excellent  Ramus,  who  like  Justin 
of  old,  was  not  only  a  philosojher,  but  a  christian,  and  a  martyr  also  ; 
rather  than  the  more  empty,  trilling,  altercative  notions,  to  which  the 
works  of  the  Pagan  Aristotle  derived  unto  us,  through  the  mangling  hands 
of  the  apostate  Porphyrie,  have  disposed  his  disciples.  Lastly,  for  his 
Theologie,  there  'twas  that  he  had  his  greatest  extraordinariness,  and  most, 
of  all,  his  Textual  Divinity.  His  abilities  to  expound  the  scriptures,  caus- 
ed him  to  be  admired  by  the  ablest  of  his  hearers.  Although  his  incom- 
parable modesty  would  not  permit  him  to  speak  any  more  than  the  least 
of  himself  ,  yet  unto  a  private  friend  he  hath  said,  That  he  knew  not  of  any 
difficult  place  in  all  the  whole  Bible,  which  he  not  weighed,  some  what  unto 
satisfaction.  And  hence,  though  he  ordinarily  bestowed  much  pains  up- 
Vor.  h.  '  ?,^. 


260  :i'HE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  lU. 

'on  his  publick  sermons,  yet  he  hath  sometimes  preached  most  admirably, 
without  any  warning  at  all  ;  and  a  new  note  uj)on  a  text  before  him.  oc- 
curring to  his  mind,  but  just  as  he  was  going  into  the  assembly,  has  takea 
up  his  discoure  for  that  hour,  so  pertinently  and  judiciously,  that  the  most 
critical  of  his  auditors,  i.magined  nothing  extemporaneous.  Indeed  his  li- 
brary was  vast,  and  vast  was  his  acquaintance  with  it  :  but  although 
amongst  his  readings,  he  had  given  a  special  room  unto  the  fathers,  and 
unto  the  school-men,  yet  at  last,  he  preferred  one  Calvin  above  them  all. 
If  Erasivus,  when  olfcred  a  Bishoprick  to  write  against  Luther,  could 
answer,  There  xvas  more  divinitijin  a  page  of  Luther,  than  in  all 'Thomas 
Aquinas  :  'tis  no  wonder  that  Salniasivs  could  so  venerate  Calvin,  as  to 
say,  That  he  had  rather  be  the  author  of  that  one  book,  the  Institutions  writ- 
ten by  Calvin,  than  have  n'ritten  all  that  was  ever  done  by  Grotius.  Even 
such  a  Calvinist  was  our  Cotton!  Said  he,  /  have  read  the  fathers  and  the 
shcool-mcn,  and  Calvin  too  ;  but  I  find,  that  he  thai  has  Calvin  has  them  all. 
And  being  asked,  why  in  his  latter  days  he  indulged  nocturnal  studies  more 
than  foi'merly,  he  pleasantly  replied,  Because  I  love  to  sweeten  my  mouth 
with  a  piece  of  Calvin  before  I  go  to  sleep. 

§  27.  Indeed  in  his  common  preaching,  he  did  as  Basil  reports  oi 
Ephrcm  Syrus,  Piuriniuin  disiare  a  Mundana  Sapientia  :  and  though  he 
were  a  great  scholar,  yet  he  did  sonscientiously  forbear  making  to  the 
common  people  any  ostentation  of  it.  He  had  the  art  of  concealing  his  art  ,■ 
and  thought  with  Sobinus,  JVon  minus  est  Viriuas  Populariter  quam  Argute 
Loqui,  and  Mr.  Dod,  That  Latin  for  the  most  part  was  flesh  in  a  sermon. 
Accordingly,  when  he  was  handling  the  deepest  subjects,  a  speech  of  that 
import  was  frequent  with  him,  /  desire  to  speak  so  as  to  be  understood,  by 
the  meanest  capacity!  And  he  would  sometimes  give  the  same  reason 
for  it,  which  the  great  Austin  gnve,  If  1  preach  more  scholasticaUy ,  then 
only  the  learned^  and  not  the  unlearned,  can  so  understand  as  to  prufii  by 
me  ;  but  if  I  preach  plainly,  then  both  learned  and  unlearned  will  tinder- 
stand  jne,  and  so  I  shall  profit  all.  When  a  golden  key  of  oratory  would 
not  so  well  open  a  mystery  of  Christianity,  he  made  no  stick  to  take  an 
iron  one,  that  should  be  less  rhetorical.  You  should  hear  few  terms  of 
art,  few  latinities,  no  exotic  or  obsolete  phrases,  obscuring  of  the  truths, 
which  he  was  to  bring  unto  the  peopk  of  God.  Nevertheless  his  more 
judicious  and  observing  hearers,  could  by  his  most  unirimmed  sermons 
perceive  that  he  was  a  man  of  more  than  ordinary  abilities.  Hence 
when  a  Dutchman  of  great  learning,  heard  Mr.  Cotton  preach  at  Boston., 
in  England,  he  professed.  That  he  never  in,  his  life  saiv  such  a  conjunction 
of  learning  and  plainness,  as  there  was  in  the  preaching  of  this  ivor/liy  man. 
The  glory  of  God,  and  not  his  own  glory,  was  that  at  which  he  aimed 
in  his  labours  ;  for  which  cause,  at  the  end  of  his  notes,  he  still  inserted 
that  clause,  TihiDomine:  or ,  For  thy  glory ,  O  God  f  For  his  delivery, 
though  it  were  not  like  FareVs,  noisy  and  thundering,  yet  it  had  in  it  tt- 
very  awful  majesty,  set  ofll'  Avith  a  natural  and  becoming  motion  of  his 
right  hand  ;  and  the  Lord  was  in  the  still  voice  at  such  a  rate,  that  Mr. 
Wilson  would  say,  Mr.  Cotton  preaches  ivith  such  authority,  demonstration, 
and  life,  that  methinks ,  when  he  preaches  out  of  any  prophet ,  or  apostle,  I  hear 
not  him ;  I  hear  that  very  prophet  and  apostle ;  yea,  I  hear  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  himself  speaking  in  my  heart.  And  the  success  which  God  gave 
to  these  plain  labours  of  his  faithful,  humble,  diligent  servant,  was  beyond 
what  most  ministers  in  the  country  ever  did  experience:  there  have 
been  few  that  have  seen  so  many  and  mighty  effects,  given  to  the  traveJa 
of  their  souls. 


Book  III.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  ^51 

§  28.  He  was  even  from  his  youth  to  his  a^e,  an  indetatigdble  student, 
under  the  conscience  of  the  apostohcal  prccepty  Be  7iot  slothful  in  busi- 
ness, but  fervent  in  spirit  sen:ing  tJie  Lord.  He  was  careful  to  redeem 
his  hours,  as  well  as  his  days  ;  and  mi^^ht  lay  claim  to  that  character  of 
the  blessed  martyr.  Sparing  of  sleep,  more  sparing  of  H'ords,  hut  most 
sparing  of  time.  If  any  came  to  visit  him,  he  would  be  very  civil  to 
them,  having  learned  it  as  his  duty,  To  use  all  gentleiicss  tozi-ards  all  men  : 
and  yet  he  would  often  say  with  some  re2;ret,  after  the  departure  of  a 
visitant,  I  had  rather  have  given  tiiis  man  an  handful  of  money,  than  have 
been  keep  thus  long  out  of  my  study  :  reckoning  with  Pliny,  the  time  not 
spent  in  study,  for  the  most  part,  srveeled  azi'ay.  For  which  cause  he 
went  not  much  abroad  ;  but  he  judged  ordinarily  that  more  benefit  was 
obtained,  accordinirto  the  advice  of  the  wise  King,  b}'  conversing  with 
the  dead  [in  Books,^  than  with  the  living  [in  Talks  ;]  and  that  needless 
visits  do  commonly  unframe  our  spirits,  and  perhaps  disturb  our  comforts. 
He  was  an  early  riser,  taking  the  morning  for  the  muses  ;  and  in  his  lat- 
ter days  forbearing  a  supper,  he  turned  his  former  supping-time,  into  a 
reading,  a  thinking,  a  praying-time.  Twelve  hours  in  a  day  he  common- 
ly studied,  and  would  call  that  a  scholar's  day  ;  resolving  rather  to  wear 
out  with  using,  than  with  rusting  la  truth,  hid  he  not  been  of  an  healthy 
and  hearty  constitution,  and  had  he  not  made  a  careful,  though  not  curi- 
ous diet  serve  him,  instead  of  an  Hipp-.crafes,  his  continued  lahmr  must 
have  made  his  life,  as  well  as  his  labour,  to  have  been  but  of  a  short  con- 
tinuance. And,  indeed,  the  work  which  lay  upon  him,  could  not  have 
been  performed,  without  a  labour  more  than  ordinary.  For  besides  his 
constant  preaching,  more  than  once  every  week,  many  cases  were 
brought  unto  him  far  and  near,  in  resolving  whereof,  as  he  took  much 
time,  so  he  did  much  good,  being  a  most  excellent  casuist.  He  was  like- 
wise very  deeply  concerned  in  peaceable  and  effectual  disquisitions  of 
the  controversies  about  church-government ,  then  agitated  in  the  Church 
of  God.  And  though  he  chielly  gave  himself  to  reading,  and  doctrin^, 
and  exhortation,  depending  much,  on  the  ruling  elders  to  inform  him, 
concerning  the  st^.te  of  his  particular  flock,  that  he  might  the  better 
order  himself  in  the  zvord  and  prayer,  yet  he  found  his  church-~.i:ork,  in 
this  regard  also,  to  call  for  no  little  painfuluess,  watchfulness,  and  faith- 
fulness. 

§  29.  He  was  one  so  clothed  with  humility,  that  according  to  the  em- 
phasis of  the  apostolical  direction,  by  this  livery  his  relation  as  a  disciple 
to  the  loxvly  Jesus,  was  notably  discovered  ;  and  hence  he  was  patient 
and  peaceable,  even  to  a  proverb.  He  had  a  more  than  common  excel- 
lency in  that  cool  spirit,  which  the  oracles  of  wisdom  describe,  as  the 
excellent  spirit  in  the  man  of  understanding ;  and  therefore  Mr.  Norton 
would  parallel  him  with  Moses  among  the  patriarchs,  with  Mclacihon 
among  the  reformers.  He  was  rather  excessive  than  defective  in  self- 
denial,  and  had  the  Ximia  Humilitas,  whicn  Luther  sometimes  blamed  in 
Staupicius  :  yea,  he  was  at  last  himself  sensible,  that  some  fell  very  deep 
into  the  sin  of  Corah,  through  his  extreme  forbearance,  in  matters  rela- 
ting to  his  own  just  rights  in  the  church  of  God.  He  has,  to  a  judicious 
friend,  thus  expressed  himself,  ^'ingry  men  have  an  advantrtge  above  me  ; 
the  people  dare  not  not  set  t'lernsclve.s  against  such  men,  because  they  know  it 
wont  be  born ;  but  some  care  not  what  they  say  or  do  about  me,  because  they 
know  I  zvont  be  angry  with  thent  again.  One  would  have  thought  the  in- 
genuity of  such  a  spirit  should  have  broke  the  hearts  of  men,  that  had 
indft^'d  the  hearts  ofm^n  in  them ;  yen.  that  the  hardest^^mr?  would  have 


-k. 


252  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  HI. 

been  broken,  as  is  usual,  upon  such  a  soft  bag  of  Cotton  !  But  alas  !  he 
found  it  otherwise,  even  among  some  who  pretended  unto  high  attain- 
ments in  Christianity.  Once  particularly,  an  humorous  and  imperious 
brother,  following  Mr.  Cotton  home  to  hir;  house,  after  his  publick  la- 
bours, instead  of  the  grateful  respects  with  which  those  holy  labours 
were  to  have  been  encouraged,  rudely  told  him,  that  his  ministry  was  be- 
come generally,  either  dark,  or  flat  :  whereto  this  meek  man,  very  mild- 
ly and  gravely,  made  only  this  answer:  Bo'h,  brother,  it  may  be,  both: 
let  me  have  your  prayers  that  it  may  be  othencise.  But  it  is  remarkable, 
that  the  man  sick  thu-  of  wanton  singularities,  afterwards  died  of  those 
damnable  heresies,  for  which  he  was  deservedly  excommunicated. — 
Another  time,  when  Mr.  Cotton  had  modestly  replied  unto  one  that 
would  much  talk  and  crack  of  his  insight  into  the  revelations  :  Brother,  I 
must  conftss  my  self  io  team  li'^ht  in  those  mysteries.  The  man  went  home, 
and  sent  him  o  pound  of  candles  :  upon  which  action  this  good  man  be- 
stowed only  a  silent  smile.  He  would  nO'  set  the  beacon  of  his  great  soul 
on  ^fire,  at  the  landing  of  such  a  little  cock-boat.  He  learned  the  lesson 
of  Gregory,  h  is  better,  many  times,  to  fly  from  an  injury  by  silence,  than  to 
ovcrcowe  it  by  replying:  and  he  used  that  practice  of  Gryuwus,  To  re- 
venge ix-rongs  by  christian  taciturnity. 

1  think,  1  may  not  omit,  on  this  occasion,  to  transcribe  a  remarkable 
passage,  which  that  good  man,  Mr.  Flavel,  reports,  in  a  sermon  on  gospel- 
unity.      His  words  are  these  : 

'  A  company  of  vain  wucked  men,  having  inflamed  their  blood  in  a 
'  tavern  at  Boston,  and  seeing  that  reverend,  meek,  and  hcly  minister  of 

*  Christ,  Mr.  Cotton,  coming  along  the  street,  one  of  them  tells  his  com- 
'  panion,  Vll  go,  (saith  he)  and  put  a  trick  upon  old  Cotton.      Down  he 

*  goes,  and  crossing  his  way,  whispers  these  words  into  his  ear,  Cotton 
'  (said  he)  thou  art  an  old  fool.  Mr.  Cotton  replied,  /  confess  I  am  so: 
'  the  Lord  make  both  me  and  thee  xi-iser  than  we  arc,  even  tt-zse  vnto  salva- 
'  tion.     He  relates  this  passage  to  his  wicked  companions,  which  cast  a 

*  great  damp  upon  their  sports,  in  the  midst  of  a  frolick.' 

And  it  may  pass  for  a  branch  of  the  same  temper  in  him,  that  he  ex 
tremely  hated  .dl  Allotrio  Episcopacy :  and  though  he  knew  as  practically 
as  most  men  in  the  world,  That  u-e  have  a  call  to  do  good,  as  often  as  rcc 
have  poicer  and  occasion ;  yet  he  was  slow  of  apprehending  any  occasion 
at  all,  though  he  might  have  had  never  so  much  power  to  meddle  foi 
good,  any  where,  but  within  the  sphere  of  his  own  proper  calling.  As 
he  understood  that  Leoniius  blamed  Constantine ,  for  interposing  too  far  in 
ecclesiastical  affaim,  thus  Mr.  CoHon,  on  the  other  side,  had  a  great  aver- 
sion from  engaging  in  any  civil  ones.  He  would  religiously  decline  ta- 
king into  his  cognisance  all  civil  rontroversies,  or  umpirages,  and  what- 
ever looked  heterogeneous  to  the  calling  of  one,  whose^uhole  business 
'twas  to  feed  the  flock  of  God.  Nevertheless,  in  the  things  of  God.  of 
Christ,  of  conscience,  his  condescending  temper  did  not  hinder  him  from 
the  most  immovable  resolution.  He  would  not  so  follozi'  peace  ■with  all 
men.  as  to  abandon  or  prejudice,  one  jot.  the  interests  of  holiness. 

§  30.  His  command  over  his  oivn  spirit,  was  particularly  observable 
in  his  government  of  his  family,  where  he  would  never  correct  any 
thing  in  a  passiu,i ,  but  tirst,  with  much  deliberation  shew  what  rule  in 
tlie  holy  word  of  God,  had  been  violated,  by  the  fault  lately  committed. 
He  was  indeed  one  that  ruled  -iuell  his  onm  house.  He  therein  morning 
and  evening  read  a  chapter,  with  a  little  applicatory  exposition,  before 
and  after  which  he  made  a  prayer  ;  but  he  was  very  short  in  all,  ac- 


Book  iil.J  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  25c^ 

counting  as  Mr.  Dod,  Mr.  Bains,  and  other  great  saints  did  before  him, 
That  it  Xi-ias  a  thing  incniivenieni  man}/  zcoys  to  be  tediovsin  family  duties. 
He  also  read  constantly  a  portion  of  the  scripture  alone,  and  he  prayed 
over  what  he  read  :  prayed  I  say  ;  for  he  was  very  much  in  prayer,  a 
very  man  of  prayer  ;  he  would  rarely  sit  down  to  study,  without  a  prayer 
over  it,  referring  to  the  presence  of  God  accompanying  what  he  did.  It 
was  the  advice  of  the  ancient,  S?'  vis  esse  Semper  cum  Deo,  Semper  Ora, 
Semper  Lege  :  and  agreeably  hereunto,  Mr.  Cotton  might  say  with  David, 
Lord,  I  am  still  zi-itk  thee.  But  he  that  was  with  God  all  the  \veek,  was 
more  intimately  with  him  on  his  own  day,  the  chief  day  of  the  week, 
■which  he  observed  most  conscientiously.  The  sabbath  he  bcjan  the 
evening  before  :  for  which  keeping  of  the  sabbath  from  evening  to  eve- 
ning, he  wrote  arguments  before  his  coming  to  jXen)- England :  and  I  sup- 
pose, 'twas  from  his  reason  and  practice,  that  the  christians  of  \e7c-Eng- 
land  have  generally  done  so  too.  When  that  evening  arrived,  he  was 
usually  larger  in  his  exposition  in  his  family,  than  at  other  times  :  he 
then  catechised  his  children  and  servants,  and  prayed  with  them,  and  sang 
a  psalm  ;  from  thence  he  retired  unto  siiidy  and  secret  prayer,  till  the 
time  of  his  going  unto  his  repose.  The  next  morning,  after  his  usual 
family-worship,  he  betook  himself  to  the  devotions  of  his  retirements, 
and  so  unto  the  publick.  From  thence  towards  ?ioo»,  he  repaired  again 
to  the  like  devotions,  not  permitting  the  interruption  of  .any  other  din- 
ner, than  that  of  a  small  repajt  carried  up  unto  him.  Then  to  the  publick, 
once  more  :  from  whence  returning,  his  tirst  work  was  closet-prayer, 
then  prayer  with  repetitions  of  the  sermons  in  the  family.  After  sup- 
per he  still  sang  a  psalm  ;  which  he  would  conclude  with  uplifted  eyes 
and  hands,  uttering  this  doxclogy, — Blessed  be  God  in  Christ  our  Saviour ! 
Last  of  all,  just  before  his  going  to  sleep,  he  would  once  again  go  into  his 
prayerful  study,  and  there  brietl}'  recommended  all  to  that  God,  zihomht 
served  with  a  pure  conscience. 

But  there  was  one  point  of  sabbath  keeping,  about  which  it  may  not  bt- 
unuseful  for  me  transcribe  a  passage,  which  I  find  him  writing  to  Mr.  JV. 
Rogers,  in  the  year  1630. 

^Studying  for  a  sermon  upon  the  sabbalh-day,  so  far  as  it  mighl.  be  any 
*  wearisome  labour  to  invention  or  memory,  I  covet  (when  I  can)  willingly 
'  to  prevent  it  ;  and  would  rather  attend  unto  the  quickning  of  my  heart 
'  and  affections,  in  the  meditation  of  what  1  am  to  deliver.  My  reason 
'  is,  much  reading  and  inventum.,  and  repetiti/m  o(  things,  to  commit  them 
'  to  memory,  is  a  weariness  to  the  flesh  and  spirit  too  ;  whereas  the  sab- 
'  bath  day  doth  rather  invite  unto  an  holy  rest.  But  yet  if  God's  provi- 
'  dence  have  straitned  my  time  in  the  week-days  before,  by  concurrence 
'  of  other  business,  not  to  be  avoided,  I  doubt  not,  but  the  Lord,  who  al- 
|-  lowed  the  priests  to  employ  their  labour,  in  killing  the  sacrifices  on  the 
|-  sabbath-day,  will  allow  us  also  to  labour  in  our  callings  on  the  sabbath, 
'  to  prepare  our  sacrifice  for  the  people.' 

These  were  his  ordinary  sabbaths :  but  he  also  kept  extraordinary 
'ones,  upon  the  just  occasions  for  them.  He  was  in  fasting  often,  and 
;  would  often  keep  whde  days  by  himself,  wherein  he  would  with  solemn 
^humiliations  and  supplications,  implore  the  wanted  mercies  of  heaven  ; 
'yea,  he  would  likewise  by  himself,  keep  whole  days  of  thanksgiving  unto 
'the  Lord  :  besides  the  many  days  of  this  kind,  which  he  celebrated  in 
;  publick  assemblies  with  the  people  of  God.  llius  did  this  vmn  of  God 
{t'ontinvally- 


254  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  Hi. 

§  31.  Without  liberality  and  hospitality,  he  had  been  really  as  unde- 
serving of  the  character  of  a  minister  of'the  gospel,  as  the  sacrilegious 
niggardliness  of  the  people,  does  often  endeavour  to  make  ministers  un- 
capable  of  answering  that  character.  But  Mr.  Cotton  was  most  exem- 
phry  for  this  virtue  ;  wherein  there  are  of  his  children,  that  have  also 
le  -rned  of  him.  The  stranger  and  the  needy  were  still  entertained  at 
his  tabic,  Episcopaliter  4"  Benigne,  as  was.  the  phrase  instructively  used,  ' 
for  a  charitable  entertainment  of  old.  It  might  be  said  of  him,  as  once  it 
was  of  the  generous  Corinthian,  Semper  aliquis  in  Cottoni  Domo :  he  was 
ever  sjiewing  of  kindne??  to  some  bodj^  or  other.  What  Posidonius  re- 
lates of  Austin,  and  what  Peter  Martyr  affirms  of  Bucer,  was  very  true  of 
00)  Cotton  :  his  house  teas  like  an  inn,  for  the  constant  entertainment  which 
he  gave  upon  the  account  of  the  gospel.  And  he  would  say,  If  a  man  •want 
an  heart  for  this  charity,  it  is  not  Jit  such  a  man  should  be  ordained  a  min- 
ister:  consenting  therein  to  the  great  canonist,  Hospitalitas  usque  adeo 
Episcopis  est  neccssaria,  ut  si  ab  ea  inveniantnr  alieni.  Jure  prohibentur  or- 
dinari.  While  he  lived  quietly  in  England,  he  was  noted  for  his  boun- 
tiful disposition,  especially  to  ministers  driven  into  England  by  the  storms 
of  persecution,  then  raging  in  G'erma/iy  :  for  which  cause  Libingus,  Sau- 
mer,  Tolner.  and  others  of  the  German  sufferers,  in  their  accounts  of 
him,  would  stile  him,  Fautor  Doctissiinus,  Clarissimus,  Fidelissimus,  plu- 
rimnmgve  Honorandus.  It  was  remarkable,  that  he  never  omitted  invi- 
ting ui;to  his  house,  any  minister  travelling  to,  or  through  the  town,  but 
only  tl'.at  one  man,  who  perfidiously  betrayed  Mr.  Hildersham,  with  his 
non-conf.irmist  associates,  into  the  hands  of  their  enemies.  And  after  he 
c«ime  to  A"erc- England,  he  changed  not  his  mind  with  his  air  ;  but  with  a 
Quantum  ex  Quantillo !  continued  his  beneficence  upon  all  occasions, 
though  his  abilities  for  it  were  much  diminished  ;  which  brings  to  mind  a 
most  memorable  story.  A  little  church,  whereof  the  worthy  Mr.  White 
was  pastor,  being  by  the  strange  and  strong  malice  of  their  prevailing 
adversaries,  forced  of  Barmudas  in  much  misery,  into  a  desart  of  Ameri- 
ca, the  report  of  their  distresses  came  to  their  fellow-sufferers,  though 
not  alike  sufferers,  at  Kezo-England.  Mr.  Cotton  immediately  applied 
himself  to  obtain  a  collection,  for  the  relief  of  those  distressed  saints  ;  and 
a  collection  of  about  700/.  was  immediately  obtained,  whereof  two  hundred 
was  gathered  in  that  one  church  o{  Boston,  where  there  was  no  man  who 
did  exceed,  and  but  one  man  who  did  equal,  this  deviser  of  liberal  things,  in 
that  contribution.  But  behold  the  wonderful  providence  of  God!  This 
contribution  arrived  unto  the  poor  people  on  the  very  day,  after  they  had 
been  brought  unto  a  personal  division  of  the  little  meal  then  left  in  the 
barrel  ;  upon  the  spending  whereof,  they  could  foresee  nothing  but  a 
lingring  dfath  ;  and  on  that  very  day,  when  their  pastor  had  preached 
unto  them,  upon  that  most  suitable  text,  Psal.  xxiii.  1,  The  Lord  is  my 
shepherd.  1  shall  not  rcant. 

§  32.  The  reader  that  is  inquisitive  after  the  prosopography  of  this 
great  man,  may  be  informed,  that  he  was  a  clear,  fair,  sanguine  complex- 
ion, and  like  David  of  a  ruddy  countenance.  He  was  rather  lozo  than  tall, 
and  rather  fat  than  lea7i,  but  of  a  becoming  mediocrity.  In  his  younger 
years  his  hair  was  brown,  but  in  his  latter  years  as  while  as  the  driven 
sno\v.  In  his  countenance  there  was  an  inexpressible  sort  of  majesty, 
which  commanded  reverence  from  all  that  approached  him  :  this  Cotton 
was  indeed  the  Cato  of  his  age,  for  his  gravity  ;  but  had  a  glory  with  it 
which  Cato  had  not.  I  cannot  indeed,  say,  what  they  report  of  Hilary, 
that  serpents  xitera  not  able  to  look  upon  him  :  nevertheless,  it  was  com- 


Book  III.]         THE-  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  25^ 

monly  observed,  that  the  worser  sort  of  serpents,  would  from  the  awe  of 
his  presence  keep  in  their  poisons.  As  the  keeper  of  the  inn,  where  he 
did  use  to  lodge,  when  he  came  to  Derby ,  would  profanely  say  to  his 
companions,  that  he  wished  Mr.  Cottonwere  gone  out  of  his  house  ;  for 
he  uas  ?iol  able  to  swear,  while  that  man  -iras  under  his  roof.  So  other 
wicked  persons  could  not  show  their  wickedness,  whilst  this  holy  and 
righteous  man  was  in  the  company.  But  the  exacter  picture  of  him,  is 
to  be  taken  from  his  printed  works,  whereof  there  are  many,  that  praise 
him  in  the  gates,  though  few  of  them  were  printed  with  his  own  knuv^ledge 
or  consent. 

We  will  mention  a  catalogue  of  his  works,  because  (as  it  was  said  of 
Calvin  s,) 

Chara  quibus  fuerat  Cottoni  Vita,  labor^im 
Gratior  ejusdein  Pita  perennis  erit. 

The  children  of  Xe-x-England  are  to  this  day  most  usually  fed  with 
his  excellent  catechism,  which  is  entituled,  Milk  fur  Babes. 

His  well-known  sermons  on  the  First  Epistle  of  John,  in  folio,  have 
had  their  acceptance  with  the  church  of  God  ;  though  being  preached 
in  his  youth,  and  not  published  by  himself,  there  are  some  things  therein, 
which  he  would  not  have  inserted. 

There  are  also  of  his  abroad,  sermons  on  the  thirteenth  of  the  Revela- 
tions, and  on  the  vials,  and  on  Rev.  sx.  6,  6.  and  2  Sam.  vii.  last  in  quarto. 

As  also,  a  savory  treatise,  entituled,  The  way  of  Life.  The  reverend 
prefacer  whereto  saith.  Ever  since  I  had  any  knowledge  of  this  judicioits 
author,  I  have  looked  upon  hiin  as  one  intrusted  with  as  great  a  part  of  the 
church's  treasure,  as  any  other  whatsoever. 

Several  volumes  of  his  expositions  upon  Ecclesiastes  and  Canticles,  are 
also  published  in  octavo. 

As  likewise,  A  treatise  of  the  Xew  Covenant :  which  being  only  a  post- 
humous piece,  and  only  notes  written  after  him,  is  accordingly  to  be 
judged  of. 

And  there  have  seen  the  light,  an  answer  to  Mr.  Ball,  about  forms  of 
prayer.  A  discourse  about  the  grounds  and  ends  of  infant-baptism.  A 
discourse  about  singing  of  psalms,  proving  it  a  gospel-ordinance.  An  Ab- 
stract of  laws  in  Christ's  kingdom,  for  civil  government.  A  treatise 
about  the  holiness  of  church-members  ;  proving,  that  visible  saints  are  the 
matter  of  a  church.  Another  discourse  upon  things  indifferent,  proving 
that  no  church-governours  have  power  to  impose  indifferent  things  upon 
the  consciences  of  men.  Add  liereto,  the  way  of  the  churches  in  AVa- 
England :  and  that  golden  discourse  of  7'/je  Keys  of  the  Kingdom  of  Hea- 
ven :  in  a  written  copy  whereof,  yet  in  our  hands,  there  were  some 
things  which  were  never  printed,  maintaining,  that  in  the  government  of 
the  church,  authority  is  peculiar  to  the  elders  only;  and  answering  all 
the  Brownisticcd  arguments  to  the  contrary.  But  whereas  there  may  oc- 
cur a  passage  in  his  book  of  The  Way  of  the  Churches,  which  mny  have 
in  it  a  little  more  of  the  JMorellian  tang,  reader,  'twas  none  of  Mr.  Cotionh; 
Mr.  Cotton  was  troubled  when  he  saw  such  a  passage,  in  an  imperfect 
copy  of  bis  writings,  exposed  unto  t!ie  world,  under  his  name,  against  his 
will:  and  he  took  an  opportunitj',  ia  the  most  publick  manner,  to  de- 
clare as  much  unto  the  world. 

He  was  also  sometimes  put  upon  writing  yet  more  polemically.  In- 
/leed  there  was  or^"  occasion  of  so  writin::.  which  he  declined  meddlina; 


256  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEVV-ENGLAiND.         [Book  IH. 

withal  ;  aud  that  was  this  :  Mr.  Citton  having  in  his  younger  years, 
written  to  a  private  friend  some  things,  tending  (at  his  desire)  to  clear 
the  doctrine  of  reprubates,  from  the  exceptions  of  the  .Jr/nwuaws ;  and 
this  manuscript  filling  into  Dr.  7  a-rss'  hand,  that  learned  man  published 
it,  with  his  own  confutation  of  certain  passages  in  it,  which  did  not  agree 
so  well  with  the  doctor's  own  Supralapsarian  scheme.  Now  when  Mr. 
Cott'in  saw  himself  reviled  for  this  cause  by  Baily,  as  being  Pelagian,  he 
only  made  this  meek  reply  :  /  Inpe  God  -will  give  me  oppartiiuity  e'er  long 
to  consider  of  this,  the  d'. dor's  labour  of  love.  I  bless  the  Lord,  who  has 
taught  me  to  be  zvilling  to  be  taught,  if  a  far  meaner  disciple,  than  such  a 
diict'ir,  u-hose  scholastical  acufeness.  pregnancy  of  wit,  solidity  of  judgment, 
and  dexterity  of  argument,  all  orihudox  divines  do  highly  honour ,  and  whom 
all  Arminians  and  Jesuites  do  fall  down  before,  with  silence.  God  forbid 
I  should  shut  my  eyes  against  any  light  brought  to  me  by  him.  Only  I  desirt 
I  may  not  be  condemned  as  a  Pelagian,  or  Arminian,  before  I  be  heard. 

Moreover,  Mr.  tawdry  fell  hard  upon  him  ;  to  whom  he  prepared  an 
answer,  which  was  afterwards  published  and  seconded  by  Dr.  Owen. 
f5ut  besides  these,  he  was  twice  compelled  unto  some  other  Eristical 
writings  :  once  in  answer  to  Baily;  another  time  in  answer  to  Williams  : 
in  both  of  which,  like  Job,  he  turned  the  books  which  his  adversaries  had 
zsL-ritten  against  him,  into  a  crown.  I  believe,  never  any  meer  man,  under 
such  open  and  horrid  injuries,  as  these  two  reporters  heaped  upon  Mr. 
Cotton,  did  answer  with  more  christian  patience  :  his  answers  are  indeed 
a  pattern  for  all  answerers  to  the  world's  end.  But  it  was  particularly 
remarkable,  that  in  this  matter,  certain  persons,  who  had  fallen  undei 
(he  censures  of  the  civil  authority  in  the  country,  singled  out  Mr.  Cotton 
for  the  object  of  their  displeasure,  although  he  had,  most  of  aU  men,  de- 
clined interesting  himself  in  the  actions  of  the  magistrate,  and  had  also 
done  mors  than  all  men,  to  obtain  healing  and  favour  for  those  ungrateful 
delinquents.  However,  the  venomous  tongues  all  this  while,  only  lick- 
ed a  file,  which  made  themselves  to  bleed  ;  his  fame,  like  the  fie,  re- 
mained invulnerable  ;  and  if  Mr.  Cotton  Avould  from  his  own  profitablt 
experience,  have  added  another  book  unto  this  catidogue,  it  might  have 
been  on  the  subject  handled  hy  Plutarch  De  Capienda  ex  Hostibus  Utilitatc. 
This  is  the  Elenchv.s  of  Mr.  Cotton's  published  writings  j  wheupon  wf 
might  make  this  conclusion. 

Digna  Legi  Scribis,  J'acis^-  Dignissima  Scribi ; 
Scripta  probant  Doctum,  Tc,  Tiia,  Facta,  probum. 

§  33.   The  things  which  have  been  related,   cause  us  to  account   Mr. 
Cotton  an  extraordinary  person. 

Dives  eras  Denis,  etiamgae  Fidelis  in  Usu, 

Lucratus  Domino  mutla  Talenta  tuo. 
.Midtus  e)'as  Studiis,  imdiusq ;  Laboribus,  vno 

Te,  Fora,  Ttniplu,  Domus,  Te,  cupierefrui. 
Multa  Laborabas  Scribendo,  JMuUa  Docendo, 

bivigilans  Operi,  JVocte  Diequc,  Dei 
.Vulla  Laborabas  Scribendo,  Alulta  Ferendo, 

Qua:  nisi  Cotloiio.  v;.>-  Subeundaforent. 
Tu  von  unuseras,  sal  J\Iidti ;  jMultus  in  uno. 

Midtorvm  Donis  prxditus  Unus  eras 
Una  Te  aiinsso,  JMultos  .lmisim7ts  in  Te, 

Sed?iequeper  Mvltos  Restiiuendu"  erif. 


Book  III.]  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.  257 

These  were  some  of  the  Hnes,  which  the  renowned  Bulkhj  justly 
'■>%pt  upon  his  grave.  Yea,  we  may,  on  as  many  accounts  as  these  days 
will  allow,  reckon  him  to  have  been  n  prophet  of  the  Lord  :  and  when  we 
have  entertained  ourselves  with  a  memorable  demonstration  of  ?V,  in  one 
surprising  and  stupendious  article  of  our  church  history,  we  will  put  a 
period  unto  this  part  of  it. 

At  the  time  when  some  unhappy  persons  were  just  going  from  hence 
to  England,  with  certain  petitions,  which  had  a  tendency  to  disturb  the 
j;ood  order  of  things  in  both  chuixh  and  state,  then  settling  among  us, 
Mr.  Cotton  in  the  ordinary  course  of  his  lectures  on  the  Canticles,  preach- 
ed on  Ca7it.  ii.  15.  Take  us  the  foxes,  the  little  foxes,  which  destroy  the  vines. 
Having  thence  observed,  That  when  God  has  delivered  his  church  from  the 
dangers  of  the  persecuting  bear  and  lyon,  then  there  were  foxes  that  would 
seek  by  policy  to  undermine  it :  and,  that  all  those  wlio  go  by  a  fox -I  ike  poli- 
cy to  undermine  the  churches  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  shall  be  taken  and 
overtaken  by  his  judgments.  He  came  at  length  to  his  application,  where 
with  a  more  than  ordinary  majesty  and  fervency,  he  after  this  manner 
expressed  himself. 

'  First,  Let  such  as  live  in  this  country  take  heed,  how  they  go  about 
'  in  any  indirect  way  or  course  to  prejudice  the  c/iwrc^es  of  the  Lord 
'  Jesus  Christ  in  the  land,  or  the  government  of  the  land.  If  you  do,  the 
'  keeper  of  Israel,    who  neither  slumbereth  nor  sleepeth,   will   not  take   it 

*  well   at  your   hands.     He  that  brought  this  people   hither,    and  pre- 

*  served  them  from  the  rage  o?  persecution,  and  made  this  wilderness  an 
'■.hiding-place  for  them,  whilst  he  was  chastising  our  nation,  with  the 
'  other  nations  round  about  it,  and  has  manifested  his  gracious  presence 

*  in   the  midst  of  these  his  golden  candlesticks ,  and  secured  us  from  the- 

*  plots  of  the  late  Archbishop,  and  his  confederates  abroad,  and  from  the 
'  plots  of  the  heathen  here  at  home  ;  there  is  no  question  but  he  will  de- 
'  fend  us  from  the  underminings  of  false  brethren,  and  such  as  fire  joined 
'  with  them.  Wherefore  let  such  know,  that  this  is,  in  many  respects, 
'  ImmamiePs  land,  and  they  shall  not  prospsr  that  rise  up  against  it,  but 
'  shall  be  taken  every  one  of  them  in  the  snares  they  lay  for  it.     This  I 

*  speak  as  a  poor  prophet  of  the  Lord,  according  to  the  word  of  his  grace 

*  nozv  before  us  !  But  in  the  second  place,  whereas  many  of  our  brethren 
'  are   going  to   England,  let  me  direct  a  word  unto  them  also.     I  desire 

*  the  gracious  presence  of  our  God  may  go  with  you,  and  his  OMgels  guard 
'  you,  not  only  from  the  dangers  of  the  seas,  while  you  are  thereupon, 
'  but  also  from  the  errors  of  the  times,  when  you  arrive.  Nevertheless. 
'  if  there  be  any  among  you,  my  brethren,  as  'tis  reported  there  are,  that 

*  have  a  petition  to  prefer  imto  the  High  Court  of  Parliament,  that 
'  may  conduce  to  the  distraction  and  annoyance  of  the  peace  of  our  church- 
'  es,  and  the  weakening  the  government  of  the  land  where  we  live,  let  such 
'know,  the  Lord  will  never  suffer  them  to  prosper  in  their  subtil,  mali- 
'  cious,  desperate  undertakings  against  his   people,   who   are   as   tender 

*  unto  him  as  the  a-pple  of  his  eye.     But  if  there  be  any  such  among  you, 

*  who  are  to  go,  I  do  exhort  you,  and  I  would  advise  you  in  the  fear  of 
'  God,  that  when  the  terrors  of  the  Almighty  shall  beset  the  vessel  where- 
'  in  you  are,  when  the  heavens  shall  frown  upon  you,  and  the  billows  of 

*  the  sea  shall  swell  above  you,  and  the  dangers  of  death  shall  threaten 
'  you,  as  I  am  verily  perswaded  they  will,  I  would  have  you  then  to  con- 

*  sider  your  ways.  I  will  not  give  the  counsel  that  was  taken  concern- 
^ing  Jonas,  to  cast  such  a  person  into  the  sea  ;  God  forbid  !  but  I  coup-el 
'  such  to  come  then  unto  a  resolution  in  themselves  to  desist  frpm  their 

YoL.  I,  33 


258  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  [Book  HI. 

'  enterprizes,  and  cast  their  petitions  into  the  sea.     It  may  be,  that  hard- 
'  ness   of  heart   and  stoutness  of  spirit  may  cause   you   to  persist,  ^d' 
'  yet  ia  mercy  to  some  gracious  persons  among  you,  the  Lord  may  deliv 
*  er  the   ship   from  titter  destruction  for  their  sakes.     But  the  Lord  hath 
'  further  judgments  in  store  :  he  is  the  God  of  the  land,  as  well  as  of  the 
'  sea.      I  speak  this  also,  as  an  tmicorthy  prophet  cf  the  Lord  !' 

These  things  were  then  uttered  by  a  person,  that  was  as  little  of  an 
enthtisiast,  as  most  men  in  the  world.     Now  attend  the  event  I 

That  ship,  after  many  stresses  of  weather  in  the  harbour,  puts  out  to 
sea  ;  but  at  sea  it  had  the  terriblest  passage,  perhaps,  that  ever  was 
heard  of;  the  mariners  not  being  able  to  take  any  observation  of  either 
sun  or  star,  for  seven  hundred  leagues  together.  Certain  well  disposed 
persons  aboard,  now  calling  to  mind  the  words  of  Mr.  Cotton,  thought  it 
neces.sary  to  admonish  the  persons,  who  were  carrying  over  the  malignat 
papers  against  the  country  ;  and  some  of  those  papers  were  by  them 
thereupon  given  to  the  seamen,  who  immediately  cut  them  in  pieces  and 
threw  them  over-board.  The  storm  foithwith  abated  ;  however  thcr' 
afterwards  came  up  nexv  storms,  which  at  last  hurried  the  ship  among  the 
rocks  of  Scilly  ;  where  they  yet  received  a  deliverance,  which  most  of 
them  that  considered  it,  pronounced  miraculous.  When  the  rude  Cornii! 
men  saw  how  miraculously  the  vessel  had  escaped,  they  said,  God  teas 
good  man  to  save  them  so  !  but  tJje  most  instructed  obliged  passengers  kei'i 
a  day  of  solemn  Thanksgiving  to  God  ;  in  which  even  the  profanest  per- 
sons on  board,  under  the  impression  of  what  had  happened,  then  bore  a 
part.  However,  ihe  corn-fields  in  Ncix- England,  still  stood  undisturbed, 
notwithstanding  the  various  names  affixed  unto  the  iailes  of  petition^ 
against  their  liberties.  For,  as  Mr.  Cotton  elegantly  expressed  it,  God 
then  rocqued  three  nations,  "with  shaking  dispeiisations,  that  he  might  procure 
some  rest  unto  his  people  in  this  wihleriiess  '. 

.  §  34.  This  was  Mr.  Cotton  !  what  more  he  was,  let  these  lines,  taking 
no  license  but  from  the  real  truth,    delineate. 

Upon  the  tomb  of  the  most  Reverend  Mr.  John  Cotton,  late   Teacher  of  the 
Church  of  Boston  in  New-England. 

Here  lies  magnanimous  humility  ; 

Majesty,   meekness;  christian  apathy 
On  soft  affections  ;  liberty  in  thrall ; 

A  noble  spirit,  servant  unto  all  ; 
Learning's  great  master-piece,  who  yet  would  sit 

As  a  disciple,  at  his  scholars^  feet : 
A  simple  serpent,  or  serpentine  dove, 

Made  up  of  wisdom,  innocence  and  love  ; 
Neatness  embroider'd  with  it  self  alone. 

And  civils  canonized  in  a  gown  ; 
Embracing  old  and  young,  and  low  and  high, 

Ethics  imbodyed  in  divinity  ; 
Ambitious  to  be  lozi'est^  and  to  raise 

His  brethren's  honour  on  his  own  decays  ; 
(Thus  doth  the  sun  retire  into  his  bed, 

Th*t  being  gone  the  stars  may  shew  their  head 
Could  Txound  at  argument  without  division. 

Cut  to  the  quick,  and  yet  make  no  incision  : 
Ready  to  sacrifice  domes! ick  notions 


Book  III.]        THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  25& 

To  chuihes'  peace,  and  ministers'  devotion*  : 
Himself,  indeed  (and  singular  in  that) 

Whonn  all  admired  he  admired  not  : 
Liv'd  like  an  angel  of  a  mortal  birth, 

Convers'd  in  heaven  while  ho  was  on  earlh  : 
Though  not,  as  Moses,  radiant  with  light 

Whose  glory  dazelTd  the  beholder's  sight, 
Yet  so  divinely  beautifi'd,  you'ld  count 

He  had  been  born  and  bred  upon  the  mount  ; 
A  liviiig  breathing  Bible  ;  tables  where 

Both  covenants,  at  large,  engraven  were  ; 
Gospel  and  laze,  in's  heart,  had  each  its  column  ; 

His  head  an  index  to  the  sacred  volume  j 
His  verj'  name  a  titlc-pwre ;  and  next, 

His  life  a  commentary  on  the  text. 
O,  what  a  monument  of  glorious  worth, 

When,  in  a  new  edition,  he  comes  forth. 
Without  erratas,  raay  we  think  he'l  be 

In  leaves  and  covers  of  eternity  ! 
A  man  of  might,  at  heavenly  eloquence, 

To  fix  the  ear,  and  charm  the  conscience ; 
As  if  Apollos  were  reviv'd  in  him, 

Or  he  had  learned  of  a  Seraphim  : 
Spake  many  tongues  in  one  :   one  voice  and  sense 

Wrought,  joy  and  sorrow,  fear  and  confidence  : 
Rocks  rent  before  him,  blind  received  their  sight ; 

Souls  leveWd  to  the  dunghill,  stood  upright : 
Infernal  furies  bui-st  with  rage  to  see 

Their  prisoners  captiv^d  into  liberty: 
A  star  that  in  our  eastern  England,  rose, 

Thence  hurry'd  by  the  blast  of  stupid  foe.«. 
Whose  foggy  da7-k7iess,  and  benummed  senses, 

Brookt  not  his  daz'ling  fervent  intluences  : 
Thus  did  he  move  on  earth,  from  east  to  west ; 

There  he  went  doxini,  and  up  to  heaven  for  rest. 
Nor  from  himself,  whilst  living,  doth  he  vary, 

His  death  hath  made  him  an  vbiquitary  : 
Where  is  his  sepulchre  is  hard  to  say , 

Who,  in  a  thousand  sepidchres,  doth  lay 
(Their /lear/s,  I  mean,  whom  he  hath  left  behind. 
In  them)  his  sacred  reliques,  now,  enshrin'd. 
But  let  his  mourning  flock  be  comforted. 

Though  Moses  be,  yet  Joshua  is  not  dead  : 
I  mean  renowned  Norton;  worthy  he, 

Successor  to  our  Moses,  is  to  be. 
O  happy  Israel  in  America, 

In  such  a  Moses,  such  a  Joshua. 

B.   WOODBRIDGE. 

§  35.  Three  sons,  and  three  daughters,  was  this  renowned  walker  with 
God  blessed  withal. 

His  eldest  son  did  spend  and  end  his  days  in  the  ministry  of  the  gospel, 
at  Hampton:  being  esteemed  a  thorough  scholar,  and  an  able  preacher; 
and  though  his  name  were  Sea-born,  yet  none  of  the  lately  revived  here- 


260  THE  HISTORY  OF  KEVV-ENGLAND.         [Book  lil. 

sies.  were  more  abominable  to  hira,  than  that  of  his  name-sake,  Pelagius 
[or,  Morgan]  of  whom  the  zn-itness  of  the  ancient  poet  is  true, 

Pestifero  Vomuit  coluber  Sermone  Britaiinus, 

His  second  son  was  a  minister  of  the  gospel,  at  Plymouth  ;  and  one  by 
whom,  not  only  the  English,  but  also  the  Indians  of  America,  had  the 
glad  tidings  of  salvation,  in  their  own  language  carried  unto  them. 

Of  his  two  younger  daughters,  the  first  was  married  unto  a  merchant 
of  good  fashion,  whose  name  was  Mr.  Egginton ;  but  she  did  not  long 
survive  the  birth  of  her  tirst  child,  as  that  child  also  did  not  survive  many 
years  after  the  death  of  her  mother.  The  next  is  at  this  time  living,  the 
consort  of  one  well  known  in  both  Englands,  namely,  Increase  Mather, 
the  President  of  Harvard  Colledge,  and  the  teacher  of  a  church  ia 
Boston. 

The  youngest  of  his  sons,  called  Roland,  and  the  eldest  of  his  daugh- 
ters, called  Sarah,  both  of  them  died  near  together,  of  the  small-pox 
which  was  raging  among  the  inhabitants  of  Boston,  in  the  winter  of  the 
year  1649.  Tne  death  of  those  two  lovely  children,  required  {he  faith 
of  an  Abraham,  in  the  heart  of  their  gracious  father ;  who  indeed  most 
exemplariiy  eajj?-esierf  what  was  required.  On  this  occasion,  I  find,  that 
on  a  spcre  leaf  of  his  dlmanack,  he  wrote  in  Greek  letters  these  English 
verses  ; 

In  Sarain. 

Farewel,  dear  daughter  Sara,  now  thou'rt  gone, 

(Whither  thou  much  desiredst)  to  thine  home  : 

Pray,  my  dear  father,  let  me  now  go  home  ! 

Were  the  last  words  thou  spak'st  to  me  alone. 
Go  then,  sweet  Sara,  take  thy  sabbath  rest. 
With  thy  great  Lord,  and  all  in  heaven  blest. 

In  Rolandurn, 

Our  eldest  daughter,  and  our  youngest  so//, 
Within  nine  days,  both  have  their  full  race  run. 
On  th'  tu-entieth  of  th'  eleventh,  died  she, 
And  on  the  fji-enty  ninth  day  died  he. 
Both  in  their  lives  were  lovely  and  united. 
And  in  their  deaths  they  were  not  much  divided. 
Christ  gave  them  both,  aadhe  takes  both  again 
To  live  with  him  ;  blest  be  his  holy  namt. 

In  Utruiaqne. 

Suffer,  saith  Christ,  your  little  ones. 

To  come  forth,  me  iinio. 
For  of  such  ones  my  kingdom  is, 

Of  grace  and  glory  too. 
We  do  not  only  suffer  them, 

But  (ffer  them  to  thee^ 
Now,  blessed  Lord,  let  usbelifvt. 

Accepted,  that  they  be  : 


Book  III.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  261 

That  thou  hast  took  them,  in  thine  arms, 

And  on  them  put  thine  hand, 
And  blessed  them  with  sight  of  thee, 

Wherein  our  blessings  staud. 

But  he  has  at  this  day  Jive  grandsons,  all  of  them  employed  in  the  pub- 
lick  service  of  the  gospel  ;  whereof,  let  the  reader  count  him  the  mean- 
est, that  is  the  writer  of  this  history ;  and  accept  further  one  litfle  piece 
of  history,  relating  hereunto. 

The  gathering  of  the  second  church  in  Boston,  was  evidently  very 
much  to  the  disadvantage  of  Mr.  Cotton,  in  many  of  his  interests.  But 
he  was  a  John,  who  reckoned  his  joy  fidfilled  in  this,  that  in  his  own  de- 
crease the  interests  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  woulii  increase :  and  there- 
fore, with  an  exemplary  self-denial,  divesting  himself  of  all  carnal  re- 
spects, he  set  himself  to  encourage  the  foundation  of  that  church,  out  of 
respect  unto  the  service  and  worship  of  our  common  Lord.  Now,  it  has 
pleased  the  Lord  so  to  order  it,  that  many  years  after  his  decease,  that 
self-denial  of  his  holy  servant,  has  turned  unto  some  account,  in  the  op- 
portunities which  that  very  church  has  given  unto  his  children,  to  glorify 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  in  the  conduct  of  it :  his  son-in-law  has  been  for 
more  than  thrice  ten  years,  and  his  grandson  for  more  than  tn-ice  seven 
years,  the  ministers  of. the  gospel,  in  that  very  church,  accommodated 
with  happy  opportunities,  to  serve  their  generation. 

EPITAPHIUM. 

Johannes  Cottonus, 

Cuj\is  Ultima  Laus  est, 
(^uod  fuerit  inter  Nov-Anglos  Primus. 


CHAPTER  II. 

NoRTONt's  Honoratus,  the  Lifk  of  3Ir.  John  Nortox. 

§  1.  There  was  a  famous  Johi  whose  atchievements  arc  by  our  Lord 
emblazoned  in  those  terms  ;  He  zi.>as  a  burning  and  a  shining  light.  In 
the  tabernacle  of  old,  erected  by  the  order  and  for  the  worship  of  God, 
there  were  those  two  things,  a  candlestick  and  an  altar  ;  in  the  one  nligJit 
i  that  might  never  go  out,  in  the  other  a  Jire  that  might  never  be  extin- 
guished ;  and  yet  such  an  affinity  between  these,  that  there  was  a  fire  in 
the  light  of  the  one,  and  a  light  in  the^re  of  the  other.  Such  a  mixture 
of  both  faith  and  love  should  be  in  those  that  are  employed  about  the 
service  of  the  tabernacle :  and  though  the  tabernacle  erected  for  our 
Lord  in  this  wilderness,  had  many  such  burning  and  shining  lights ;  yet 
among  the  chief  of  them  is  to  be  reckoned,  that  John  which  we  had  ia 
our  blessed  Norton. 

§  2.  He  was  born  the  sixth  of  May,  1606,  at  Starford  in  Hartfordshire  ; 
descended  of  honourable  ancestors.  In  his  early  childhood  he  discov- 
ered a  ripeness  of  wit,  which  gave  just  hopes  of  his  proving  extraordi- 
nary :  and  under  Mr.  Strange  in  the  school  of  Bunningford,  he  made  such 
a  proficiency,  that  he  could  betimes  write  good  Latin,  witli  a  more  than 


Zijt  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  [Book  10. 

common  elegancy  and  invention.  \i  fourteen  3'ears  of  age,  being  sent 
unto  Peter-House,  he  staid  there,  till  after  his  taking  of  his  first  degree  ; 
where  a  Romish  emissarj,  taking  a  curious  and  exact  observation  of  his 
notable  accompligbiiients,  used  ail  the  methods  he  could  think  of,  to  have 
seduced  him  over  unto  the  Romish  irreligion  :  but  God  intending  him  to 
be  a  pillar  in  his  own  temple,  mercifully  prevented  his  hearkening  unto 
any  temptations  to  become  asuppor-t  uuto  the  tower  of  Babel. 

§  3.  in  his  youth  he  was  accustomed  unto  some  xjoutkful  vanities ;  es- 
pecially unto  card-plaijing  ;  an  evil  which  he  did  first  ponder  and  reform 
upon  a  serious  admonition,  which  a  servant  of  his  father's  gave  unto  hici 
When  he  came  to  consider  that  a  lot  is  a  solemn  appeal  unto  the  God  0*. 
heaven,  and  even  by  the  rudest  Gentiles  counted  a  sacred  thing,  ht 
thought  that  playing  with  it,  w  as  a  breach  of  the  Third  Coynmandment  in 
the  laws  of  our  God  ;  it  should  be  used,  he  thought,  rather  prayerfully 
than  sportfully.  He  considered,  that  the  Papists  themselves  do  not  allow 
these  games  in  ecclesiastical  persons,  and  the  fathers  do  reprove  them 
with  a  vehement  zeal  in  all  sorts  of  perso7is.  tie  considered,  that  when 
the  Roman  empire  became  christian,  severe  edicts  were  made  against, 
these  games,  and  that  our  Protestant  reformers  have  branded  them  with 
an  infamous  character ;  wherefore  inclining  now  to  follow  Tu'liatsoever 
things  are  of  a  good  report,  he  would  no  longer  meddle  with  games  that 
had  so  much  of  a  scandal  in  them. 

§  4.  An  extreme  disaster  belalling  his  father's  estate,  he  left  the  Uni- 
versity;  and  became  at  once  usher  to  the  school,  and  curate  in  the  church 
at  Starford:  where  a  lecture  being  maintained  by  a  combination  of  seve- 
ral godly  and  able  ministers,  he  on  that  occasion  fell  into  acquaintance 
with  several  of  them  ;  especially  Mr.  Jeremiah  Dyke,  of  Epping,  by 
whose  ministry  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God  gave  him  a  discovery  of  his  own 
manifold  sinfulness  and  wretchedness  in  an  unregenerate  state^  and  awa- 
kened him  unto  such  a  self-examination,  as  drove  him  to  a  sorrow  little 
short  of  despair  :  but  after  some  time,  the  same  Holy  Spirit  enabled  him 
to  receive  the  Christ  and  grace,  tendered  in  the  promises  of  the  gospel, 
with  an  imspeahahle  consolation.  Whereupon  he  thought  himself  con- 
cerned in  that  advice  of  heaven,  JVheri  thou  art  converted,  strengthen  tluj 
brethren! 

§  5.  Having  before  this  been  well  studied  in  the  tongues  and  arts,  he 
was  the  better  fitted  for  the  higher  studies  of  divinity ;  whereto  he  now 
wholly  addicted  himself:  and  being  in  his  own  happy  experience  ac- 
quainted with  faith,  and  repjcntance,  and  holiness,  he  did  from  that  expe- 
rience now  make  lively  sermons  on  those  points  unto  his  hearers.  He 
soon  grew  eminent  in  his  ministry  ;  setting  off  the  truths  he  delivered, 
not  only  with  such  ornaments  of  laconic  and  well  contrived  expression, 
as  made  him  worthy  to  be  called,  the  master  of  sentences,  but  also  with 
such  experimental  passages  of  devotion,  as  made  him  admired  for  a 
preacher  seeking  out  acceptable  ■words. 

§  6.  His  accomplishments  rendered  him  as  capable  of  preferments,  as 
most  in  his  age  ;  but  preferments  were  then  so  clogged  with  troublesome 
and  scruplesome  impositions,  that  Mr.  Korton,  as  well  as  other  conscien- 
tious young  ministers,  his  contemporaries,  declined  medliug  with  them. 
His  aversion,  and  indeed  antipathy  to  Arminianism  fafter  he  was,  as 
Bradzvardin  speaks,  Gratice  Radio  Visitatus,)  and  his  dislike  of  the  cere- 
monies, particularly  hindered  him  from  a  considerable  benefice,  whereto 
his  unkle  might  have  helped  him.  Dr.  Sibs  also,  the  wat-teT  of  Katharine 
Rail  in  Cambridge,  taken  with  his  abilities,  did  earnestly  solicite  him,  to 


Book  III.]  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEVV-ENGLAND.  203 

have  accepted  of  7y  fellowship  in  that  Collep;e  ;  but  his  conscience  bein^ 
no\v  sutisiied  in  the  vnlaufulness  of  some  things  then  required  in  order 
thereunto,  would  not  permit  him  to  do  it.  One  asked  once  a  great  pre- 
late at  court,  how  it  came  to  pass,  that  such  a  preacher  (an  ancient  chap- 
lain there)  a  wise,  grave,  holy  man,  did  not  ?7'se  /  meaning  by  way  of 
preferment :  the  prelate  answered  him,  Truly,  let  me  tell  you,  that  I  verily 
think,  he  never  will  rise  until  the  resurrection.  Truly,  let  me  now  tell  the 
world,  that  such  were  the  principles  of  Mr.  Norton,  there  was  no  likeli- 
hood of  his  rising  in  this  world,  as  things  then  went  in  the  world. 
Wherefore  he  contented  himself  with  a  more  private  life,  as  chaplain  in 
two  Knights'  house  at  High  Lex^er  in  Essex,  namely,  Sir  fVilliam  J\Iash- 
aj«'s ;  there  waiting,  till  God  might  furnish  him  with  unexrepiahle  oppor- 
tvtiities,  for  his  more  publick  preaching  of  the  gospel.  But  generally, 
all  those  who  had  any  taste  of  his  ministry,  had  a  very  high  opinion  of 
it  ;  nor  was  there  any  man  in  that  part  of  the  country  more  esteemed 
than  he  was,  for  all  sorts  of  excellencies  ;  insomuch,  that  when  he  came 
away,  an  ancient  minister  said.  He  believed  there  zcas  not  more  grace  and 
holiness  left  in  all  Egsex,  than  zchat  Mr.  Norton  had  carried  with  him. 

§  7.  His  natural  temper  had  a  tincture  of  choler  in  it ;  but  as  the 
sowrest  and  harshest j^rmVs  become  the  most  jileasant,  when  tempered 
with  a  due  proportion  of  sweetness  added  thereunto,  so  the  grace  of  God 
siveetiied  the  disposition  of  this  good  man,  into  a  most  affable,  courteous, 
and  complaisant  behaviour,  which  rendered  him  exceeding  amiable.  In- 
deed when  the  apostle  speaks  of  the  spirit,  and  soid,  and  body,  being 
sanctified,  some  do  by  spirit  understand  the  natural  temper,  or  humour ; 
and  accordingly  the  spirit  of  this  quick  man  being  mnctified,  he  became  a 
man  of  an  excellent  spirit. 

§  8.  Vast  was  the  treasure  of  learning  in  this  reverend  man.  He  was 
not  only  a  most  accurate  grammarian,  which  is  abundantly  manifested  by 
his  printed  works  in  divers  languages  ;  but  an  universal  sc/to/ar  ;  never- 
theless, 'twas  as  a  school-man  that  he  showed  himself  the  most  of  a  scholar. 
He  accounted  that  the  excellency  of  a  scholar  lay  more  in  distinctness  of 
judgment,  than  in  elegancy  of  language ;  and  therefore,  though  he  had  a 
neater  style  than  most  other  men,  yet  he  vvas  desirous  to  furnish  himself 
ad  pugnam,  rather  than  ad  pompam.  Hence  having  intimatel y  acquaint- 
ed himself  with  the  subtiliies  of  scholastic  divinity,  he  made  all  to  illus- 
trate the  doctrine  of  Christ  and.  of  grace,  unto  which  he  made  all  the 
spoils  of  the  schools  gloriously  subservient.  He  vvas  a  most  elegant 
preacher,  and  the  true  follower  of  Dr.  Sibs ! 

§  9.  But  let  his  excellencies  have  been  what  they  will,  there  was  in 
those  days  a  set  of  men,  resolved  that  the  church  of  God  should  lose  the 
benefit  of  all  those  excellencies,  except  the  person  which  had  them 
could  comply  with  certain  uninstituted  rites  in  the  worship  of  God  : 
which  our  Mr.  Norton  could  not  ;  and  it  was  that  which  made  him  ours. 
This  drove  him  to  the  remote  regions  of  America,  where  he  hoped,  as 
well  he  might,  that  there  would  never  be  done  so  u7ireasonable  a  thing- 
as  to  obstruct  that  evangelical  worship  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  for  the 
sake  whereof  those  regions  have  been  added  unto  the  English  dominions. 
Wherefore  in  the  year  163'1,  having  married  a  gentlewoman  both  of  good 
estate,  and  of  good  esteem,  he  took  £hi]>ping  for  New-England,  accom- 
panied in  the  same  ship  with  the  famous  Mr.  Thomas  Shepurd. 

§  iO.  In  the  road  betwixt  Harzfich  and  Yarmouth,  he  very  narrowly 
escaped  a  terrible  shipwrack  :  for  by  the  vehcmcncy  of  a  storm  all  their 
anchors  gave  wav,  so  that  they  were  driven  within  a  cable's  length  of 


264  l^HE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  III. 

the  sands;  but  yet  the  anchor  of  their  hope  in  God,  held  fust  unto  the 
last.  Mr.  Shepard  having  taken  the  mariners  above  decks,  Mr.  Norton 
took  the  passengers  between  decks,  and  each  of  them  with  their  compa- 
ny, applied  themselves  unto  fervent  prayer,  whereto  the  Almighty  God 
save  a  present  answer  in  their  wonderful  deliverance.  After  this  tem- 
pest, which  disappointed  their  voyage  to  New-England  for  that  season, 
Mr.  Norton  returned  unto  his  friends  in  Essex ;  where  Mr.  Dyke  wel- 
comed him,  as  one  come  from  the  dead  ;  professing  to  him,  That  he  wcnld 
have  given  many  pounds  for  such  a  tryal  of  his  faith,  as  this  his  friend  had 
newly  met  withal. 

§  11.  The  next  year  Mr.  Norton  renewed  his  voyage  to  New-England  ; 
but  intervening  accidents  made  it  very  late  in  the  year,  before  he  could  be- 
gin the  voyage  :  and  so,  coming  upon  the  American  coast  in  the  month  of 
October,  they  encountred  with  another  very  terrible  storm,  which  lasted 
eight  and  forty  hours  with  great  extremity,  and  had  broken  the  vessel  to 
pieces,  if  it  had  not  had  a  strength  more  than  ordinary.  On-e  wave  re- 
markably washed  some  of  the  sea-men  overboard  on  one  side,  and  then 
threw  them  in  again  on  the  other  :  and  so  vehement  was  the  storm,  that 
they  were  forced  at  length  to  undergird  the  ship  with  the  cable,  that  they 
might  keep  her  sides  together.  But  within  ten  days  after  this,  ther 
were  brought  safe  into  Plymouth  harbour. 

$  12.  There  had  been  some  overtures  between  him  and  Mr.  Winslo-s... 
the  agent  of  Plymouth,  now  on  board  with  him,  about  his  accepting  of  a 
settlement  in  that  plantation  ;  and  the -people  of  Plymouth  now  courte- 
ously and  earnestly  invited  him,  accordingly  to  continue  %vith  them.  Nev- 
ertheless, the  state  of  things  in  the  Massachusct-co\ox\-^ ^  was  more  agreea- 
ble unto  him  ;  and  the  church  of  Ipswich  made  their  speedy  applications 
unto  him,  to  take  the  pastoral  charge  of  them.  This  occasioned  his  de- 
liberation with  his  friends  in  the  bay,  what  course  to  steer. 

§  13.  While  he  sojourned  in  his  unsettled  state  at  Boston,  he  came  into 
acquaintance  with  the  ministers  thereabouts,  who  entertained  him  with 
a  very  high  opinion  of  him  ;  especially  Mr.  Mather  of  Dorchester,  who 
though  of  longer  standing  than  he,  yet  consulted  him  as  an  oracle,  in  mat- 
ters of  greatest  consequence  unto  hi-m  ;  and  found  him  so  accomplished 
and  experienced  a  person,  that  he  maintained  a  most  valuable  friendship 
with  him  to  the  last.  Yea,  though  he  were  yet  a  young  man,  and  short 
of  thirty,  when  he  first  came  into  the  country,  yet  the  magistrates  of  the 
colony  soon  became  so  sensible  of  his  abilities,  as  to  make  use  ofhim  in 
some  of  their  most  arduous  affairs.  And  there  happened  several  occa- 
-■iions  to  try  the  scholastick  emmencies,  whereto  he  was  arrived  ;  one  of 
which  was,  when  there  was  in  these  parts  a  French  friar,  who  found  in 
Mr.  Norton,  a  protestant,  equal  to  his  own  school-men,  and  well  ac- 
quainted with  them  all.  Indeed  there  was  in  him  the  union  oftzro  excel- 
lencies, which  do  not  always  meet.  It  was  the  character  o{  Hortensius, 
that  he  was  weak  in  writing,  and  yet  able  to  speak  :  it  was  the  character 
of  Abericus,  that  he  was  weak  in  speech,  and  yet  able  in  writing  :  but 
our  Norton  was  in  both  of  these  a  very  able  person. 

§  14.  It  was  the  church  of  Ipswich,  that  our  Lord  gave  so  rich  a 
thing,  as  his  eminent  servant  Norton  :  but  besides  the  constant  labours 
of  this  holy  and  fruitful  man,  in  that  particular  church,  he  there  did 
several  great  services  of  a  more  extensive  influence  to  the  whole  Church 
of  God  ;  whereof  one  was  this  :  Guilielnivs  Apollonii,  at  the  directioa 
of  the  divines  in  Zealand,  in  the  year  1644,  sent  over  to  New-England' 
a  number  of  questions,  relating  to  onr  way  of  church-government :  where- 


Book  IH.J         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  205 

to  the  ministers  of  New-England  unanimously  imposed  upon  Mr. 
Norton  the  task  of  drawing  up  an  answer,  which  he  finished  in  the  year 
1645,  and  it  was,  1  suppose,  the  hrst  Latin  book  that  ever  was  written 
in  this  country.  What  satisfaction  it  gave,  may  be  gathered,  not  only 
from  the  attestations  of  Dr.  Goodwin,  Mr.  Xye,Mc.  -S'y/np.so«,  thereunto  ; 
but  also  from  the  expressions  of  Dr.  Ilurnbeck,  who  frequently  magni- 
fies the  reason,  and  the  candour  of  our  jYew-Englisk  divine,  even  in  those 
points,  wherein  he  does  himself  dissent  from  him.  Nor  is  it  amiss  to 
add  the  words  in  Dr.  /ti/Zer's  Church-History,  hereupon;  which  are: 
Of  all  the  authors  I  have  perused  concerning  these  opinions,  none  to  me  was 
?nore  informative  than  Mr.  John  Norton,  one  of  no  less  learning  than 
modesty,  in  his  answer  to  ApoUonius,  pastor  in  the  church  of  Middleburgh. 

§  15.  It  will  do  no  hurt  for  me  to  repeat  one  passage  on  this  occasion, 
which  to  me  seemed  wortli}'  of  some  remark.  While  Mr.  Norton  was 
deeply  engaged  in  writing  his  Latin  account  of  our  church-discipline, 
some  of  his  more  accurate  and  judicious  hearers,  imagined  that  his  publick 
sermons  wanted  a  little  of  that  exactness,  which  did  use  to  attend  them  ; 
whereof  one  said  something  to  that  Mr.  Whiting,  whom  1  may  well  call 
the  angel  in  the  church  of  Lrju.  Mr.  Whiting  hereupon  in  a  very  respect- 
ful and  obliging  manner,  spoke  to  Mr.  Norton,  saying,  Sir,  there  are  some 
oj  your  people  who  think  that  the  services  wherein  you  are  engaged  for 
all  the  churches,  do  something  take  off  the  edge  of  the  ministry,  wherewith 
you  should  serve  your  ozan  pa7-ticular  church  ;  I  would  intreat  you.  Sir,  to 
consider  this  matter  ;  for  our  greatest  work  is  to  preach  the  gospel  unto  that 
flock,  whereof  we  are  overseers.  Our  great  and  good  man  took  the 
excellent  oyl  of  this  intimation,  with  the  kindness  v/hich  became  such  a 
man,  and  made  it  serviceable  unto  his  holy  studies. 

§  16,  Another  considerable  service,  which  then  called  for  the  studies 
of  this  excellent  man,  was  the  advising,  modelling,  and  recommending 
the  Platform  of  Church-Discipline ,  agreed  by  a  Synod  at  Cambridge,  in  the 
year  1647.  Into  that  Platform  he  would  fain  have  had  inserted,  certain 
propositions  concerning  the  watch,  which  our  churches  are  to  have  over 
the  children  born  in  them  ;  which  propositions  were  certainly  the  first 
principles  of  New-England ;  only  the  fierce  oppositions  of  one  eminent 
person,  caused  him  that  was  of  a  peaceable  temper,  to  forbear  urging  them 
any  further  ;  by  which  means,  when  those  very  propositions  came  to  be 
advanced  and  embraced  in  another  Synod,  more  than  twice  seven  years 
after,  many  people  did  ignorantly  count  them  novelties.  Moreover, 
when  the  Synod  first  assembled,  it  was  a  thing  of  some  unhappy  conse- 
quence, that  the  church  of  Boston  would  not  send  any  messengers  unto  it : 
but  Mr.  jVorton  preachiug  the  next  lecture  there,  wherein  he  handled  the 
nature  of  councils,  and  the  power  of  civil  magistrates  to  call  such  assem- 
blies, and  the  duty  of  the  churches  in  regarding  their  advice,  the  church 
of  Boston  were  therewithal  so  satisfied,  as  to  testifie  their  communion 
with  the  rest  of  the  churches,  by  sending  three  messengers  to  accompa- 
ny their  elders  now  in  the  Synod.  And  when  the  result  of  the  Synod 
came  to  try  its  acceptance  in  the  churches,  he  did  his  part,  especially  in 
his  own,  with  a  prudent  and  pious  diligence  to  obtain  it ;  which  was  hap- 
pily accomplished. 

§  17.  There  was  yet  one  comprehensive  service  more,  which  this 
Jearned  man  here  did  for  the  church  of  God  ;  and  that  was  this  :  a  gen- 
tleman of  New-England  had  written  a  book,  entituled.  The  meritorious 
f rice  of  man'' s  redemption  :  wherein  he  pretends  to  prove.  Tiiat  Christ 
mffered  not  for  us  those  unutterable  torments  oj  God''s  Toirath,  'vhich  ara 
Vol.  I.    '  3* 


'2eQ  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  HI. 

fommuiiiy  called  hell-tornients,  to  redeem  our  soids  from  them  ;  and  that 
Christ  bure  not  our  sins  by  God's  imputation,  and  therefore  also  did  not 
bear  the  curse  of  the  larv  for  them.  The  General  Court  of  the  colony, 
concerned  that  the  glorious  truths  of  tlie  gospel  might  be  rescued  from 
the  confusions,  whereinto  the  essay  of  this  gentleman  had  thrown  them, 
rind  afraid  lest  the  church  of  God  abroad  should  suspect  that  Ne-w-Eng' 
land  allowed  of  such  exorbitant  aberrations,  appointed  Mr.  Norton  to 
draw  up  an  answer  to  that  erroneous  treatise.  This  work  he  performed 
with  a  most  elaborate  and  judicious  pen,  in  a  book  afterwards  published 
under  the  title  of,  Jl  discussion  of  that  great  point  in  Divinity,  the  suffer- 
ings of  Christ :  and  the  qtiestions  about  his  active  and  passive  righteoitsness. 
and  the  imputation  thereof.  In  that  book  the  true  principles  of  the  gos- 
pel are  stated  with  so  much  demonstration,  as  is  indeed  unanswerable. 
The  great  assertion  therein  explained  and  maintained,  is,  (according  to  the 
express  words  of  the  reverend  author,)  '•  That  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
'  as  God-man,  and  Mediator,  according  to  the  will  of  the  Father,  and  his 
'  own  voluntary  consent,  fully  obeyed  the  law,  doing  the  command  in  a 
'  way  of  roorks,  and  suffering  the  essential  punishment  of  the  curse,  in  a 
'  way  of  obedient  satisfaction  unto  divine  justice,  thereby  exactly  fulfil- 
'  ling  the  first  covenant :  which  active  and  passive  obedience  of  his,  to- 
'  gether  with  his  original  righteousness,  as  a  surety,  God,  of  his  rich 
-  grace,  actually  imputeth  unto  believers  ;  whom,  upon  the  receipt  there- 
'  of,  by  the  grace  of  faith,  he  declareth  and  accepteth,  as  perfectly  righi- 
'  eous,  and  acknowledgeth  them  to  have  a  right  unto  eternal  life.'' 

And  in  every  clause  of  this  position,  the  author  expressed  not  his  own 
sence  alone,  but  the  sence  of  all  the  churches  in  the  country  :  in  testi- 
mony whereof,  there  was  published  at  the  end  of  the  book,  an  instru- 
ment signed  by  five  considerable  names,  Cotton,  Wilson,  Mather,  Symmes, . 
and  Tompson,  who  in  the  name  of  others,  declai'e,  '  As  they  believe,  they 
'  do  also  profess,  that  the  obedience  of  Christ  to  the  whole  law,  which  is 
'  the  law  of  righteousness,  is  the  matter  of  our  justification;  and  the  im- 
*  putation  of  our  sins  to  Christ  (and  thereupon  his  suffering  the  sense  of 
'  the  rerath  of  God  upon  him  for  our  sin)  and  the  imputation  of  his  obe- 
'  dience  and  sufferings  tons,  are  the  formal  cause  of  onv  justification  ; 
'  and  that  they  who  deny  this,  do  now  take  away  both  of  these,  both. 
'  matter  and  form  of  our  justification,  which  is  the  life  of  our  souls,  and 
'  of  our  religion,  and  therefore  called  the  justification,  of  life.^ 

This  being  the  primitive  doctrine  of  justification,  among  the  churches 
of  Ne-s:- England;  the  things  that  were  judged  opposite  hereunto,  in  the 
renowned  Richard  Baxter'' s  aphorisms  of  justification,  did  then  give  a 
great  and  just  offence  unto  the  faithful  in  this  country  :  yea,  they  looked 
upon  many  things  in  his  writings,  to  be,  as  Photius  has  it,  upon  some- 
things in  Clemens  Alexandrinus ;  that  is  to  say,  things  expressed,  '»t'  'vyiag, 
not  safely  and  soundly ;  albeit,  the  other  more  practical  and  savory  books 
of  that  holy  man,  were  highly  valued  in  these  American  regions  ;  and  not 
a  few  have  here  blessed  God  for  him,  and  for  his  labours.  And  as  in 
those  elder  days  of  Ke7Ji:-England,  the  esteem  which  our  churches  had 
for  that  eminent  man,  did  not  hinder  them  from  rejecting  that  ?iea)  cove' 
nant  of  nnn-ks,  with  which  they  thought  he  confounded  that  most  impor- 
tant article,  upon  the  notions  whereof  the  (7iH?v7i  either  stands  or  falls  : 
thus  it  is  a  grief  of  mind  unto  our  churches  at  this  day,  lO  find  that  great 
and  good  man,  in  some  of  his  last  rvorks,  under  the  blinding  heat  of  his 
indignation  against  some  which  we  also  account  nnjust'fiable,  yea,  dange- 
rous opinions  and  expressions  of  Dr,  Crisp,   reproaching  some  of  the 


Look  lil.]  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  267 

most  undoubted  points  in  our  common  faith.  We  read  him  unaccounta- 
bly enumerating  amons:  errors,  which  he  says,  have  corrupted  Christianity, 
and  subverted  the  gospel,  such  things  as  these  : 

'  They  feign,  that  God  made  a  covenant  with  Adam,  that  if  he  stood. 

•  God  would  continue  him,  and  his   posterity  ;  and  if  he  fell,  God  would 

'  take  it,    as  if  all  his  posterity,   then   personally  sinned   in   him. 

'  Feig7iing  God  to  make  Adam,  not  only  the  natural   father  and  root  of 

*  mankind,  but  also  arbitrarily,  a  constituted  represenier  of  all  the  persons 
'  that  should  spring  from  him.  Whence  tiiey  infer,  that  Christ  was  by 
'  God's  imposition,  and  his  own  sponsion,  made  the  legal  representative 

*  person  of  every  one  of  the  elect,  taken  singularly  :  so  that  what  he 
'  did  for  them,  God  reputeth  them  to  have  done  by  him.  Hereby  they 
'  falsly  make  the  person  of  the  Mediator,  to  be  the  legal  person  of  the 
'  sinner. 

'  They /org-e  a  law,  that  God  never  made,  that  saith,  Thou  or  thy  sure- 

•  ty,  shall  obey  perfectly,  or  die. 

'  They  feign  God  to  have  made  an  eternal  covenant  with  his  Son. 

*  They  feign  Christ  to  have  made  such  an  e.r(7m?io-e  with  the  elect,  as 

•  that  having  taken  all  their  sins,  he  hath  given  them  all  his  righteousness; 

*  not  only  the  fruit  of  it,  but  the  tlmig  in  itself. 

'  They  say,  that  by  the  imputation  of  Christ's  righteousness,  habitual 

and  actual,  we  are  judged  perfectly  just. 
'  They  talk   o{  justification  in  meer  ignorant  confusion  : They 

;:iy.  that  to  justife  is  not  to  make  righteous,  but  to  judge  righteous. 
'  They  err  grosly,  saying,  that  by  [faith  imputed  for  righteousness]  and 
"  [our  being  justified  by  faith]  is  not  meant,  the  act,  or  habit  of  faith,  but 
'  the  object,  Christ's  righteousness :  not  sticking  thereby  to  turn  such 
-^  texts  into  worse  than  nonsence.'  [All  these  are  Mr.  Baxter's  words,  in 
his  Defence  of  Christ,  chap.  2.] 

These  things,  which  our  churches  with  amazement,  behold  Mr.  Bax- 
ter thus  calling  fictions,  falsehoods,  forgeries,  ignorant  confusions,  and 
gross  errors,  were  defended  by  Mr.  Norton,  as  the  faith  once  delivered 
unto  the  saints  :  nor  do  our  churches  at  this  day  consider  them,  as  any 
other,  than  glorious  truths  of  the  gospel ;  which,  as  they  were  maintained 
by  Mr.  Norton.  So  two  divines,  which  were  the  scholars  of  Mr.  Nor- 
ton, well  known  in  both  Englands,  Nathanael,  and  Increase  Mather,  [Fra- 
trum  dulce  Par ;)  and  a  third,  a  worthy  minister  of  the  gospel,  Mr.  Sam- 
uel Willard,  now  living  in  the  same  house  from  whence  Mr.  Norton- 
went,  unto  that  not  made  with  hands,  have  in  their  printed  labours  most 
accurately  expressed  them,  and  conlirmed  them.  Hence,  although  as  on 
lh«  one  side,  I  have  this  passage  of  Mr.  Baxter  s,  in  a  letter  from  him, 
written  but  a  few  months  before  he  died,  /  am  as  zealous  a  lover  of  the 
New-England  churches  as  any  man,  according  to  Mr.  Norton's  and  the 
Synod'' s  model :  so  on  the  other  side,  the  memory  of  Mr.  Baxter  is  on 
many  accounts  zealously  loved  among  the  churches  of  Nezo-England,  yet 
espousing  the  principles  for  their  establishment,  wherein  Mr.  Norton  had 
appeared  :  nevertheless,  inasmuch  as  Mr.  Baxter,  just  before  his  en- 
trance into  his  everlasting  rest,  requested  of  my  parent  then  in  London  . 
Sir,  if  youknow  of  any  errors  in  any  of  my  writings,  I  pray  you  to  confute 
them  after  lam  dead.  I  thought  it  not  amiss,  to  regard  so  far  the  gospel- 
truths  of  justification  at  this  day  labouring,  as  to  take  occasion  from  the 
mention  of  Mr.  Norton's  book,  to  say,  that  in  that  one  book  of  his,  there 
is  a  confutation  of  Mr.  Baxter,  who  seems  to  oppose  those  things,  which 
the  churches  of  Nezc- England  indcre  cannot  be  denied  without  corrupting 


268  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEVV-ENGLAND.         [Book  HI. 

of  christianify,  and  subverting  of  the  gospel.  But  waving  any  further  men- 
tion of  the  book,  I  cannot  leave  unmentioncd  a  couple  of  passages  in  the 
vreface  of  it,  which  is  dedicatory  to  the  General  Court  of  the  Massackuset 
colony.  One  is  this  :  /  appeal  to  any  competently  judicious  and  sober- 
minded  man,  if  the  denial  of  rule  in,  the  Presbytery,  of  a  decisive  voice 
in  the  Synod,  and  of  the  pozvcr  of  the  magistrate  in  matters  of  religion,  do 
not  in  this  point  translate  the  Papal  power  unto  the  brotherhood  of  every 
congregation.  Another  is  this  :  You  have  been  among  the  first  of  magis- 
trates, which  have  approved  and  practised  the  Congregational  way  ;  no 
small  favour  from  God,  nor  honour  to  your  selves,  with  the  generation  to 
come,  when  that  shall  appear  to  be  the  way  of  Christ. 

§  18.  But  we  say  nothing  of  JSforton,  if  we  don't  speak  of  an  orthodox 
evangelist.  Being  himself  such  an  one,  he  digested  the  subtleties  of  the 
school-men  in^o  solid  and  wholesome  Christianity,  which  he  published  in  a 
treatise  entituled,  The  Orthodox  Evangelist :  wherein  he  handles  the  ah- 
struse  points  of  the  existence  and  subsistence,  and  cfficience  of  God,  and  the 
person o{  Christ,  and  the  methods  of  the  Spirit  m  uniting  us  to  him;  and 
the  doctrine  oi  justification,  with  ihcfulure  and  happy  state  of  the  saints  ; 
all  in  such  a  manner,  that  Mr.  Cotton  saw  cause  to  say  in  his  preface  to 
this  treatise,  Clusters  of  ripe  grapes  passing  under  the  press,  a,re  fit  to  be 
transported  unto  all  nations  ;  thus,  such  gifts  and  labours  passing  under  the 
press,  may  be  fitly  communicated  to  all  churches.  The  physicians  do  speak, 
there  are  Pilluiae  sine  Quibus  esse  nolo  ;  so  there  are  Libelli  sine  quibus, 
some  books.  Sine  quibus  esse  nolo  ;  aiid  this  is  one  of  them.  This  book 
he  dedicated  unto  his  own  church,  in  Ipswich;  and  in  the  close  of  his 
dedication,  I  cannot  forget  this  emphalical  passage,  Youare  our glury  and 
joy  :  forget  not  the  emphasis  in  the  zvord,  our  :  ministers,  compared  zvith 
other  christians,  have  little  to  joy  in  in  this  world :  it  is  not  with  the  ministers 
of  the  present,  as  with  the  ministers  of  late  times ;  nor  with  your  exiles,  as 
with  some  others.  Let  this  our,  or  if  you  please  youT  condition,  for  therein 
you  have  been  both  partakers  with  us,  and  supporters  of  us,  be  your  provo- 
cation. Thus  and  more  than  thus  useful,  was  this  Bradwardin  of  Nezi'- 
England,  while  Ipswich  had  him. 

§  19.  When  Cotton,  that  man  of  God,  lay  sick  of  the  sickness  whereof 
he  died,  his  church  desired  that  he  would  nominate  and  recommend  a  fit 
person  to  succeed  him  ;  and  he  advised  them  to  apply  themselves  unto 
Mr.  Norton,  hoping  that  the  church  of  Ipswich  being  accommodated  with 
such  another  eminent  person  as  Mr.  Rogers,  would  out  of  respect  unto 
the   general  good  of  all  the  people  of  God  throughout  the  land,  so  far  ' 
deny  themselves,  as  to  dismiss  him  from  themselves.     That  which  gave  > 
encouragement  unto  this   business,  was  not  a   dream  of  Mr.  Cotton''s,^ 
though  it  wab  indeed  a  strange  thing,  that  Mr.  Cotton  in  his  illness,  being^f 
sollicitous  what  counsel  to  give  unto  his  church,  he  dreamed,  that  he 
saw  Mr.  jYorton  riding  unto  Boston,  to  succeed   him,  upon  a  Zf.>hite  horse, 
in  circumstances  that  were  exactly  afterwards  accomplished  :   and  when 
Mr.  [FiVson,  with  his  flock,  saw  the  thing  accomplishetl,  it  caused  them  to 
look  upon  Mr.  Norton,  almost  vvitb   the  same  eye,   that  old  .Narcissus, 
with  the  church  at  Jerusalem,  did  upon  Alexander,  when  upon  the  warn- ' 
ingof  a  voice  from  heaven,  to  take  him,  whom  they  should  so  find,  they 
found  him  out  of  *he  city,  provided  for  them.     But  it  was  a  design  which 
Mr.  Norton  had  of  returning  for  England :  a  design  which  he  had  so  laid 
before  his  people,  as  to  obtain  their  grant,  that  if  upon  slaying  a  twelve 
month  longer  among  them,  there  did  occur  no  occasion  for  him  to  alter 
his  pijrposes,  they  would  not  oppose  his  going.     Now  when  the  agents  of 


Book  III.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  269 

the  church  at  Boston,  made  this  motion  to  the  church  of  Ipswich,  there 
was  much  debate  about  it ;  wherein  at   length  an  honest  brother  made 
this  proposal  :   Brethren,  a  case  in  some  tilings  like  to  this,  zcas  once  that  zi;ay 
determined  :   we  will  call  the  damsel,  and  enquire  at  her  mouth  :  where- 
fore I  propose,  that  our  teacher  himsefj  be  cnqiiind  of,  xciiether  he  he  inclined, 
to  go  ?     They  then  put  that  question  to  Mr.  Norton  himself,  who  being; 
troubled  at  the  offer  of  the  question  unto  him,  answered,   That  if  they 
judp'ed  such  reasons  as  caused  his  removed  from  Europe  into  America,  no^y 
culled  for  his  removal  from  Ipswich  to  Boston,  he  should  resign  himself; 
but  he  could  not  he  active.     However,  at  length,  they  consented,  that  he 
should  for  the  present,  go  sojourn  at  Boston,  to  try,  and  see  how  far  the 
xcill  of  God  about  this  matter,  might  be  afterwards  discovered  ;  but  after 
Mr.  Norton  was  gone,  many  of  the  people  fell  into  a  very  unreasonable 
.  indisposition  towards  Mr.  Rogers,  as  if  he  had   not  been  active  enough, 
;  although  he  had,  indeed,  been  as  active,  as  he  well  could  be,  to  retain  his 
;  coUegue  among  them.     The  melancholly  temper  of  Mr.  liOgers  felt  so 
'  deep  an  impression  from  those  paroxisms ,  and  marmurings  of  the  people, 
,  that  it  is  thought,  his  end  was  thereby  hastned  ;  b':t  ih^  church,  upon  the 
1  death  ot  Rlr.  Rogers,  renewing  their  demands  of  Mr.  A^orion's  return,  a 
{  council  was  upon  that  occasion  called  ;  which  council  advised  Ipswich  to 
!  grant  Mr.  Norton  a  fair  dismission  unto  the  service  of  Boston,  and  in  Bos- 
c  ton,  of  all  NeTn'-England.     However  divers  lesser  cov7icils,  that  were  suc- 
1  ce.ssively  called  on  this  occasion,  could  not  comfortably  procure  this  dis- 
i  mission,  till  at  last  the  governour  and  magistrates  of  the  colony  called  a 
council  for  this  end  ;  in  their  order  for  which,  they  intimate  their  con- 
cern, lest  while  the  ^ao  churches  were  contending,  v.'hich  of  them  should 
enjoy  Mr.  Norton,  they  should  both  of  them,  and  the  whole  country  with 
ij  them,  lose  that  reverend  person,  by  his  prosecuting  his  inclination  to  re- 
move into  England.     Hereupon  such  a  dismission  could  not  be  denied  ; 
but  now  Bos/oH  joyfully  receiving  Mr.  Norton,  //;sti-2V/(.  applied  themselves 
unto  Mr.  Cobhet,  who  afterwards  continued  a  rich  blessing  among  them. 
And  Mr.  Norton  did  indeed,  the  part  of  a  surviving  brother  for  Mr.  Cot- 
ton, in  raising  up,  or  at  least  keeping  up  the  name  of  that  great  man,  by 
publishing  a   most  eleg;.nt  account  of  his  life,  part  whereof  was  after- 
wards transcribed  by  Sam.  Clarky  into  his  collections. 

§  20.  Mr.  NortoJi  being  now  transplanted  into  that  garden  which  our 
Lord  had  in  Boston,  did  there  bring  forth  much  of  th^t  fruit  whereby  the 
Heavenly  Father  was  glorified.  There  he  preached,  he  wrote,  he  prayed, 
and  maintained  without  any  prelatical  Episcopacy,  a  care  of  all  the  church- 
es. And  Ne-w-England  being  a  country  whose  interests  were  most  re- 
markably and  generally  enwrapped  in  its  ecclesiastical  circumstances. 
there  were  man;/  good  offices,  which  Mr.  Norto7i  did  for  the  peace  of  the 
whole  country,  by  his  wise  counsels  upon  many  occasions,  given  to  its 
counsellors.  In  truth,  if  he  had  never  done  any  thing,  but  that  one  thing 
of  preventing  by  his  wise  interposition,  the  acts  of  hostility,  which  were 
like  to  pass  between  otir  people,  and  the  Dutch  at  Manhatocs,  that  alone 
were  well  worth  his  coming  into  the  station  which  he  now  bad  at  Boston. 
But  the  service  which  now  most  signalized  him,  was,  his  agency  at 
White-hcdl ;  for  it  being  found  necessary  to  address  the  restored  King  : 
the  worshipful  Simon  Bradstrcet,  Esq.  and  this  reverend  Mr.  John  Norton. 
were  sent  over  as  agents  from  the  colony,  with  an  address  unto  his  ?>Ia- 
jesty  ;  wherein  there  were,  among  others,  the  following  passages. 
!  '  We  supplicate  your  Majesty  for  your  gracious  protection  of  us,  in 
'■  the  continuance  both  of  our  rivil,  and  of  our  religious  liberties  :  ac- 


270  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  III. 

'  cording  to  the  grantees'  known  end  of  suing  for  the  patent,  conferred 
'  upon  this  plantation  by  jour  royal  father.  Our  liberty  to  walk  in  the 
'  faiih  of  the  gospel,  with  all  good  conscience,  according  to  the  order  of  the 
^gospel,  was  the  cause  of  our  transporting  our  selves,  with  our  wives, 
'  our  little  ones,  and  our  substance,  from  that  pleasant  land,  over  the  At- 

*  lantick  ocean,  into  the  vast  wilderness  ;  choosing  rather  the  pure  scrip- 
'  ture-worship,  with  a  good  conscience,  in  this  remote  wilderness,  than  the 
'  pleasures  of  England,  with  submissions  to  the  impositions  of  the  then 
'  so  disposed,  and  so  far  prevailing  hierarchy,  which  we  could  not  do 

*  without  an  evil  conscience. We  are  not  seditious  as  to  the  interests 

'  of  C'cesar,  nor  schismatical  as  to  the  matters  of  religion.     We  distin- 

'  guish  between  churches,  and  their  impurities. We  could  not  live 

'  without  the  publick  ivorship  of  God,  nor  be  permitted  the  public  wor- 
'  ship,  without  such  a  yoke  oi subscription  and  conformity,  as  we  could  not 
'  consent  unto  without  sin.  That  we  might,  therefore,  enjoy  divine  wor- 
''  ship,  free  from  human  mixtures,  without  offence  to  God,  man,  and  our 
'  own  consciences,  we,  with  leave,  but  not  without  tears,  departed  from 
*^our  country,  kindred,  and  fathers'  houses,  into  this  Patmos.' 

It  was  in  February  1661-2,  that  they  began  their  voyage,  and  it  was 
in  September  following,  that  they  returned  :  Mr.  JVorton''s  place  being 
the  mean  time  supplied  by  the  neighbouring  ministers,  taking  of  their 
turns.  And  by  their  hands  the  country  received  the  King\  letters,  where- 
in he  signified,  that  the  expressions  of  their  loyalty  and  affection  to  him,' 
were  ver}'  acceptable,  and  that  contirming  to  them  ih.e.'iv  priviledges,  he 
would  cherish  them  with  all  manner  of  encouragement  and  protection. 

§  21.  Such  has  been  the  _/ea/ous  disposition  of  our  New-Englanders 
about  their  dearly  bought  privileges,  and  such  also  has  been  the  various 
understanding  of  the  people  about  the  extent  of  those  privileges,  that  of  all 
the  agents,  which  they  have  sent  over  unto  the  Court  o( England,  for  now 
forty  years  together,  I  know  not  any  one,  who  did  not  at  his  return,  meet 
with  some  very  froward  entertainment  among  his  country-men  :  and  there 
may  be  the  wisdom  of  the  holy  and  righteous  God,  as  well  as  the  malice 
cf  the  evil  one,  acknowledged,  in  the  ordering  of  such  temptations.  Of 
these  temptations,  a  considerable  share  fell  to  Mr  Norton ;  concerning 
whom  there  were  many,  who  would  not  stick  to  say,  that  he  had  laid  the 
foundation  of  mine  to  all  our  liberties  ;  and  his  melancholly  mind  imagined, 
that  his  best  friends  began  therefore  to  look  awry  upon  him. 

§  22.  In  the  spring  before  his  going  for  England,  he  preached  an  ex- 
cellent sermon  unto  the  representatives  of  the  whole  colony,  assembled 
at  the  court  of  Election,  wherein  I  take  particular  notice  of  this  passage, 
Moses  was  the  meekest  man  on  earth,  yet  it  tcent  ill  with  Moses,  "'tis  said,  for 
their  sakes.  How  long  did  Moses  live  at  Meribah  ?  Sure  I  am ;  it  killed 
him  in  a  short  time  ;  a  man  of  as  good  a  temperas  could  be  expected  from* 
a  meer  man  ;  I  tell  you,  it  zcill  not  only  kill  the  people,  but  it  will  quickly 
kill  Moses  too  !  And  in  the  spring  after  his  retrun  from  England,  he  found 
his  own  observation  in  himself  too  much  exemplified.  It  was  commonly 
judged,  that  the  smothered  griefs  of  his  mind,  upon  the  unkind  resentments 
which  he  thought  many  people  had  of  his  faithful  and  sincere  endeavours 
to  serve  them,  did  more  than  a  little,  hasten  his  end  ;  an  end,  whereat 
JonN  Norton  went,  according  to  the  anagrani  of  his  name  into  hon- 
■von.  But  he  had  the  privilege  to  enter  into  immortality,  without  such  a 
formal  and  feeling  death,  as  the  most  of  mortals  encounter  with  ;  for 
though  in  thoforowon  oi  April  5,  1663.,  it  was  his  design  to  have  preacli- 
cd  in  'he  nficrnoon,  he  wa«  th'dt  afternoon  taken  'whh  -d  sinlden  I ypothymn 


Book  III.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  271 

which  presently  and  easily  carried  him  away  to  those  glories,  wherein 
the  zieary  are  at  rest ;  but  it  was  a  dark  night,  which  the  inhabitants  of 
Boston  had  upon  the  noise  of  his  death;  every  corner  of  the  town  was 
tilled  with  lamentations,  which  left  a  character  upon  that  night,  unto  this 
day,  not  forgotten  !  His  dearest  neighbour,  Mr.  Pachard  Mather,  wept 
over  him  at  his  funeral,  which  was  on  the  next  lecture  day,  a  sermon  most 
agreeable  to  the  occasion  ;  and  the  son  of  his  fellow-traveller,  Mr.  Thom- 
as Shepard,  was  one  of  the  many,  who  bestowed  their  elegies  u-pon  him  ; 
u=ing  this,  among  his  other  strokes. 

The  schoolmen's  Doctors,  whomsoe're  they  call, 
Subtil,  seraphick,  or  angelical : 
Dull  souls  !  their  tapers  burnt  exceeding  dim  ; 
They  might  to  school  again,  to  learn  of  him. 

Lombard  must  out  of  date  ;  we  now  profess 
JVorton,  the  master  of  the  sentences  ; 
Scotus,  a  dunce  to  bim  ;  should  we  compare 
Aquinas,  here,  none  to  be  named  are. 

Of  a  more  heavenly  strain,  his  notions  were, 
More  pure,  sublime,  scholastical,  and  clear. 
More  like  th'  apostles  Paul  and  John,  I  wist, 
Was  this  our  orthodox  Evangelist  : 

Which  lines  accompanied  with  Mr.  Wilson's  anagrammatising  of  Johan- 
KES  NoRTONUs  into  JVonne  is  Horonatus  ?  will  give  him  his  deserved 
character. 

§  23.  He  that  shall  read  the  tragical  romances,  written  by  that  brazen 
faced  lyar  Bolsecus,  concerning  the  deaths  of  such  men  as  Calvin  and 
Beza,  or  such  monstrous  writings  as  ihose.  oiTympiiis,  Cochleus,Genebard, 
and  some  others,  who  would  bear  the  world  in  hand,  that  Luther  and 
Oecolampadius  learned  the  protestant  religion  of  the  devil,  and  were  at 
last  killed  by  him  ;  and  that  Buccr  had  his  guts  pulled  out  and  cast  about 
by  the  devil ;  will  not  wonder  if  I  tell  him,  that  after  the  death  of  Mr. 
Norton,  the  gfua^ej-s  published  a  libel,  by  them  called,  A  representation  to 
King  and  Parliament ;  wherein,  pretending  to  report  some  rmarkable 
judgments  upon  their  persecutors,  they  insert  this  passage,  '  John  Norton, 
'chief  priest  in  Boston,  by  the  immediate  power  of  the  Lord,  was  smitten, 
^  and  as  he  was  sinking  down  by  the  fire-side,  being  under  just  judgment,  he 
*  confessed  the  hand  of  the  Lord  was  upon  him,  and  so  he  died." — Which 
they  mention,  as  a  judgment  upon  a  persecutor.  Whersas,  the  death  of 
this  good  man,  was  attended  with  no  circumstances,  but  what  unto  a  good 
man  might  be  eligible  and  comfortable,  and  circumstanced  far  otherwise 
tljan  it  was  by  those  revilers  represented.  But  it  was  necessary  for  that 
j  enchanted  people,  thus  to  revenge  themselves  upon  one,  who  amongst 
j  his  other  services  to  the  church  of  God,  already  mentioned,  had,  at  the  de- 
(Sire  of  the  General  Court,  written  a  book,  entituled.  The  heart  o/'New-Eng- 
I  land  reyit  at  the  blasphemies  of  the  present  generation  ;  or  a  brief  tractate 
j  concerning  the  doctrine  of  the  quakers  :  which  doctrine  was  in  this  tractate 
.solidly  confuted.  And  perhaps,  it  had  been  better  if  this  had  been  all 
I  the  covfntatioji ;  which  1  add,  because  I  will  not,  I  cannot  make  ray  self 
ja  vindicator  of  all  the  severities,  with  which  the  zeal  of  some  eminent 
j  njen  h^th  sometimes  enraged  and  iacreased,  rather  than  reclaimed,  those 


272  THE  iilSTORY  OF  Is'EW-ENGLAKD,         [Book  HI. 

miserable  hereiicks :  but  wish  tbat  the  auakers  may  be  treated  as  Queen 
Elizabeth  directed  the  Lord  President  of  the  North  to  treat  the  Papists  j 
when  she  advised  him  to  convince  them  with  argument,  rather  than 
suppress  them  with  violence  ;  to  that  purpose  using  of  the  words  of 
the  prophets,  JVolo  Mortem  Peccaiuris. 

§  24.  Not  long  after  his  death,  his  friends  published  three  sermons  of 
his,  which  for  the  circumstances  of  them  could  have  been  entituled, 
These  were  the  last  words  of  that  servant  of  the  Lord.  The  first  of  the 
sermons,  was  the  last  sermon,  nhich  he  preached  at  the  Court  oi Election 
at  Boston.  It  is  on  Jer.  x.  17,  entituled,  Sio7i  the  out-ca.st  healed  of  her 
wounds :  and  there  are  two  or  three  passages  in  it,  which  I  cannot  but 
recommend  unto  the  peculiar  consideration  of  the  present  generation, 

"  To  diifer  from  our  orthodox,  pious,  and  learned  brethren,  is  such  an 
"  affliction  to  a  christian  and  an  ingenuous  spirit,  as  nothing  but  love  to 
"  the  truth  could  arm  a  man  of  peace  against.  Our  profession  being  in  a 
"  way  differing  from  these  and  those,  it  concerns  us,  that  our  walking  be 
"  very  cautelous,  and  that  it  be  without  giving  any  just  offence." 

Again,  In  matters  of  state  and  church,  let  it  be  shown  that  we  are  his 
disciples,  who  said,  give  unto  Ccesar  the  things  that  are  Ccesar''s,  and  give 
Unto  God  the  things  that  are  God's  ;  and  in  matters  of  religion,  let  it 
be  known,  that  wc  are  for  reformation  and  not  for  separation. 

Once  more, — /  may  say  tfms  much  {and  pardon  my  speech)  a  more 
yielding  ministry  unto  the  people  than  ours,  I  believe  is  not  in  the 
world.  I  beseech  you,  let  not  Cassar  be  killed  in  the  senate,  after  he  hath 
conquered  in  the  field.  Lei  us  acknowledge  the  order  of  the  eldership  m 
our  churches,  in  their  zuiay,  and  the  order  of  councils  in  their  way,  duely 
backed  and  encouraged :  Xi)ithout  which  experience  will  witness  that  these 
churches  cannot  long  consist. 

The  second  of  the  sermons,  was  the  last  sermon  which  he  preached 
on  the  Lord's  day.  It  is  on  Joh.  xiv,  3,  entituled.  The  believers  con- 
solation in  the  remembrance  of  his  heavenly  mansion,  prepared  for  him 
by  Christ. 

The  third  of  the  sermons  was  the  last  sermon,  which  he  preached  on 
his  lecture.  It  is  on  Heb.  viii.  5,  entituled,  The  Evangelical  Worshipper, 
subjecting  to  the  prescription  and  sovereignty  of  scripture  pattern. 

§  25.  The  three  sermons  thus  published  as  the  last,  or  the  drojn 
mantle  of  this  Elias,  are  accompanied  with  the  translation  of  a  letter, 
which  was  composed  in  Latin  by  Mr.  Norton,  and  subscribed  by  more 
than  forty  of  the  ministers,  on  this  occasion.  The  famous  John  Dury 
having  from  the  year  1635,  been  most  indefatigably  labouring  for  ixpa- 
cification,  between  the  reformed  churches  in  Europe,  communicated  his 
design  to  the  ministers  of  New-England,  requesting  their  concurrence 
and  countenance  unto  his  generous  undertaking.  In  answer  to  him,  this 
letter  was  written  ;  and  there  are  one  or  two  passages,  which  1  chuse 
to  transcribe  from  it,  because  as  well  the  spirit  of  our  Norton,  as  the 
story  of  our  country,  is  therein  indigitated. 

Redeimt  in  Memoriain,  4'  redeunt  quidem  non  sine  Sanctiori  Sympathia, 
Beatce  illoi  Animai,  Melancthonis  &,•  Parei  ktn  en  Arioiz,  bic  inter  Re- 
formatos,  t7/e  i?iier  Evangelicos,  Vir  Cousummatissimus.  (Quorum  Alter 
Haganoam  iter  faciens,  ita  Ingcmuit. 

Viximus  in  Synodis,  St  jam  moriemur  in  illis. 

Alter  Vera,  Super  Erisiica  Eucharistica  Medilabundus,  in  hccc  Verba 
Erupit,  Defessus  snm  Disputando.     N'imirvm,  illis  Jndin'hus,  Orandum 


Book  III.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  273 

potius  quam — Disputandum  ;  Vivendum  aon  Litigandum.  Forsitan  4"  Con- 
silia  Pacis,  Stimulanti  recenti  Ira  hactemis,  minus  grata  fuere,  utriusque 
partis  Theologi  Rixis  diiUnrnioribus  aliquando  fessi  4'  Siibacti,  a:quis 
animis  Svscipere,  nou  molcste  ferioit :  Mare  paciticum  Aquis  Meribanis, 
Lo7igo  Rerum  usu  Educti,  antcfer&n'es. 

'  We  may  here  call  to  mind,  and  not  without  some  sacred  sympathy. 
'  those  blessed  souls,  Melancthon  and  Parens,  now  among  the  blessed,  the 
*  one  no  less  famous  among  the  Reformed,  than  the  other  among  the 
'  Evangelicks.  Of  these,  the  one  going  towards  Haganoa.  with  gighs 
'  uttered  these  words, 

In  Synods  hitherto  we  lived  have, 

And  now  in  them,  return  unto  the  grave. 

'  The  other  seriously  meditating  on  the  controversy  of  the  Eucharist, 
'brake  forth  into  these  words  ;  /  am  zi-eary  with   disputing.     Thus,  if 

*  these  might  be  judges,  we  ought  rather  to  pray  than  dispute,  and  study 
'  to  live,  rather  than  contend.     And  perhaps  the  divines  of  either  part, 

*  after  they  have  been  wearied  and  broke  in  their  spirits  with  daily  and 
'  continual  contention,  will  more  readily  accept  of  the  causels  nf  peace, 

*  which  hitherto  have  been  less  acceptable,  while  the  sense  of  anger 
'  has  been  spurring  of  them  :   after  they  have  been  taught  by   long  use, 

*  they  may  prefer  the  waters  of  the  Pacific  Sea,  before  those  of  Meribah. 

Gratias  agimus  Domino  Dureo,  cui  Josephi  Longe  terra  marique  a 
fratrihus  Dissiti,  meminisse  Cordi  fuit  :  Q^ui  7ios  JMisellos,  in  Cilicio,  Cili- 
cio  autem  ipsi  conjidimus  Evangelico,  Militantes,  tarn  Auspicato  Kiincio 
invisere  dignatus  est :  Qui  Novam  Angliam,  quasi  particulam  aliquam  P'im- 
hrice  Vestimenti  Aronici,  ungv.ento  prcediviti  delibutam,  in  Album  Syncre- 
tismi  Longe  celeberrimi,  adscribere,  non  adspernatur :  Qui  porro  Litteri.t 
nd  Syncretisraum  hortutoriis,  subinde  nobis  Ansam  prw.buit  Testimoniwn 
hoc,  quale  quale,  pcrhibendi  Communionis  nostra  fratemcR,  cum  universa 
Cohorte  Protestantium,  Jidem  Jesu  Christi  prijfitentium.  Ingenue  cnim 
fatemur,  tranquilla  tain  quum  erant  Omnia,  nee  Signa  Minantia  signis  ad 
hue  nobis  conspiciebayitur  ;  quippe  quibus,  Episcopis,  ilia  Tempestate  Re- 
rum Dominis,  jmblico  Ministerio  Defungi  nedum  Sacris frui,  S2«e  Subscrip- 
tione  4*  conformitate.  {xit  loqvi  solent)  utque  adeo  Humanarum  Adinven- 
tionum,  in  Divinis  Commixtione,  non  Liceret,  Sf  satius  visum  est,  vel  in 
Langinquas,  4*  Incultas  Terrarum  Oras,  Cultus  purioris  Ergo  concessisse, 
quam  Oneri  Hierarcbico,  cum  Rerum  Omnium  Affluentia,  Conscientive  au- 
■tern  Dispendio,  succubuisse.  At  patriam  fvgiendo,  nos  Eccle«iarum  Evan- 
gelicarum  Commimioni  Kuncium  misisse,  hoc  vero  est  quod  Jidenter  4* 
Sancte  pernegamus. 

'  We  give  thanks  to  Mr.  Dvry.  into  whose  heart  it  came  to  remem- 
■'  ber,  Joseph  seperate  from  his  bretheren  at  so  great  a  distance  both  by 

*  sea  and  land  :  and  who  hath  vouchsafed  with  so  comfortable  a  message 

*  to  visit  us  poor  people,  cloathed   in  sackcloth,  for  our  warfare  ;  j'et,  as 

*  we  trust,  the  sackcloth,  of  the  gospel  :  who  hath  not  refused  to  put 
'  JVe-s:- England  as  part  of  the  skirt  of  Aaron^s  garment,  upon  which 
-'  hath  descended  some  of  the  precioits  oyl,  into  the  catalogue  of  the  so 
.'  much  famed  agreement  :  and  who  hath  by  his  letter  exhorting  to  such 
'agreement  given  us  an  occasion  to  bring  in  this  testimony,  such  as  it 
'  is.  for  our  brotherly  communion   with  the  whole  company  of  Protestants 

rofessing  the  faith  of  Christ  Jesus.     For  we    must  ingenuously  con- 
-ss,  that  then,  when  all  things  were  quiet,  and   no  threatnine  sicns  of 


274  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEVV-LiNOLAInD.  [Book  iij, 

'  war  appeared,  seeing  wo  could  not  be  permitted  by  the  Bishops,  at  that 
*  time  prevailing  to  perform  the  olfice  of  the  ministry  in  pnblick,  nor 
'  yet  to  enjoy  the  holy  ordinances,  without  stilscription  and  co7iforjniiij 
'  (as  they  were  wont  to  speak)  nor  without  the  mixture  of  humane  in- 
'  xcntis7is  with  dhnne  institutions,  we  chose  rather  to  depart  into  the  re- 
'mote  and  unknown  parts  of  the  earth,  for  the  sake  ofapurei^  ■worship,  than 
'  to  ly  down  under  the  Hierarchy  in  the  abundance  of  all  things,  but 
'  with  prejudice  of  conscience.  -  But  that  in  flying  from  our  country, 
'  we  should  renounce  conv/mmion  with  such  churches,  a^  profess  the 
'  gospel,  is  a  thing,  which  we  conlidently  and  solemnly  deny.' 

(^uoscnnqne  apiid  CcFJi(s,pcr  Univcrsvin  Evangel icorvm  chorvin,  Fund.' 
mentalia  Doctnnse  4*  Essentialia  Ordinis,   Vigeant,  fjuamvis  in  plerisijv 
Controversiae  Txieologicai,  Apicibus  nobiscum  juxta  minus  Scniiant.  ilh>- 
iamen  ad  unum  Omries,  pro  Fratibus  asnosciimts.  Usque  cictera  pucijicis,  &- 
Ordinate  incedentibits,  AEXIAS  KOlNfiNIAS  in  Domino  porrigere  j-eiruiisst- 
mos,  nos  esse  hisce palamfaciinus. 

'  In  whatever  assemblies  amongst  the  whole  company  of  those  th;i 
'  profess  ^he  gospel,  the  fundamentals  of  doctrine,  and  essentials  of  ort/t;, 
'  are  maintained,  though  in  many  niceties  of  controversal  divinity,  they 
'  are  at  less  agreement  with  us,  %ve  do  hereby  make  it  manifest,  that  we 
'  do  acknowledge  them  all,  and  every  one  for  brethren,  and  that  we  shall 
'  be  ready  to  give  unto  them  the  right  hand  of  felloK-ship  in  the  Lord,  if 
'  in  other  things  they  be  peaceable,  and  walk  orderly.' 

§  20.  This  was  our  j\'orion !  and  we  might  have  given  yet  a  fuller  ac- 
count of  him,  if  we  could  have  seen  the  Diary,  which  he  kcpt'of  his  daily 
TL-alk.  However  he  was  well  known  to  be  a  great  example  of  holiness, 
rvatchfulness,  and  extraordinary  wisc/om  ;  and  though  he  left  no  children^ 
yet  he  has  a  better  name  than  that  of  sons  and  of  daughters.  Moreover, 
there  was  one  considerable  pai't  of  ministerial  -work,  wherein  he  not  only 
went  beyond  most  of  his  age,  but  also  proved  a  leader  unto  rmxny  fol lowers. 
Though  the  ministers  of  jYez:;- England  counted  it  unlanful  for  them,  or- 
dinarily to  perform  their  ministerial  acts  of  solemn  and  publick  prayer  by 
reading  or  using  any  forms  of  prayer  composed  by  other  persons  for 
tbem  ;  they  reckoned  an  ability  to  express  the  case  of  a  congregation  ?;i 
prayer,  to  be  a  ministericd  gift,  which  our  Lord  forbids  his  ministers  to 
neglect ;  they  supposed  that  a  minister,  who  should  only  read  forms 
of  sermons  composed  for  him,  would  as  truly  discharge  the  duty  of 
preaching,  as  one  that  should  only  read  such  forms  of  prayers,  would 
the  duty  of  praying,  in  it  :  they  could  not  find,  that  any  humane 
forms  of  prayers,  were  much  used  in  any  part  of  the  church,  un- 
til about  four  hundred  years  after  Christ,  nor  any  made  for  more 
than  some  single  province,  until  six  hundred  years  ;  nor  any  impos- 
ed until  eight  hundred,  when  all  manner  of  informed  things  began 
to  be  found  in  the  temple  of  God  ;  nevertheless  very  many  of  our  great- 
est ministers,  in  our  more  early  times,  did  not  use  to  expatiate  with  such 
a  significant  and  admirable  variety  in  their  prayers  before  their  sermons, 
as  many  of  our  later  times  have  attained  unto  ;  nor  indeed  then  did  they, 
nor  still  do  uc,  count  nW  forms  of  prayer  sim])\y  unlawful.  But  the  more 
general  improvements  and  expressions  of  the  gift  of  prayer,  in  our  min- 
isters have  since  been  the  matter  of  observation  ;  and  particularly  Mr, 
AorioJi,  therein  was  truly  admirable  I  It  even  transported  the  souls  of 
his  hearers  to  accompany  him  in  his  devotions,  wherein  his  graces  would 
make  wonderful  scdleys  into  the  vastj?eW  o(c>!tcrlainme7its,  and  acknozi'ledg- 
maits,  with  which  we  are  furnished  in  the  nezc-corenant.  for  oxnprayers. 


Book  Hi.]  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.  275 

I  have  heard  of  a  goill}'  man  in  Ipsrvich,  who  after  Mr.  JNorfofi  going  to 
Boston,  would  ordinarily  travel  on  foot  from  Ipsm'ick  to  Boston,  which  is 
about  thirty  miles,  for  nothing  bat  the  weekly  lecture  there  ;  and  he  would 
profess,  That  it  zoas  worth  a  great  journey,  to  he  a  partaker  in  one  of  Mr. 
N'^orton's  prayers.  This  pattern  of  prayer  in  Mr.  Norton,  had  some  in- 
fluence upon  it,  that  since  his  time,  our  pidpifs  have  been  fuller  than  ever 
of  experimental  clenioiistrations,  that  the  ministers  of  the  gospel  may  on 
nil  occasions  present  their  supplications  before  God,  in  the  discharge  of 
their  ministry,  with  more  pertinent,  more  atTecting,  more  cspanded  e?^- 
largements,  than  nny  form  could  afford  unto  them.  jyeu;-England  can  show, 
even  young  ministers,  who  never  did  in  all  things  repeat  one  prayer 
twice  over,  in  that  part  of  their  ministry  wherein  we  are  first  of  all,  to 
■make  supplications,  prayers,  intercessions,  and  thanksgivings  ;  and  yet 
sometimes,  fir  much  more  than  an  hour  together,  they  pour  out  their 
souls  unto  the  Almighty  God  in  such  a  fervent,  copious,  and  yet  proper 
manner,  that  their  most  critical  auditors,  can  complain  of  nothing  disa- 
greeable, but  profess  themselves  extreamly  edifyed. 

But  our  praying  Norton,  who  while  he  was  among  ns,  prayed  zvilh  the 
tongue  of  nngels,  is  now  gone  to  praise  with  the  angels  for  ever. 

EPITAPHIUM. 

Johannes  Nortoxus. 

(^uis  fuerat,  Ultra  si  quceras, 
Dignus  es  qui  Nescias, 


CHAPTER  HI. 

Memoria  Wilsoma,  the  Life  of  Mr.  John  Wilsox. 

^  1.  Such  is  the  natural  tendency  in  humane  minds  to  poetry,  that  as 
'tis  observed,  the  Roman  historian,  in  the  very  first  line  of  his  history, 
fell  upon  a  verse, 

Urbem  Romam,  In  Principio  Reges  habuere  ; 

So  the  Ro mail  orator,  though  a  very  7nea;i  poet,  yet  making  an  oration 
for  a  good  one,  could  not  let  his  first  sentence  pass  him,  without  a  perfect 
hexameter, 

In  Qua  me  non  Inficior,  rnecUocriter  Esse. 

'    If  therefore,  I  were  not  of  all   men  the  most  unpoetical,   my  reader 

might  now  expect  an  entertainment  altogether  in  verse  ;  for  I  am  going  to 

write  the  life  of  that  Nezu- English  divine,  who  had  so  nimble  a  faculty  of 

putting  his  devout  thoughts  into  veise,  that  he  signalized  himself  by  the 

I  greatest /re^wenc!/,  perhaps,  that  ever  man  used,  of  sending  poej/is  to  all 

1   persons,  in  all  places,  on  all  occasion?  ;  and  upon  this,  as  well  as  upon 

!  greater  accounts,  was  a  David  unto  the  flocks  of  our  Lord  in  the  n'il- 

'    derness : 


e/b  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  ilL 

Quicquid  tentabat  Dicerc,  Versxis  erat ; 

Wherein,  if  the  curious  relished  the  piety  sometimes  rather  than  the 
poetry,  the  capacity  of  the  most^  therein  to  be  accommodated,  must  he 
considered.  But  I  intend  no  further  account  of  this  matter,  than  what  is 
given  by  his  worthy  son,  (reprinting  at  Boston  in  the  year  1680,  the 
ve7-ses  of  his  father,  upon  the  famous  deliverances  of  the  Etiglish  nation 
printed  at  London,  as  long  ago  as  the  year  1626,)  whose  words  are,  What 
vohnnes  hath  he  penned,  for  the  help  of  others,  in  their  several  changes  of 
condition  ?  How  m-as  his  heart  full  of  good  matter  ?  And  his  verses  past^ 
like  to  the  handkerchiefs  carried  froin  Paul  to  vphold  the  disconsolate,  and 
heal  their  wounded  soids?  For  indeed  this  is  the  leait  thing  that  we  have 
to  relate  of  that  great  saint ;  and  accordingly,  it  is  under  a  more  consid- 
erable character,  that  I  must  now  exhibit  him,  even  as  a  father  to  the 
infant  colonies  of  Nezo-England. 

§  2.  Mr.  John  Wilson,  descending  from  eminent  ancestors,  was  born  at 
Windsor  in  the  wonderful  year  1588,  the  third  son  of  Dr.  William  Wilson, 
a  prebend  of  St.  Paid's,  of  Rochester  <mA  of  Winsor,  and  rector  of  Cliff: 
having  for  his  motbt^r,  a  neece  of  Dr.  Edmund  Grindal,  the  most  worthily 
renowned  Arch-Bishop  of  Canterbury.  His  exact  education  under  his 
parents,  which  betimes  tinged  him  with  an  aversation  to  vice,  and  above 
all,  to  the  very  shadow  of  a  lye,  titled  him  to  undergo  the  further  educa- 
tion, whirh  he  received  in  Eaton  Culledge,  under  Udal  (and  Langley) 
whom  now  we  may  venture,  after  poor  Tom  Tiisser,  to  call,  the  severest  of 
■men.  Here  he  was  most  remarkably  twice  delivered  from  drowning  ; 
but  at  his  book,  he  made  such  proliciency,  that  while  he  was  the  least  boy 
in  the  school,  he  was  made  a  propositor ;  and  when  the  Duke  of  Biron, 
Embassador  from  the  Erench  Kin ;i  Henry  IV,  to  Q,ueen  Elizabeth,  visited 
the  school,  he  made  a  Latin  oration,  for  which  the  Duke  bestowed  three 
angels  upon  him.  After  four  years'  continuance  at  Eaton,  he  was  re- 
moved unto  Cambridge,  between  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  year  of  his 
age  ;  and  admitted  into  King'^s  Colledge  in  the  year  1602.  When  he  came 
to  stand  for  a  fellowship  in  that  Colledge,  his  antipathy  to  some  horrid 
wickedness,  whereto  a  detestable  wretch  that  had  been  acquainted  with 
him,  would  have  betraj'ed  him,  caused  that  malicious  wretch  by  devised 
and  accursed  slanders  to  ruin  so  far  the  reputation  of  this  chast  youth 
with  the  other  fellows,  that  had  not  the  Provost,  who  was  a  serious  and  a 
reverend  person,  interposed  for  him,  he  had  utterly  lost  his  priviledge  ; 
which  now  by  the  major  vote  he  obtained.  But  this  affliction  put  him 
upon  many  thoughts  and  prayers  before  the  Lord. 

§  3.  He  had  hitherto  been  according  to  his  good  education,  very  civ- 
illy and  soberly  disposed  :  but  being  by  the  good  hand  of  God,  led  unto 
the  ministry  of  such  holy  men  as  Mr.  Bains,  Dr.  Taylor,  Dr.  Chadcrton, 
he  was  by  their  sermons  enlightned  and  awakened,  unto  more  solicitous 
enquiries  after,  the  one  thing  yet  lacking  in  him.  The  serious  dispositions 
of  his  mind  were  now  such,  that  besides  his  pursuance  after  the  works 
of  rf'pentance  in  iiiniseif,  he  took  no  little  pains  to  pursue  it  in  others  ; 
especial!}'  the  malefictors  in  the  prisons,  which  he  visited  with  a  devout, 
sedulous,  and  successful  industry.  Nevertheless,  being  forestalled  with 
prejudices  against  the  Puritans  of  those  times,  as  if  they  had  held,  he 
knew  not  well  what  odd  things,  he  declined  their  acquaintance  ;  although 
his  good  conversation  had  made  Iiim  to  be  accounted  one  of  them  him- 
solf  Until  going  to  a  bookseller's  shop,  to  augment  his  well-furnished 
library,   he  light  upon  that  famous  book  of  Mr.  Eichard  Rogrrfi,  called, 


Uooii  lll.j         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND,  277 

j  The  Seven  Treatises ;  which  when  he  had  read,  he  so  affected,  not  only 

ihe  matter,  but  also  the  author  of  the  book,  that  he  took  a  journey  unto 

iVcthersfield,  on  purpose  to  hear  a  sermon  from  that  Boanerges.     When 

[  he  had  heard  the  heavenly  passages  that  fell  from  the  lips  of  that  worthy 

man,  privately,  as  well  as  publickly,  and  compared  therewithal  the  wri- 

'  tings   of  Greenham,   of  Dod.,   and   of  Dent,  especially,    The    Pathway   to 

I  Heaven,  written  by  the  author  last   mentioned,   he   saw  that  they  who 

]  were  nicknamed  Puritans^  were  like  to  be  the  desirablest  companions, 

J  for  one  that  intended  his  own  everlasting  happiness  ;  and  pursuant  unto 

the  advice  which  he  had  from  Dr.  Ames,  he  associated   himself  with  a 

l'  pious  company  in  the  university  ;  who  kept  their  meetings  in   Mr.  Wil- 

l  .son's  chamber,  for  prayer,  fasting,  holy  conference,  and  the  exercises  of 

true  devotion. 

§  4.  But  now  perceiving  many  good  men  to  scruple  many  of  the  rite-j 
practised  and  imposed  in  the  Church  of  England,  lie  furnished  himself 
i  with  all  the  hooks  that  he  could  find  written  on  the  case  of  conformity, 
both  pro  and  con,  and  pondered  with  a  most  conscientious  deliberation, 
the  arguments  on  both  sides  produced.  He  was  hereby  so  convinced  of 
the  evil  in  conformity,  that  at  length,  for  his  observable  omission,  of  cer- 
tain uninstituied  ceremonies  in  the  worship  of  God,  the  Bishop  of  Lin- 
\  roln  then  visiting  the  universitj',  pronounced  upon  him  the  sentence  of 
Quindenutn;  that  is,  that  besides  other  mortifications,  he  must  wiihinffteen 
days  have  been  expelled,  if  he  continued  in  his  offence.  His  father  be- 
ing hereof  advised,  with  all  paternal  affection,  wrote  unto  him  to  con- 
form; and  at  the  same  time  interceded  with  the  Bishop,  that  he  might 
have  a  quarter  of  a  year  allowed  him  ;  in  which  time,  if  he  could  not 
be  reduced,  he  should  then  leave  his  fellowship  in  the  CoUedge.  Here- 
upon he  sent  him  unto  several  Doctors  of  great  fame,  to  get  his  objec- 
tions resolved  ;  but  when  much  discourse,  and  much  writing,  had  passed 
between  them,  he  was  rather  the  more  confirmed  in  his  principles  about 
church- reformation.  Wherefore  his  father,  then  diverting  him  from  the 
designs  of  the  ininislry,  disposed  him  to  the  inns  of  court;  where  he  fell 
into  acquaintance  with  some  young  gentlemen,  who  associated  with  him 
in  constant  exercises  of  devotion  ;  to  which  meetings  the  repeated  ser- 
mons of  Dr.  Goiige  u'ere  a  continual  entertainment  :  and  here  it  was,  that 
he  came  into  the  advantageous  knowledge  of  the  learned  Scultetus,  chap- 
lain to  the  Prince  Palatine  of  the  Rhine,  then  making  some  stay  in  £71^- 
Innd. 

§  5.   When  he  had  continued  three  years  at  the  inns  of  court,  his  fiither 
discerning  his  disposition  to  be  a  minister  of  the  gospel,  permitted  his 
proceeding  Master  of  Arts,  in  the  university  of  Cambridge  ;  but  advised 
him  to  address  another  CoUedge,  than  that  where  he  had  formerly  met 
with  dithculties.     Dr.  Cary,  who  was  then  Vice-Chancellor,  understand 
ing  his  former  circumstances,  would  not  admit  him  tvithout  subscription  ; 
but  he  refused  to  subscribe.     In  this  distress  he  repaired  unto  his  father. 
at  whose  house  there  happened  then  to  be  present,  the  Countess  of  Bed- 
ford's chief  gentleman,  who  had  business  with  the  Earl  of  Northampton ., 
the  Chancellor  of  the  university.     And  thi-.  noble  person,  upon  the  in- 
I  formation  which  that  gentleman  gave  h'm  of  the  matter,  presently  wrote 
1  a  letter  to   the  Vice-Chancellor,   on  the  behalf  of  our  young  Wilson; 
vhereupon  he  received  his  degree,  and  continued  a  while  after  this,  in 
'  nanuelCoWeAgc  :  from  whence  he  maxle  frequent  and  useful  visit?  unto 
-  friends  in  the  counties  adjoining,  and  became  further  fitted  for  his  in 
Ml'?d  service.     But  ivh'le  he  v^as  passing  under  these  changes,  ho  took 


£78  THE  HISTORY  Of  NEW-ENGLAND.  [Book  HI. 

up  a  resolution  which  he  thus  expressed  before  the  Lord  :  That  if  the 
Lord  xvould  grant  him  a  liberty  of  conscience,  with  pnrily  of  -worship,  he 
Tvoidd  be  content,  yea ,  thankfid,  though  it  were  at  the  furthermost  end  of  the 
zi'orld.     A  most  prophetical  resohation  ! 

§  6.  At  length  preaching  his  first  sermon  at  Nezcport,  he  set  his  hand 
imto  that  plough,  from  whe7ice  he  never  afterzvards  looked  back  :  not  very 
long  after  which,  his  father  lying  on  his  death-bed,  he  kneeled,  in  his 
turn,  before  him  for  his  blessing,  and  brought  with  him  for  a  share  in 
that  blessing,  the  vertuous  young  gentlewoman,  the  daughter  of  the  lady 
.Mansfield,  f  widow  of  Sir  John  Mansfeld,  master  of  (he  Minories,  and  the 
^.ueen's  surveyor)  whom  he  designed  afterwards  to  marry  :  whereupon 
the  old  gentleman  said,  Ah,  John,  /  have  taken  much  cure  about  thee,  such 
time  as  thou  rvast  in  ihe  v.niversity,  because  thou  rcouldest  not  conform ;  I 
■would  fain  have  brought  thee  to  some  higher  preferment  than  thou  hast  yet 
attained  unto  :  I  see  thy  conscience  is  very  scrupulous,  concerning  some 
things  that  have  been  observed  and  imposed  in  the  church:  nevertheless,  I 
have  rejoiced  to  see  the  grace  and  fear  of  God  in  thy  heart ;  and  seeing 
thou  hast  kept  a  good  conscience  hitherto,  and  n-alked  according  to  thy  light, 
so  do  still;  and  go  by  the  rules  of  God's  holy  word:  the  Lord  bless  thee, 
and  her,  whom  thou  hast  chosen  to  be  the  companion  of  thy  life  !  Among 
other  places  where  he  now  preached,  Moreclake  was  one  ;  where  hi- 
non-conformiiy  exposed  him  to  the  rage  of  persecution  ;  but  by  the 
friendship  of  the  Justice,  namely  Sir  William  Bird,  a  kinsman  of  his 
wife,  and  by  a  mistake  of  the  informers,  the  rage  of  that  storm  was  mode 
rated. 

§  7.  After  this  he  lived  as  a  chaplain  successively,  in  honourable  and 
religious  families  ;  and  at  last  was  invited  unto  the  house  of  the  mo=i 
]>ious  lady  Scudamore.  Here  Mr.  fVilson  observing  the  discourse  of  the 
gentry  at  the  table,  en  the  Lord's  day,  to  be  too  disagreeable  unto  the 
devout  frame  to  be  maintained  on  such  a  day,  at  length  he  zealously  stood 
up  at  the  table,  with  words  to  this  purpose,  I  will  jnake  bold  to  speak  a 
z"ord  or  two:  this  is  the  Lord^s  holy  day,  and  we  have  been  hearing  his 
word,  and  after  the  word  preached,  every  one  should  think,  and  speak  about 
such  things  as  have  been  delivered  in  the  name  of  God,  and  not  lavish  out 
the  time  in  discourses  about  hawks  and  hounds.  Whereupon  a  gentleman 
then  present  made  this  handsome  and  civil  answer  :  Sir,  we  dcsc7-ve  all  of 
i's  to  be  thus  reproved  by  you ;  this  is  indeed  the  sabbath-day,  and  zee  should 
fiirdy  have  better  discourse  ;  I  hope  it  will  be  a  warning  to  tis.  Notwith- 
standing this,  the  next  Lord's  day,  the  gentry  at  the  table  were  at  their 
old  notes ;  which  caused  Mr.  Jh'/soji  again  to  tell  them.  That  the  hawks 
which  they  talked  of,  were  the  birds  that  picked  up  the  seed  of  ihe  word,  after 
the  serving  of  it ;  and  prayed  them,  That  their  talk  might  be  of  such  things, 
as  might  sanctife  the  day,  and,  edi^fie  their  own  souls :  which  caused  the 
former  gentleman  to  )encw  his  former  thankfulness  for  the  admonition. 
But  Mr.  Leigh,  the  lady's  husband,  was  very  angry  ;  whereof  when  the 
lady  advised  Mr.  IVilson-.,  wishing  him  to  say  something  that  might  satisfie 
him,  he  replied,  Good  ■madam,  I  know  not  wherein  I  have  giveii  any  just 
offence;  and  therefore  I  know  of  no  satisfaction  that  I  owe  :  ijour  ladyship 
'}as  invited  me  to  preach  the  good  Xi'ord  of  God  among  yon  ;  and  so  I  have 
endeavoured  according  to  my  ability  :  now  such  discourse  as  this,  on  ihe 
Lord''s  day,  is  profane  and  disorderly  :  if  your  husband  like  me  not,  I  will 
he  gone.  When  the  lady  informed  her  husband  how  peremptory  Mr.  Wil- 
iC'i  was  in  this  matter  he  mended  his  countenance  and  carriage  ;  and  the 


Book  III.]        THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-P:NGLAND.  279 

effect  of  this  reproof  was,  that  unsuitable  discourse,  on  the  Lord's  day 
was  cured  among  them. 

§  8.  Removing  from  this  family,  after  he  had  been  a  while  at  Henly, 
he  continued  for  three  years  together,  preaching  at  four  places,  by  turns, 
which  lay  near  one  another,  on  the  edges  of  Svffolk,  namely  Eumsted, 
Stoke,  Clare,  and  Candish.  Here  some  of  Sndbnry  happening  to  hear 
him,  they  invited  him  to  succeed  the  eminent  old  Mr.  Jenkins,  with  which 
invitation  he  cheerfully  complied,  and  the  more  cheerfully  because  of  his 
opportunity  to  be  near  old  Mr.  Richard  Rogers,  from  whom  afterwards 
when  dying,  he  received  a  blessing  among  his  children  ;  3'ea,  to  encour- 
i  age  his  acceptance  of  this  place,  the  very  reader  of  the  parish  did  sub- 
j  scribe,  with  many  scores  of  others,  their  desires  of  it ;  and  yet  he  ac- 
cepted not  the  pastoral  charge  of  the  place,  without  a  solemn  day  of 
prayer  with  fasting,  (wherein  the  neighbouring  ministers  assisted)  at  his 
election;  great  notice  was  now  taken  of  the  success,  which  God  gave 
unto  his  labours,  in  this  famous  town  ;  among  other  instances  whereof, 
one  was  this  :  a  tradesman  much  given  to  stealing,  as  well  as  other  pro- 
fane and  vicious  practices,  one  day  seeing  people  flock  to  Mr.  PVilson's 
lecture,  thought  with  himself.  Why  should  I  tarry  at  home  to  ivork,  ■when 
so  many  go  to  hear  a  sermon?  Wherefore,  for  the  sake  of  company,  he 
went  unto  the  lecture  too  :  but  when  he  came,  he  found  a  sermon,  as  it 
were,  particularly  directed  unto  himself,  on  Eph.  iv.  28,  Let  him  that 
hath  stole,  steal  no  more;  and  such  was  the  impression  thereof  upon  his 
heart,  that  from  this  time  he  became  a  changed  and  pious  man. 

§  9.  But  if  they  that  will  live  godlily  must  suffer  persecution,  a  peculiar 
share  of  it  must  fall  upon  them,  who  are  zealous  and  useful  instruments 
to  make  others  live  so.  Mr.  Wilson  had  a  share  of  this  persecution  ; 
and  one  A — n,  was  a  principal  jiuthor  of  it.  This  A — n  had  formerly 
been  an  apprentice  in  London,  where  the  Bishops  detained  him  some 
5'ears,  under  an  hard  imprisonment,  because  he  refused  the  oath  eo:  offi- 
cio, which  was  pressed  upon  him  to  tell,  Wlicthcr  he  had  never  heard  his 
master  pray  against  the  Bishop  ? 

The  charity  of  well-disposed  people  now  supported  hifii,  till  he  got 
abroad,  recommended  by  his  hard  suflerings,  unto  the  good  affections  of 
the  Puritans,  at  whose  meetings  he  became  so  conversant,  and  thereupon, 
such  a  forward  and  zealous  professor,  that  at  length  he  took  upon  him, 
under  the  confidence  of  some  La^/'«i!l!/,  whereof  he  was  owner,  to  be  a  sort 
oi' preacher  among  them.  This  man  would  reverence  Mr.  Wilson  as  his  fa- 
ther, and  yet  upon  the  provocation  of  seeing  Mr.  Wilson  more  highly 
valued  and  honoured  than  himself,  he  not  only  became  a  conformist  him- 
self, but  also,  as  apostates  use  to  be,  a  malignant  and  violent  persecutor 
of  those  from  whom  he  had  apostatized.  By  his  means  Mr.  Wilson  was 
put  into  trouble  in  the  Bishop's  courts  ;  from  whence  his  deliverance 
was  at  length  obtained  by  certain  powerful  mediators.  And  once  by  his 
tricks,  the  most  noted  pursivant  of  those  times,  was  employed  for  the 
seizing  of  Mr.  Wilson;  but  though  he  seized  upon  many  scores  of  the 
people  coming  from  the  lecture,  he  dismissed  the  rest,  because  he  could 

Inot  meet  with  BIr.  Wilson  himself,  who  by  a  special  providence,  went 
out  of  his  direct  way,  to  visit  a  worthy  neighbour,  and  so  escaped  this 
mighty  hunter. 

Afterwards  an  eminent  lady,  happening  innocently  to  make  some  com- 
parisons between  the  preaching  of  Mr.  Wilson,  and  one  Dr.  B.  of  B. 
the  angry  Doctor  presently  applied  himself  unto  the  Bishop  of  London, 
'.vho  for  a  while  suspended  him.     Aud  when  that  storm  was  over,  he 


280  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  ilf. 

with  several  other  worthy  ministers,  came  to  be  wholly  silenced  in  an- 
other, that  was  raised  upon  complaints  made  by  one  Mr.  Bird,  unto  the 
Bishop  of  jVorivich  against  them.  Concerning  this  ill  Bird,  there  hap- 
pened one  passage  hereupon,  which  had  in  it  something  extraordinary. 
Falling  very  sick,  he  had  the  help  of  a  famous  and  skilful  physician,  one 
Dr.  Duke,  of  Colchester ;  who  having  left  his  patient,  in  his  opinion,  safely 
recovered,  gave  Mr.  W%o?j  a  visit,  with  an  account  of  it.  Recovered! 
says  Mr.  Wilson,  you  arc  mistaken,  Mr.  Doctor;  he'' s  a  dead  man  !  The 
Doctor  answered.  If  ever  I  recovered  a  sick  man  in  my  life,  that  man  is 
recovered.  But  Mr.  Wilson  replied,  Xo,  Mr.  Doctor,  he's  a  dead  man, 
he  shall  not  live  :  mark  my  rcords  !  The  doctor  smiled  ;  but  for  all  that, 
before  they  parted,  the  news  was  brought  them,  that  the  man  was  dead 
indeed,  and  the  Lord  known  by  the  judgment  which  he  executed.  But  at 
last  Mr.  Wilson  obtained  from  the  truly  noble  Earl  of  Warwick,  to  sign  a 
letter,  which  the  Earl  bid  himself  to  draw  up,  unto  the  Bishop,  on  his 
behalf;  by  the  operation  of  which  letter,  his  liberty,  for  the  exercise  of 
his  ministry,  was  again  procured.  This  Bishop  was  the  well-known  Dr. 
Harsnet,  who  a  little  while  after  this,  travelhng  northward,  upon  designs 
of  mischief  against  the  reforming  pastors  and  christians  there,  certain 
ministers  of  the  south  set  apart  a  day  for  solemn  fasting  and  prayer,  to 
implore  the  help  of  heaven  against  those  desig7is  ;  and  on  that  very  day, 
he  was  taken  with  a  sore  and  an  odd  tit,  which  caused  him  to  stop  at  ;< 
blind  house  of  entertainment  on  the  road,  where  he  suddenly  died. 

§  10.  At  last,  being  persecuted  in  one  country,  he  mustjlee  into  another. 
The  plantation  of  a  JVcw-English  colony  was  begun  :  and  Mr.  Wilson, 
with  some  of  his  neighbours,  embarked  themselves  in  the  fleet,  which 
came  over  thither  in  the  year  1630,  where  he  applied  himself  with  all 
the  vigor  imaginable,  to  encourage  the  poor  people,  under  the  difficulties 
of  ihe'irnew  plantation.  This  good  people  buried  near  two  hundred  of  their 
number,  within  a  quarter  of  a  year  after  their  first  landing  ;  which  caused 
Mr.  Wilson  particularly  to  endeavour  their  consolation,  by  preaching  on 
Jacobus  not  being  disheartned  by  the  death  of  his  nearest  friends  in  the 
way,  when  God  had  called  him  to  remove.  And  how  remarkably,  per- 
haps I  might  say,  excessively  liberal  he  was,  in  employing  his  estate  for 
the  relief  of  the  needy,  every  such  one  so  beheld  him,  as  to  reckon  him 
the  father  of  them  all :  yea,  the  poor  hidians  themselves  also  tasted  of  his 
bounty.  If  it  were  celebrated,  as  the  glory  of  Bellarmine,  that  he  would 
sell  his  goods,  to  convert  them  into  alms  for  the  poor  ;  yea,  that  Quadam 
die  propriuin  Atrameniarium  Argcnteolum,  ut  ditaret  Inopes,  inter pignora 
obligavit :  our  Mr.  [fYZsow,  though  a  greater  disclaimer  of  merit  than 
Bellarmine  was,  not  only  in  his  writings,  but  on  his  death-bed  it  self,  yet 
came  not  behind  Bellartnine  for  the  extension  of  his  charily.  To  give  in- 
stances of  his,  even  over-doing  liberality,  would  be  to  do  it  injuries;  for  in- 
deed they  were  innumerable  :  he  acted  as  if  the  primitive  agreement  ot 
having  all  things  in  comiacm,  had  been  of  all  things,  the  most  agreeable 
unto  him.  1  shall  sum  up  all,  in  the  lines  of  an  elegant  elegy,  which 
Mr.  Samuel  Bache,  an  ingenious  merchant,  made  upon  him,  at  his  death  : 

When  as  the  poor  want  succour,  where  is  he 

Can  say,  all  can  be  said,  extempore? 

Vie  with  the  li^htnina-,  and  melt  down  to  th'  quick 

Their  souls,  a*id  n^rdie  themselves  their  pockets  pick  .' 

Where's  such  a  leader,  t^us  has  got  the  slight 

T'  teach  holy  hands  to  tear,  Jlugers  to  fight : 


Book  III.]        THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  2ai 

Their  arrow  hit  ?     Borvels  to  bowels  meant  it, 

God,  Christ,  and  sftiw/s,' accept,  but  Wilson  sent  it. 

Which  way  so  e'er  the  propositions  move, 

The  ergo  of  his  syllogisms  love. 

So  bountiful  to  all :  but  if  the  poor  t 

^Vas  christian  too,  all's  money  went,  and  more, 

His  coat,  rug,  blanket,  gloves  ;  he  thought  their  due 

Was  all  his  money,  garments,  one  of  two. 

But  he  was  most  set  upon  the  main  business  of  this  new  plantation  : 
which  was,  to  settle  and  enjoy  the  ordinances  of  the  gospel,  and  worship  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  according  to  kis  own  institutions  :  and,  accordingly,  he, 
with  the  governour,  and  others  that  came  with  him  on  the  same  account, 
combined  into  a  church-state,  with  all  convenient  expedition. 

§  11.  Mr.  H'^//so?i's  removal  to  J\'ezD-England,  was  rendred  the  more 
difficult,  by  the  indisposition  of  his  dearest  consort  thereunto  ;  but  he 
hoping,  that  according  to  a  dream  which  he  had  before  his  coming  hither, 
That  he  saiv  here  a  little  temple  rising  out  of  the  ground,  which  by  degrees 
increased  into  a  very  high  and  large  dimensions,  the  Lord  had  a  temple  to 
build  in  these  regions  ;  resolved  never  to  be  discouraged  from  his  un- 
dertaking. Wherefore  having  first  sent  over  an  encouraging  account  of 
the  good  order,  both  civil  and  sacred,  which  now  began  to  be  establish- 
ed in  the  plantation,  he  did  himself  return  into  England,  that  he  might 
further  pursue  the  effect  thereof;  and  accordingly  he  made  it  his  busi- 
ness, where-ever  he  came,  to  draw  as  many  good  men  as  he  could,  into 
this  country  with  him.  His  wife  remained  unperswadable,  till  upon 
prayer  with  fasting  before  the  Almighty  turner  of  hearts,  he  received  an 
answer,  in  her  becoming  willing  to  accompany  him  over  an  ocean  into  a 
zvilderness.  A  very  sorrowful  parting  they  now  had  from  their  old  friends 
.itiSudbury,  but  a  safe  and  quick  passage  over  the  Atlantic;  and  whereas 
the  church  of  Boston,  observing  that  he  arrived  not  at  the  time  expected, 
bad  set  apart  a  day  of  humiliation  on  his  behalf,  his  joyful  arrival  before 
the  day,  caused  them  to  turn  it  into  a  day  of  tha?iksgiving.  But  3Irs. 
Wilson  being  thus  perswaded  over,  into  the  difficulties  of  an  American 
desart,  I  have  heard,  that  her  kinsman,  old  Mr.  Dod,  for  her  consolation 
under  those  difficulties,  did  send  her  a  present,  with  an  advice,  which  he 
had  in  it,  something  o(  curiosity.  He  sent  her,  at  the  same  time,  a  brass 
counter,  a  silver  crown,  and  a  gold  jacobus  ;  all  of  them  severally  wrap- 
ped up  :  with  this  instruction  unto  the  gentleman  who  carried  it :  that 
Jie  should  first  of  all  deliver  only  the  counter,  and  if  she  received  it  with 
any  shew  of  discontent,  he  should  then  take  no  further  notice  of  her ; 
but  if  she  gratefully  resented  that  small  thing,  for  the  sake  of  the  hand 
it  came  from,  he  should  then  go  on  to  deliver  the  silver,  and  so  the  gold  ; 
.^ut  withal  assure  her,  That  such  woidd  be  the  dispensations  of  God  unto 
Iter,  and  the  other  good  people  of  New-England  :  if  they  would  be  content 
and  thankful  with  such  little  things,  as  God  at  first  bestowed  upon  them,  they 
sliould,  in  time,  have  silver  and  gold  enough.  Mrs.  fFjVson  accordingly,  by 
her  cheerful  entertainment  of  the  least  remembrance  from  good  old  Mr. 
Dod,  gave  the  gentleman  occasion  to  go  through  with  his  whole  present, 
and  the  annexed  advice;  which  hath  in  a  good  measure  been  accom- 
plished. 

§  12.  It  was  not  long  before  Mr.  Wilson'' s  return  to  England  once  more, 
was  obliged  by  the  death  of  his  brother,  whose  will,  because  it  bequeath- 
ed a  legacy  of  a  thousand  pounds  unto  New-England,  save  satisfaction  unto 

Vol.  I  ^6 


282  THE  IllSTOKY  OF  iNEW-EXGLAlND.         [Book  11: 

our  Mr.  Wilson,  though  it  Avas  other\vi5e  injurious  unto  himself.  A  te- 
dious ;ind  ninter-voynge  he  now  liad  ;  being  twice  forced  into  Ireland, 
where  first  at  GaiIo-a:aii,  then  at  Kingsale,  afterwards  at  Bandon- Bridge, 
he  occasionally,  but  vigorously  and  successfully  served  the  kivgdom  of 
God.  At  last  he  got  sale  among  his  old  friends  at  Sudbury  ;  according  to 
the  prediction  which  he  had  let  fall  in  his  former  farewel  unto  them  ;  It 
may  be  John  Wilson  jnay  come  and  see  Sudbury  once  again.  From  whence, 
visiting  Mr.  J^athanael  Rogers,  at  Assingto7i,  where  he  arrived  before 
their  morning  prayers  ;  Mr.  Rogers  asked  him  to  say  something  upon  the 
chapter  that  was  read,  which  happened  then  to  be  the  tirsl  chapter  in  the 
first  book  of  Chroniclc.i ;  and  from  a  paragraph  of  meer  proper  names,  thaft 
seemed  altogether  barren  of  any  edifying  matter,  he  raised  so  many  fruit- 
ful and  useful  notes,  that  a  pious  person  then  present,  amazed  thereat, 
could  have  no  rest,  without  going  over  into  America  at'ler  him.  Having 
dispatched  his  alTairs  in  England,  he  again  embarked  for  A'exo- England, 
in  company  with  four  ministers  and  near  two  hundred  passengers,  whereof 
some  \tere  persons  of  considerable  quality  :  but  they  had  all  been  lost  by 
a  large  leak  sprang  in  the  ship,  if  God  had  not,  on  a  day  of  solemn/fts?- 
ing,  and  prayer,  kept  on  board  for  that  purpose,  mercifully  discovered 
this  dangerous  /e«A:  unto  them. 

§  13.  That  PhQ:nix  of  his  age,  Dr.  Ames  would  say.  That  if  he  might 
have  his  option  of  the  best  condition  that  he  cuidd  propound  unto  himself  on 
this  side  heaven,  it  zvould  be,  thai  he  might  be  the  teacher  of  a  congregation' 
al  church,  nkereof  Air.  Wilson  should  be  the  pastor.  This  happiness,  this 
priviledge,  now  had  Mr.  Cotton  in  the  church  of  Boston.  But  Satan  en- 
vious at  the  prosperity  of  that  flourishing  church  raised  a  storm  of  An- 
tinomian,  and  Familistical  errors,  Vvhich  had  like  to  have  thrown  all  into 
an  irrecoverable  confusion,  if  the  good  God  had  not  remarkably  blessed 
the  endeavours  of  a  Synod ;  and  Mr.  Wilson,  for  a  while,  met  with  hard 
measure  for  his  early  opposition  to  those  errors,  until  by  the  help  of 
that  Synod,  the  storm  was  weathered  out.  At  the  beginning  of  that  as- 
sembly, after  much  discourse  against  the  unscriptural  enthusiasms,  and 
revelations,  then  by  some  contended  for,  Mr.  JT'iVsoh  proposed,  You  that 
are  against  these  things,  and  that  are  for  the  spirit  and  the  Zi<ord  together, 
hold  up  your  hands!  And  the  multitude  of  hands  then  held  up,  was  a 
comfortable  and  encouraging  introduction  unto  the  other  proceedings. 
At  the  conclusion  of  that  assembly,  a  catalogue  of  the  errors  to  be  con- 
demned, was  produced  ;  whereof  when  one  asked,  JVhat  shall  be  done 
n-ith  them  ?  the  wonted  zeal  of  Mr.  Wilson  made  this  blunt  answer,  Let 
them  go  to  the  devil  of  ]iell,from  Zi-hence  they  came. 

In  the  midst  of  these  temptations  also,  he  was  by^  a  lot,  chosen  to  ac- 
company the  foi'ces,  then  sent  forth  upon  an  expedition  against  the 
Pequod  Indians  ;  which  he  did  with  so  much  faith  and  joy,  that  he  pro- 
fessed himself  as  fully  sati.fied,  that  God  zcoidd  give  the  English  a  victory 
over  those  enemies,  as  if  he  had  seen  the  victory  already  obtained.  And  the 
whole  country  quickly  shared  with  him  in  the  consolations  of  that  re- 
markable victor}'. 

§  14.  In  the  ifilderucss  he  met  with  his  dij/icidtics  ;  for  besides  the 
loss  of  houses,  divers  times  by  ^Zre,  which  jet  he  bore  with  such  a  cheer- 
ful submission,  that  once  one  that  met  him  on  the  road,  informing  of  him, 
Sir,  I  have  sad  nezi'sfor  you ;  rchils  you  have  been  abroad,  your  house  is 
burnt.  His  first  answer  was.  Blessed  be  God  :  he  has  burnt  this  house,  be- 
cause he  intends  to  give  me  a  better.     (Which  accordingly  came  to  pass.^ 


Book  III.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  XEW-ENGLAND.  '233 

He  was  also  put  upon  ronipljing  with  the  inclinations  of  his  eldest  son 
10  travel. ;  who  according!}'  travellod,  lust  into  HoUa7id,  then  into  Ilaly, 
where  he  prococxleJ  a  doctor  of  jdujsick,  and  ?o  returned  into  England, 
excellently  well  adorned  witii  all  the  acrompli;-hments  of  a  most  pious 
and  useful  gentleman.  But  this  worthy  person  died  about  the  year  1G58. 
And  this  hastened  the  death  of  his  mother,  e'er  the  year  came  about  ; 
which  more  than  doubled  the  grief  of  his  father.  And  these  afflictions 
were  yet  further  embittered  by  the  death  of  his  eldest  daughter  Mrs. 
Rogers,  in  child-bed  with  her  lirst  child  ;  at  whose  interment,  though  he 
could  not  but  express  a  deal  of  sori'ozv,  yet  he  did  it  with  so  much  pa- 
tience, that  In  token,  he  said,  of  liis  grounded  and  joyful  hopes,  to  meet  her 
again  in  the  morning  of  the  resurrection,  and  of  his  "willingness  to  resign 
her  into  the  hands  of  him  wlio  "jDouldniakc  all  things  zvork  together  for  good, 
he  himself  took  the  spade,  and  tiirew  in  the  first  shovelful  of  earth  upon 
her.  And  not  long  after,  he  buried  three  or  four  of  his  grand  children 
by  another  daughter,  Mrs.  Danforth  (3'et  living  with  her  worthy  son-in- 
kuv  Edward  Bromfield,  Esq.  in  Boston)  whereof  one  lying  by  the  walls, 
on  a  davof  publick  thanksgiving,  this  holy  man  then  preached  a  most  sa- 
voury sermon  on  Job  i.  21,  The  Lord  hath  given,  and  the  Lord  hath  taken 
away,  blessed  be  the  name  of  the  Lord.  The  next  child,  although  so 
weakly  tliat  all  despaired  of  its  life,  his  prophelical  grand-father  said. 
Call  him  John,  I  believe  in  God,  he  shall  live,  and  be  a  prophet  too,  and  do 
God  service  in  his  generation  !  which  is,  at  this  day,  fulfilled  in  ?tlr.  John 
Danforth,  the  present  pastor  to  the  church  of  Dorchester.  Encountring 
with  such,  and  many  other  exercises  his  years  rolled  away,  till  he  had 
served  jYew-England,  three  3'ears  before  Mr.  Cotton'' s  coming  over,  twenty 
years  with  him  ;  ten  )fears  with  Mr.  Norton,  am]  four  years  after  him. 

§  15.  In  his  younger  time,  he  had  been  used  unto  a  more  methodical 
way  of  preaching,  and  was  therefore  admired  above  many,  by  no  less 
auditors  than  Dr.  Goodwin,  Mr.  Burroughs,  and  Mr.  Bridge,  when  they 
travelled  from  Cambridge  into  Essex,  on  purpose  to  observe  the  minis- 
ters in  that  county  ;  but  after  he  became  a  pastor,  joined  with  such 
illuminating  teachers,  he  gave  himself  a  liberty  to  preach  more  after  the 
primitive  manner  ;  without  any  distinct  propositions,  but  chiefly  in 
exhortations  and  admonitions,  and  good  wholesome  councils,  tending  to 
excite  good  motions  in  the  minds  of  his  hearers  ;  (but  upon  the  same 
texts  that  were  doctrinally  handled  by  his  colleague  instantly  before  :) 
and  yet  sometimes  his  pastoral  discourses  had  such  a  spirit  in  them,  that 
Mr.  Shephard  would  say,  Methinks  I  liear  an  apostle,  when  I  hear  this  man  : 
yea,  even  one  of  his  ex-tempore  sermons,  has  been  since  his  death, 
counted  worthy  to  be  published  unto  the  Avorld.  The  great  lecture  of 
Boston,  being  disappointed  of  him,  that  should  have  preached  it,  Mr. 
Wilson  preached  that  lecture  on  a  text  occuring  in  the  chapter  that  had 
been  read  that  morning  in  his  family,  Jer.  xxix.  8, — Neither  hearken  to 
your  dreams,  which  you  cause  to  be  dreamed  ;  from  whence  he  gave  a 
seasonable  warning  unto  the  people  against  the  dreams,  wherewith 
sundry  sorts  of  opiniouists,  have  been  endeavouring  to  seduce  them. 
It  was  the  last  Bosto7i  lecture  that  ever  he  preached  (Nov.  16,  1665.) 
and  one  who  writ  after  him,  in  short  hand,  about  a  dozen  years  after 
published  it.  But  his  last  sermon  he  preached  at  Roxbury  lecture, 
for  his  most  worthy  son-in-law  Mr.  Danforth;  and  after  he  had  read 
his  text,  which  was  in  the  beginnings  and  conclusions  of  sundry  of  the 
last  psalms,  with  a  seraphical  voice,  he  added.  If  I  were  sure  this  were 
the   last  sermon  that   ever    I   should  preach,   and    these  the   Inst  word^  that 


284  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  lis. 

ever  I  should  speak,  yet  I  nould  still  say,  Hallelujah,  Hallelujah,  praise  ye 
the  Lord  !  Thus  he  ended  his  ministry  on  earth,  thus  he  began  his  pos- 
sessio7i  of  heaven  with  Hall elujahs. 

§  16.  Indeed,  if  the  picture  of  this  good,  and  therein  great  man,  were 
to  be  exactly  given,  great  zeal,  with  great  love,  would  be  the  two  princi- 
pal strokes,  that  joined  with  orthodoxy,  should  make  up  his  pourtraiture. 
He  had  the  zeal  of  a  Phineas,  1  had  almost  said  of  a  se7-aphim,  in  testifying 
against  every  thing  that  he  thought  offensive  unto  God.  The  opinionists., 
which  attempted  at  any  time  to  debase  the  scriptin-e,  or  confound  the  or- 
der, embraced  in  our  churches,  underwent  the  most  pungent  animadver- 
sions of  this  his  devout  zeal ;  whence,  when  a  certain  assembly  of  people, 
which  he  ajtproved  not,  had  set  up  in  Boston,  he  charged  all  his  family, 
that  they  should  never  dare,  so  much  as  once  to  enter  into  that  assembly; 
I  charge  yon,  said  he,  that  you  do  not  once  go  to  hear  them  ;  for  ~j:hatsoever 
they  may  pretend,  they  zcill  rob  you  of  ordinances,  rob  you  of  your  soids,  rob 
you  of  your  God.  But  though  he  were  thus,  like  John,  a  Son  of  Thunder 
against  seducers,  yet  he  was  like  that  blessed  and  beloved  apostle  also,  all 
made  up  of  love.  He  was  full  oi  affection,  and  ready  to  help  and  relieve 
and  .  c-r.fort  the  distressed  ;  his /i02<se  was  renowned  for  hospitality,  and  his 
purse  was  continually  emptying  it  self  into  the  hands  of  the  needy  :  from 
which  i!isposition  of  love  in  him,  there  once  happened  this  passage  ; 
when  he  was  beholding  a  great  muster  of  soldiers,  a  gentleman  then 
present  ^aid  unto  him.  Sir,  Fll  tell  you  a  great  thing ;  here's  a  mighty  body 
of  people,  and  there  is  not  seven  of  them  all,  but  rn'iiat  loves  J\lr.  Wilson  ; 
but  chat  gracious  man  presently  and  pleasantly  replied,  Sir,l'll  tell  you  as 
good  a  thing  as  that,  here''s  a  mighty  body  of  people,  and  there  is  not  so  much 
as  one  of  them  all,  but  Mr.  Wilson  loves  him.  Thus  he  did,  by  his  own 
example,  notably  preach  that  lesson,  which  a  gentleman  found  in  the 
anagram  of  his  name.  Wish  no  one  ill :  and  thus  did  he  continue,  to  do 
every  one  good,  until  his  death  gave  the  same  gentleman  occasion  thus  to  ' 
elegize  upon  him  ; 

Now  may  celestial  spirits  sing  yet  higher. 
Since  one  more's  added  to  their  sacred  quire  ; 
JVilsoyi  the  holy,  ^\'hose  good  naine  doth  still, 
In  language  sweet,  bid  us  [Wish  no  ill.] 

§  17.  He  was  one,  that  consulting  not  only  his  own  edilication, 
but  the  encouragement  of  the  ministry,  and  of  religion,  with  an  inde- 
fatigable diligence  visited  the  congregations  of  the  neighbouring  towns, 
at  their  ■xseeHy  lectures,  until  the  weaknesses  of  old  age  rendered  him 
uncapable.  And  it  was  a  delightful  thing  then  to  see  upon  every  recur- 
ring opportunity,  a  large  company  of  christians,  and  even  magistrates 
and  ministers  among  them,  and  Mr.  Wilson  in  the  head  of  them,  visiting 
the  lectures  in  all  the  vicinage,  with  such  heavenly  discourses  on  the 
road,  as  caused  the  hearts  of  the  disciples  to  burn  Xiiithin  them:  a'nd  in- 
deed it  was  remarked,  that  though  the  christiar^s  then  spent  less  time  in 
the  shop,  or  f.eld,  than  they  do  no:v,  yet  they  did  in  both  prosper  more. 
But  for  Mr.  Wilson,  I  am  saying,  that  a  lecture  was  a  treasure  unto  him  ; 
he  prized  it,  he  sought  it,  until  old  age  at  length  brought  with  it  a  sick-  ' 
ness,  which  a  long  while  confined  him.  In  this  illness  he  took  a  solemn 
farewel  of  the  ministers,  who  had  their  weekly  meelings  at  his  hospitable 
house,  and  were  now  come  together  from  all  parts,  at  the  anniversary 
election  for  the  government  of  the  colonv.     Thev  a-^kcd  him  to  declare- 


Book  III.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  285  ' 

solemnly,  nhat  he  thought  might  be  the  sins,  which  provoked  the  dis- 
pleasure of  God  against  the  country.  Whereto  his  answer  was,  /  have 
loner  feared  several  sins;  whereof,  one,  he  said,  Avas  Corahism ;  "  That 
"  is,  when  people  rise  up  as  Corah  against  their  7nm('s<ers,  as  if  they  took 
« too  much  upon  them,  when  indeed  they  do  but  rule  for  Christ,  and 
*'  according  to  Christ  ;  yet  it  is  nothing  for  a  brother  to  stand  up  and  op- 
"  pose,  without  scripture  or  reason,  the  word  of  an  elder,  saying  [I  am 
"  not  satisfied!]  and  hence  if  he  do  not  like  the  adaiinistration  (be  it  bap- 
*'  tis7n  or  the  like)  he  will  turn  his  back  upon  God  and  his  ordinauces,  and 
"  o-o  away.  And  for  our  neglect  of  baptising  the  children  of  the  church, 
"  those  that  some  call  grand-children,  I  think  God  is  provoked  by  it. 
"  Another  sin  [said  he)  I  take  to  be  the  making  light  of,  and  not  subject- 
•  ino-  to  the  authority  of  Synods,  without  which  the  churches  cannot  long 
''  subsist." 

§  18.  Afterwards,  having  solemnly  with  prayer,  and  particvlarly  and 
very  prophetically  blessed  his  relations  and  attendants,  he  now  thus  com- 
forted himself,  I  shall  e'er  long  be  with  my  old  friends.  Dr.  Preston,  Dr. 
Sibs,  Dr.  Taylor,  Dr.  Gouge,  Dr.  Ames,  Mr.  Cotton,  Mr.  Norton,  my  Inns  of 
Court  friends ,  and  my  consort,  children,  grand-children  in  the  kingdom  of 
God.  And  when  some  then  present  magnilied  God  for  making  him  a  man 
of  such  use,  and  lamented  themselves  in  their  own  loss  of  him,  he  replied, 
Alas,  alas  ;  use  no  such  words  concerning  me  ;  for  I  have  been  an  unprofita- 
ble servant,  not  worthy  to  be  called  a  servant  of  the  Lord  :  but  I  must  say. 
The  Lord  be  merciful  to  me  a  sinner,  and  Imtist  say.  Let  thy  tender  mer- 
cies come  unto  me,  O  Lord,  even  thy  salvation  according  to  thy  word. 
The  evening  before  he  died,  his  daughter  asked  him,  Sir,  hoiu  do  you  do  ? 
He  held  up  his  hand,  and  said.  Vanishing  things!  vanishing  things!  but 
lie  then  made  a  most  affectionate  prayer,  v>'ith  and  for  his  friends  ;  and  so 
quietly  fell  asleep  on  August  7,  16G7,  in  the  seventy-ninth  year  of  hi:^ 
*age.  Thus  expired  that  reverend  old  man  :  of  whom,  when  he  left 
Ena-land,  an  eminent  personage,  said,  New-England  shall  flourish,  free 
from  all  general  desolations,  as  long  as  that  good  man  liveth  in  it !  which 
^  was  comfortably  accomplished.  He  was  inferred  with  more  than  ordinary 
solemnity  ;  and  his  neighbour  Mr.  Richard  Mather  oi  Dorchester,  thereat 
lamented  the  publick  loss  in  his  departure,  with  a  sermon  upon  Zech.  i. 
5,   Your  fathers  where  are  they,  and  the  prophets,  do  they  live  for  ever? 

§  19.  Being  a  ?mx?i  of  prayer,  he  was  very  much  a  man  of  God  ;  and  a 
certain  prophetical  afllatus,  which  often  directs  the  speeches  of  such  men, 
did  sometimes  remarkably  appear  in  the  speeches  of  this  holy  man.  In- 
stances hereof  have  been  already  given.  A  few  more  shall  now  be 
added. 

Beholding  a  young  man  extraordinarily  dutiful  in  all  possible  ways  oi' 
being  serviceable,  unto  his  aged  mother,  then  weak  in  bo('y,  and  poor  iu 
estate,  he  declared  unto  some  of  his  family  what  he  had  beheld  ;  addii).<:i 
therewithal,  /  charge  you  to  fake  notice  of  7i:hat  I  sai; :  God  will  certainh; 
bless  that  young  man  ;  John  Hull  (for  that  was  his  name)  shall  grow  rich, 
and  live  to  do  God  good  service  in  his  generation!  It  came  to  pass  ac- 
cordingly, that  this  exemplary  person  became  a  very  rich,  as  well  a-? 
emphatically  a  good  man,  and  afterwards  died  a  magistrate  of  i\\Q  colony. 
When  one  Mr.  Adams,  wi;o  waited  on  him  from  Hartford  unto  Wcath' 
ersfield,  was  followed  with  iHo  news  of  his  daughter's  being  fallen  sud- 
denly and  doubtfully  sick,  Mr.  Wilson  looking  up  to  heaven,  began  might- 
ily to  wrestle  with  God  for  the  life  of  the  young  woman  :  Lord,  (said  he^. 
St-i'/C  thou  now  takeaway  thy  servant's  child,  whe;:  ihoii  see'^t  he  is  attending 


5186  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  Hi. 

on  thy  poor  viixaortliij  servant  in  inost  christian  kindness  ;  Oh!  do  it  not! 
And  then  turning  himself"  about  unto  Mr.  Adaras,  Brother  (said  he)  I  trtist 
your  davghter  shall  live,  I  believe  in  God  she  shall  recover  of  this  sickness! 
And  so  it  marvellously  came  to  pass,  and  she  is  now  the  fruitful  mother 
of  several  desirable  children. 

A  Peqiiot- Indian,  in  a  canoo,  was  espied  by  the  English,  within  gun-' 
shot,  carrying  away  an  English  maid,  with  a  design  to  destroy  her  or  abuse 
her.  The  soldiers  fearing  to  kill  the  inaid  if  they  shot  at  the  Indian., 
asked  Mr.  Wilsons  counsel,  who  forbad  them  to  fear,  and  assured  them, 
God  zcill  direct  the  bullet  !  They  shot  accordingly  ;  and  killed  the  Indian, 
though  then  moving  swiftly  upon  the  water,  and  saved  the  maid  free 
from  all  harm  whatever. 

Upon  the  death  of  the  first  and  only  child  (being  an  infant)  of  his 
daughter  Mrs.  Danforth,  he  made  a  poem,  wherein  were  these  lines 
among  the  rest. 

What  if  they  part  with  their  beloved  one. 
Their  first  begotten,  and  their  only  son  ? 
What's  this  to  that  which  father  r^iram  suffered, 
^A  hen  his  own  hands  his  only  darling  offer'd, 
In  whom  was  bound  up  all  his  joy  in  this 
Life  present,  and  his  hope  of  future  bliss  ? 
And  what  if  God  their  other  children  call, 
Second,  third,  fourth,  suppose  it  should  be  all  ? 
What's  this  to  holy  Job,  his  trials  sad, 
Wlio  neither  these  nor  t'other  comforts  had  ? 
His  life  was  only  given  him  for  a  prej'. 
Yet  all  his  troubles  v/erc  to  heaven  the  way  ; 
\'cato  far  greater  blessings  on  the  earth, 
The  Lord  rewarding  all  his  tears  with  mirth.  ' 

And  behold,  as  if  that  he  had  been  a  Fates,  in  both  senses  of  it,  n  poet 
and  a  prophet,  it  pieased  God  afterwards  to  give  his  daughter  a  second,  n 
third,  and  a  fourth  child,  and  then  to  take  them  all  away  at  once,  even  in 
one  fortnight's  time  ;  but  afterwards,  happily  to  make  up  the  loss. 

Once  passing  over  the  ferry  unto  a  lecture,  on  the  other  side  of  the 
'.vater,  he  took  notice  of  a  young  man  in  the  boat,  that  wcrd(;d  it  very 
unhandsomely  unto  his  aged  father  :  whereat  this  faithful  seer,  being 
uiuch  troubled,  said  unto  him,  Young  man,  I  advise  you  to  repent  of  your 
undutiful  rebellious  carriage  ton-ards  your  father  ;  I  expect  else  to  hear, 
that  God  has  cut  you  off',  before  a  txaehc- month  come  to  an  end!  And  be- 
fore this  time  expired,  it  came  to  pass,  that  this  unhappy  youth  going  to 
tlie  southv.'ard,  was  there  h.acked  in  pieces,  by  the  Pequ.id Indians. 

A  company  of  people  in  this  country,  were  mighty  hot  upon  a  project 
of  removing  to  Providence,  an  island  in  the  West-Indies ;  and  a  venerable 
assembly  of  tlie  chief  inagistrates,  and  ministers  in  the  colony,  was  ad- 
dressed for  their  council  about  this  undertaking  ;  which  assembly  laid  be- 
fore the  company  very  weighty  reasons  to  disswade  them  from  it.  A 
prime  ringleader  in  that  business,  was  one  Venncr  a  cooper  of  Salem, 
the  mad  blade,  that  afterwards  perished  in  a  nonsensical  uproar,  which 
he,  with  a  crew  of  Bedlamites,  possessed  like  hinjself,  made  in  Londo7i. 
Tliis  Venner,  with  some  others,  now  stood  up  and  said,  That  notwithstand- 
ing xdiat  had.  been  offered,  they  zcere  clear  in  their  call  to  remove  :  wherc- 
';pon  Mr,  Wilson  stood  up  and  ansu'ered,  »%,  do  you  come  to  ask  counsel  in 


Book  III. j  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  287 

so  ~jt;ei^htij  a  maltcr  as  this,  and  to  have  help  from  an  ordinance  oj  God  in  it  ? 
and  are  you  uforehand  resolved,  thai  you  ivill  go  on  '.'  Well,  yo%  may  go,  ij 
you  will ;  but  you  sliall  vut  prosper.  IV hat  ?  do  you  make  a  mock  of  God  s 
ordinance?  And  it  came  to  pass  accordingl}' ;  the  enterprize  was  not 
long  after  dii.">!ied  in  piece?  ;  and  Ve-nner's  precipitating  iijipulses,  after- 
wards carried  him  lo  u  miserable  end. 

A  council  sitting  at  a  tovv^n,  where  some  ccclesiasiical  differences  called 
for  the  assistances  of  the  neighbours  to  compose  tliem,  there  was  one 
luan  observed  by  Sir.  Wilson,  to  be  extreamly  perverse,  and  most  unrea- 
sonably troublesome  and  mischievous  to  the  peace  of  the  church  there  ; 
whereupon  Mr.  Wilson  told  the  council,  he  was  conlidenl,  Tliat  the  jeal- 
cusij  of  God  would  set  a  mark  iijion  that  man,  and  that  the  ordinary  death 
of  men  should  not  befal  him.  It  happened  shortly  after,  that  the  man  was 
barbarously  butchered  by  the  salvages! 

While  Mr.  Wilson  was  minister  of  Sudbury  in  England,  there  was  a 
noted  person  who  had  been  absent  for  some  while  among  the  Papists. 
This  man  returning  home,  offered  himself  to  the  communion ;  whereat 
Mr.  Wilson  in  the  open  assembly,  spoke  unto  him  after  this  manner  ; 
"  Brother,  you  here  present  your  self,  as  if  you  would  partake  in  the 
"  Holy  Supper  of  the  Lord.  You  cannot  be  ignorant  of  what  you  have 
"  done  in  withdrawing  your  self  from  our  communion,  and  how  you  have 
*'  been  much  conversant  for  a  considerable  while,  with  the  Papists, 
"  whose  religion  is  antichristian.  Therefore,  though  we  cannot  so  abso- 
^'  lutely  charge  you,  God  knows,  who  is  the  searcher  of  all  hearts  ;  and 
*'  if  you  have  deliled  your  self  with  their  worship  and  way,  and  not  re^ 
"  pented  of  it,  by  offering  to  partake  at  this  time  in  the  Holy  Supper 
"  with  us,  you  will  eat  and  drink  your  own  damnation  ;  but  if  you  are 
"  clear,  and  have  nothing  wherewith  to  charge  your  self;  you  your  self 
"  know,  upon  this  account  you  may  receive."  The  man  did  then  par- 
^ke  at  the  Lord's  table,  professing  his  innocency.  But  as  if  the  devil  had 
entered  into  him,  he  soon  went  and  hanged  himself. 

In  the  circumstances  of  his  own  children,  he  saw  many  effects  of  an 
extraordinary  faith. 

His  eldest  son,  Edmund,  while  travelling  into  the  countries,  which  the 
bloody  Popish  inquisition  has  made  a  clime  too  torrid  for  a  Protestant, 
was  estreamly  exposed  :  but  the  prayers  of  the  young  gentleman's  con- 
tinually distressed  father,  for  him,  were  answered  with  signal  preserva- 
tions. When  he  was  under  examination  by  the  inquisitors,  a  friend  of 
the  chief  among  them,  suddenly  arrived  ;  and  the  inquisitor  not  having 
seen  this  friend  for  many  years  before,  was  hereby  so  diverted  and  mol- 
lified, that  he  carried  the  young  Mr.  Wilson  to  dinner  with  him  ;  and, 
though  he  had  passed  hitherto  unknown  by  his  true  name,  yet  this  in 
quisitor  could  now  call  him,  to  his  great  surprize,  by  the  name  of  Mr. 
Wilson,  and  report  unto  him  the  character  of  his  father,  and  his  fatherh 
industry  in  serving  the  hereticks  of  JVew- England.  But  that  which  1 
here  most  of  all  design,  is  an  account  of  a  thing  yet  more  memorable 
and  unaccountable.  For,  at  another  time,  his  father  dream't  himself 
.  transported   into  Italy,  where  be   saw  a  beautiful  person  in  the  son's 

(chamber,  endeavouring  with  a  thousand  enchantments,  to  debauch  him  ; 
whereupon  the  old  gentleman  made,  and  was  by  his  bed-fellow  over- 
-;  heard  making,  tirst,  prayers  to  God  full  of  agony,  and  then  warnings  unto 
his  tempted  son,  to  beware  of  defiling  himself  with  the  daughter  of  a 
ifrange  God.  Now,  some  considerable  while  after  this,  the  young  gen 
ieman  writer  to  liis  fiither,  that  on  siich  a  night  'which  was  upon  enquiry 


^88  THE  HIST 0R\^  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  III. 

found  the  very  same  night,)  a  gentlewoman  had  caressed  him,  thus  and 
so  (just  according  to  the  insion,)  and  that  his  chastity  had  been  conquer- 
ed, if  he  had  not  been  strongly  possessed  with  a  sense  of  his  father's 
prayers  over  hira,  and  warnings  unto  him,  for  his  escape  from  the  pits, 
whereinto  do  fall  the  abhorred  of  the  Lord. 

His  other  son,  John,  when  a  cliild,  fell  upon  his  head  from  a  loft  four 
stories  high,  into  the  street ;  from  whence  he  was  taken  up  for  dead, 
and  so  battered  and  bruised  and  bloody  with  his  fall,  that  it  struck  hor- 
ror into  the  beholders  :  but  Mr.  Wilson  had  a  wonderful  return  of  his 
prayers  in  the  recovery  of  the  child,  both  unto  life  and  unto  sense;  inso- 
much, that  he  continued  unto  old  age,  a  faithful,  painful,  useful  minister 
of  the  gospel  ;  and  but  lately  went  from  the  service  of  the  church  in 
Medfield,  unto  the  glory  of  the  church  triumphant. 

After  Mr.  Wilson''s  arrival  at  New -England,  his  wife,  who  had  left  oft* 
bearing  of  children  for  many  years,  brought  him  another  daughter ; 
which  lamb  was  indeed  unto  him  as  a  daughter;  and  he  would  present 
her  unto  other  ministers,  for  their  blessing,  with  great  affection,  saying, 
This  is  my  New-England  token  !  But  this  child  fell  sick  of  a  malignant 
fever,  wherein  she  was  gone  so  far,  that  every  one  despaired  of  her  life  ; 
except  her  father,  who  called  in  several  ministers,  with  other  christians, 
unto  a  fast  on  that  occasion  ;  and  hearing  the  prayers  of  Mr.  Cotton  for 
her,  found  his  heart  so  raised,  that  he  confidently  declared,  While  I  heard 
Mr.  Cotton  at  prayer,  I  was  confident  the  child  should  live !  And  the 
child  accordingly  did  live  ;  yea,  she  is  to  this  day  alive,  a  very  holy  wo- 
man,, adorned  like  them  of  old  time,  with  a  spirit  of  great  price  ! 

The  blessings  pronounced  by  Mr.  Wilson,  upon  many  persons  and  af- 
fairs, were  observed  so  prophetical,  and  especially  his  death-bed  bles- 
sings upon  his  children  and  grand-children  were  so,  that  the  most  con- 
siderable persons  in  the  country  thought  it  not  much  to  come  from  far, 
and  bring  their  children  with  them,  for  the  enjoyment  of  his  patriarchal 
benedictions.  For  which  cause,  Mr.  Thomas  Shepard,  in  an  elegy  upon 
him,  at  his  death  pathetically  thus  expressed  it ; 

Whoso  of  Abraham,  Moses,  Samuel,  reads. 

Or  of  Elijah^s  or  Elisha's  dee<ij;, 

Would  surely  sa}',  their  spirit  and  power  was  his. 

And  think  there  were  a  Metempsychosis. 

As  aged  John,  th'  apostle  us'd  to  bless 

The  people,  which  they  judg'd  their  happiness, 

So  we  did  count  it  worth  our  pilgrimage 

Unto  him  for  his  blessing,  in  his  age. 

'Vhese  were  extraordinary  passages  ;  many  of  them,  are  things  whiclj 
ordinary  christians  may  more  safely  ponder  and  zi'onder,  than  expect  in  our 
d?.ys  !  though  sometimes  great  reformers,  and  great  sn^crers,  must  be 
signalized  with  thern.  i  know  very  well  what  Livy  says,  Datur  Imc  Ve- 
nia  Antiquitatis,  nl  miscendo  Humana  Divinis,  Priinordia  Urbium  Augus- 
iiorafaciat :  but  i  have  been  fur  from  imposing  the  least  fable  upon  the 
world  in  reporting  such  extraordinary  passages  of  Mr.  Wilson,  or  any 
other  grc  t  confessor,  by  whom  the  beginnings  of  this  country  were  made 
illustrious  ;  there  are  witnesses  enough,  yet  living  of  them. 

§  20.  There  is  a  certain  little  sport  of  wit,  in  anagrummatizing  the 
names  of  men  ;  which  was  used  as  long  ago  at  least  as  the  days  of  old 
I^ycophron  :  and  which  sometimes  has  afforded  reflections  very  monitory. 


Book  111.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  289 

as  Mstedius  by  his  just  admirers  changed  into  SediiHtas  ;  or  very  charac- 
terising, as  Renatus  Cartesius,  by  his  disciples  turned  into,  Tu  scis  res  JVa- 
iura  ;  or  very  satyrical,  as  when  Satan  ruleth  me,  was  found  in  the  trans- 
posed name  of  a  certain  active  persecutor:  and  when,  Lo,  a  damned 
crew,  was  found  in  the  name  of  one  that  made  a  figure  among  the  Popish 
plotters  against  the  nation.  Yea,  'tis  possible,  that  they  who  affect  such 
grammatical  curiosities,  will  be  willing  to  plead  a  prescription  of  much 
higher  and  elder  antiquity  for  them  ;  even  the  tcmurah,  or  mutation, 
with  which  the  Jews  do  criticise  upon  the  oracles  of  the  Old  Testament, 
'There,  they  say,  you'll  find  the  anagram  of  our  first  father's  name  Ha 
adam,  to  express  Adaiaah,  the  name  of  the  earth,  whence  he  had  his 
original.  An  anagram  of  a  goorf  signification,  they'I  show  you  [Gen.  A'^i. 
8,]  and  of  a  bad  one  [Gen.  xxxviii.  7,]  in  those  glorious  oracles  ;  and 
they  will  endeavour  to  perswade  you,  that  Maleachi  in  Exodus  is  ana- 
grammatically  expounded  Michael,  in  Daniel.  But  of  all  the  anagram- 
matizers  that  have  been  trying  their  fancies,  for  the  two  thousand  years 
which  have  run  out,  since  the  days  of  Lycophron,  yea,  or  for  the  more 
than  five  thousand,  since  the  days  of  our  first  father,  I  believe  there 
never  was  man,  that  made  so  many,  or  so  nimbly,  as  our  Mr.  Wilson;  who, 
together  with  his  quick  turns,  upon  the  names  of  his  friends,  would  ordi- 
narily/e<c/t,  and  rather  than  /ose,  would  even  force  devout  instructions 
out  of  his  anagrams.  As  once,  upon  hearing  my  father  preach  a  ser- 
mon about  the  glories  of  ovr  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  Mr.  Wilson  immediately 
gave  him  that  anagram  upon  his  name,  Crescentius  Matherus,  anagr.  En ! 
Christus  Merces  tua :  so  there  could  scarcely  occur  the  name  of  any  re- 
markable person,  at  least,  on  any  remarkable  occasion  unto  him,  without 
an  anagram  raised  thereupon  ;  and  he  made  this  poetical,  and  peculiar 
disposition  of  his  ingenuity,  a  subject  whereon  he  grafted  thoughts  far 
more  solid  and  solemn  and  useful,  than  the  stock  it  self.  Wherefore  me- 
thoughts,  it  looked  like  a  piece  of  injustice,  that  his  own  funeral  produ- 
ced (among  the  many  poems  afterwards  printed)  no  more  anagrams  upon 
his  name,  who  had  so  often  thus  handled  the  names  of  others  ;  and  some 
thought  the  Jl/uses  looked  very  much  dissatisfied,  when  they  saw  these 
lines  upon  his  hearse. 

JOHN  WH.SON. 

Anagr. 
John  Wilson. 
Oh  !  change  it  not ;  no  sweeter  name  or  thing, 
Throughout  the  world,  within  our  ears  shall  ring. 

There  was  a  little  more  of  humour,  in  the  fancy  of  Mr.  Ward,  the 
well-known  simple  cobler  of  Agawam,  as  that  witty  writer  stiled  himself, 
who  observing  the  great  hospitality  of"  Mr.  Wilson,  in  conjunction  with  his 
meta-grammatising  temper,  said,  That  the  anagram  of  John  Wilson  xvas. 

I  FRAY,  COME  IN,  YOU  ARE  HEARTILY  WELCOME. 

To  make  up  this  want,  1  might  conclude  the  ^/e  of  this  good  man.  with 
^Q  anagram,  which  he  left  on,  and  for  himself. 

Johannes  Wilsonus. 

Anagr. 

In  una  Jesu,  nos  Salvi. 

Vel 
Non  in  uno  Jesu  Sahts  ':' 
Vol,  L  37 


29<i  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  III 

An  non  in  Jesu,  Credentum,  figitnr,  wio, 
Tota  Salus  ?     Hie  est,  hie  Sita  Tota  Sal  us. 

§  21.  But  it  is  to  the  last  place  in  our  history  of  this  woilhy  man, 
that  i  reserve  that  part  of  his  character,  which  lay  in  his  disposition  to 
allot  unto'himself  the  last  place  among  all  worth}'  men  ;  for  his  low  opin- 
ion of  himself,  was  the  top  of  all  his  other  excellencies.  His  humiliiy 
not  only  caused  him  to  prefer  the  meanest  of  his  brethren  above  himself, 
but  also  to  comply  with  the  meanest  opportunities  of  being  serviceable. 
He  might  justly  be  reckoned  the  name's  sake  of  that  John,  the  Bishop  of 
Alexandria,  who  was  called  not  only  Johannes  Eleemosynarius,  but  also 
Humilis  Johannes.  Hence  'twas,  that  when  his  voice  in  his  age  did  so 
fail  him,  that  his  great  congregation  could  be  no  longer  edified  by  his 
publick  labours,  he  cheerfully  and  painfully  set  himself  to  do  all  the  good 
that  he  could  by  his  private  visits ;  and  such  also  as  he  could  not  reach 
with  sermons  he  often  found  with  verses  :  hence  'twas  that  when  that 
plea  was  used  with  the  church  of  Ipszi;ich,  to  resign  Mr.  Norton  unto  the 
church  of  Boston,  after  the  death  of  Mr.  Cotton;  because  it  was  said, 
Let  him  that  hath  irco  coats,  give  to  him  that  hath  none  :  and  a  person  of 
quality  replied,  Boston  hath  one,  [meaning  Mr.  Wilson  :]  this  good  man 
answered,  Who?  me!  lamnothing!  T(ea,  hence  'twas,  that  when  male- 
factors had  been  openly  scourged  upon  the  just  sentence  of  authority, 
he  would  presently  send  for  them  to  his  house,  and  having  tirst  expres- 
sed his  bounty  to  them,  he  would  then  bestow  upon  them  such  gracious 
admonitions  and  exhortations,  as  made  them  to  become,  instead  of  despe- 
rate, remarkably  penitent.  Indeed,  I  know  not  whether  his  humility 
might  not  have  some  excess,  in  some  instances  charged  upon  it  ;  at  least 
once,  when  he  had  promised  unto  a  neighbouring  minister,  to  preach  a 
sermon  for  him,  and  after  his  promise  came  in  season  to  that  minister, 
saying,  Sir,  I  told  you,  that  I  vcould  preach  for  you,  but  it  n-as  rashly  done 
of  me  ;  I  have  on  my  knees  begged  the  pardo7i  of  it,  from  the  Lord ;  that  I 
shotdd  offer  thus  to  deprive  his  people  of  your  labours,  which  are  so  much 
better  than  any  of  mine  can  be:  wherefore.  Sir,  I  now  come  seasonable  to 
tell  you,  that  I  shall  fail  you  .'  And  accordingly,  there  was  no  perswading 
of  him  to  the  contrary. 

But  from  the  like  humility  it  was,  that  a  good  kinsman  of  his,  who  de- 
serves to  live  in  the  same  story,  as  he  now  lives  in  the  same  heaven  with 
him,  namely  Mr.  Edward  Rawson,  the  honoured  secretary  of  the  Massa- 
chuset  colony,  could  not  by  all  his  intreaties  perswade  him  to  let  his  picture 
be  drawn;  but  still  refusing  it,  he  would  reply,  What  !  such  a  poor  vile 
creature  as  I  am  /  shall  my  picture  be  drawn?  I  say,  no  ;  it  never  shall! 
And  when  that  gentleman  introduced  the  limner,  with  all  things  ready, 
vehemently  importuning  him  to  gratifie  so  far  the  desires  of  hia  friends, 
as  to  sit  a  while,  for  the  taking  of  his  effigies,  no  importunity  could  ever 
obtain  it  from  him.  However,  being  bound  in  justice  to  employ  my 
hand,  for  the  memory  of  that  person,  by  whose  hand  I  was  myself  bap- 
tised, I  have  made  an  essay  to  draw  his  picture,  by  this  account  of  his 
life  ;  wherein  if  I  hare  missed  of  doing  to  the  life,  it  might  be  made  up 
with  several  expressive  passages,  which  I  find  in  elegies  written  anS 
printed  upon  his  death :  whereof  there  were  many  composed,  by  those 
whose  opinion  was  well  signified  by  one  of  them  : 

Sure  verselcss  he  does  mean,  to's  grave  to  go, 
Ani  well  deserves,  that  now  no  verse  can  show. 


Book  HI.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  ^1 

But  waving  the  rest,  let  the  following  poem,  never  before  printed,  offev 
some  odours  for  the  reader's  further  entertainment. 

.Some  offers  to  embalm  the  memory  of  the  truly  reverend  and  renJi-ned  John 
Wilson  ;  the  first  pastor  of  Boston,  in  New-England  :  interred  {and  ci 
great  part  of  his  country^s  glory  u-ith  him)  August  1 1,  1667,  aged  1^^ 

Might  Jaron^s  rod  (such  funerals  mayn't  be  dry) 
But  broach  the  rock,  'twould  gush  pure  elegy. 
To  round  the  wilderness  with  purling  lays, 
And  tell  the  world,  the  great  saint  Wilso7i^s  praise. 

Here's  one  (jjearls  are  not  in  great  clusters  found) 
Here's  one,  the  skill  oftojignes  and  arts  had  crown'd  , 
Here's  one  (by  frequent  ma?-/(/rJo/n  was  try'd) 
That  could  forego  skill,  pelf  and  life  beside, 
For  Christ :  both  Englayid's  darling,  whom  in  swarms 
They  press'd  to  see,  and  hear,  and  felt  his  charms. 

Tis  one  (when  will  it  rise  to  number  two  ? 
The  world  at  once  can  but  one  Phcniix  show  :) 
FoT  truth  a  Paul,  Cephas  for  zeal,  {or  love 
A  John,  inspir'd  by  the  coelestinl  dove. 
Abram's  true  son  for  faith;  and  in  his  tent 
Angels  oft  had  their  table  and  content. 

So  humble,  that  alike  en's  charity, 
Wrought  extract  gent ;  with  extract  rudii. 
Pardon  this  fault ;  his  great  excess  lay  there. 
He'd  trade  for  heaven,  with  all  he  came  a  near  ; 
His  meat,  clothes,  cash,  he'd  still  for  ventxircs  send 
Consign'd,  per  Brother  Lazarus,  his  friend. 

Mighty  in  prayer,  his  hands  uplifted  reach'd 

Mercy's  high  throne,  and  thence  strange  bounties  fetch'd, 

Once  and  again,  and  oft  :  so  felt  by  all, 

Who  xi-eep  his  death,  as  a  departing  Paid. 

.ill,  yea,  baptiz'd  with  tears,  lo  children  come, 

{Their  baptism  he  maintain'd  !)  unto  his  tomb. 

'Twixt  an  apostle,  and  evangelist. 

Let  stand  his  order  in  the  heavenly  list. 

Had  we  the  costly  alabaster  box. 

What's  left,  we'd  spend  on  this  Kezi)-English  Knox  , 

True  Knox,  fiU'd  with  that  great  reformer's  grace, 

In  truth's  just  cause,  fearing  no  mortal's  face. 


Christ's  word,  it  was  his  life,  Christ's  church  his  care  , 
And  so  great  with  him  his  le^st  brethren  were, 
Not  heat,  nor  cold,  not  rain,  or  frost,  or  snow, 
Could  hinder,  but  he'd  to  their  sermons  go  ; 
Aaron's  bells  chim'd  from  far,  he'd  run,  and  then 
His  ravish'd  soul  echo'd,  Amen,  .hnen  .' 


292  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  [Book  HL 

He  travers'd  oft  the  fierce  Atlantic  sea, 

Bui  PalmOS  of  confessors  'twas  for  thee. 

77iis  voyage  lands  hiin  on  the  wished  shore, 

From  wheuce  this  father  will  return  no  more, 

To  sit  the  moderator  of  thy  sages. 

But  teil  his  zeal  for  thee  to  after-ages, 

His  care  to  guiue  his  flock,  and  feed  his  lambs, 

By,  zt'ords,  xcorks,  prayers,  psalms,  alms,  and  anagrams  . 

Those  anagrams,  in  which  he  made  no  start 

Out  of  meer  nothings,  by  creating  art. 

Whole  7cords  of  counsel  ;  did  to  motes  unfold 

J\''ames,  till  they  lessons  gave  richer  than  gold, 

And  every  angle  ^o  exactly  fay, 

It  should  out-shine  the  brightest  solar  ray. 

Sacred  his  verse,  writ  with  a  cherub''s  quill  ; 
But  those  wing'd  choristers  of  Zio?i- hill, 
Pleas'd  with  the  notes,  call'd  him  a  part  to  bear  \ 
With  them,  where  he  his  anagram  did  hear,        J- 
I  pray  come  in,  heartily  zvelcome,  Sir.  V 

EPITAPHIUM. 

Thinking  what  epitaph  I  should  offer  unto  the  grave  of  this  worthy 
man,  I  called  unto  mind  the  fittest  in  the  world,  which  was  directed  for 
him,  immediately  upon  his  death,  by  an  honourable  person,  who  still  con- 
tinues the  same  lover,  as  well  as  instance,  of  learning  and  vertue,  that  h& 
was,  when  he  then  advised  them  to  give  Mr.  Wilson  this 


And  now  abides  faith,  hope,  and  charity. 
But  charity^s  the  greatest  of  the  three. 

To  which  this  might  be  added,  from  another  hand  : 

Aurea,  qvce  (^ohstvpeo  referens  !)  Prinueva  Vetvstas, 
Condidit  Arcano,  Saecula  Apostolica, 

Officiis,  Donisgue  itidevi  Sanctissimus  Heros, 
WiLSONUS,  tacilis  Protulit  ex  Tenebris, 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Puritanismus  .Xov-Anglic(Oiu!<.     The  Lifk  of  Mr.  John  Davenport. 

§  1.  A  ^oTiiD  author  of  more  than  twice  seven  treatises,  and  chaplain 
to  two  successive  Queens  of  England,  was  that  Christopher  Davenport^ 
whoso  assumed  name  was,  Francisciis  d  Sancta  Clara.  And  in  Mr.  Plush' 
■a-or/A's  collection  of  speeches,  made  in  the  celebrated  parlinment,  1640, 
I  find  Sir  Benjamin  Rudyard  using  these  words  :  '  Sanaa  Clara  hath 
'  published,  that  if  a  Synod  were  held,  Xon  intermixtis  P7rritanis,  setting 
■  Puritans  aside,  our  c.rtichs  and  their  religion  would  soon  be  agreed. 


Book  HI.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW.ENGLA>^D.  293 

'  They  have  so  brought  it  to  pass,  that  under  the  name  of  Puritans,  all 
'  our  religion  is  branded.  Whosoever  squares  his  actions  by  any  rule, 
'  either  divine  or  humane,  he  is  a  Puritan:  whosoever  would  be  govern- 

'  ed  by  the  King's  laws,  he  is  a  Puritan.^ Whether  this  account  ol 

matters  be  allowed  or  no  ;  there  was,  though  not  a  brother  (as  a  certain 
zi'ooddeii  historian,  in  his  Athena;  Oxotiienses,  has  reported)  yet  a  kinsman 
of  that  Sancta  Clara,  who  was  among  the  most  eminent  Puritans  of  those 
days  :  and  this  was  our  holy  and  famous  Mr.  John  Davenport  :  one  of 
whom  I  may,  on  many  accounts,  use  the  elogy,  with  which  th'j  learned 
still  mention  Salinasius,  Vir  nunquaia  satis  Laxidatus,  nee  Tcnicre  sine 
Laude  nominandus. 

§  2.  Mr.  John  Davenport  was  born  at  Coventry,  in  the  year  1597,  of 
worthy  parents  ;  a  father  who  was  mayor  of  the  city,  and  a  pious  another, 
who  having  lived  just  long  enough,  to  devote  hiu),  as  Hannah  did  her 
Samuel,  unto  the  service  of  the  sanctuary,  left  him  under  the  more  im- 
mediate care  of  heaven  to  fit  him  for  that  service.  The  grace  of  God 
sanctitied  him  with  good  principles,  while  he  had  not  yet  seen  two  sevens 
of  years  in  an  evil  world ;  and  by  that  age  he  had  also  made  such  attain- 
ments in  learning,  as  to  be  admitted  into  Brasen-J\'use  Colledge,  in  Ox- 
ford. From  thence,  when  he  was  but  nineteen  years  old,  he  was  called 
unto  publick  and  constant  preaching  in  the  cit}'  oi" London,  as  an  assistant 
unto  another  divine ;  where  his  notable  accomplishments  for  a  minister, 
and  his  couragious  residence  with,  and  visiting  of  his  flock,  in  a  dreadful 
■plague-time,  caused  much  notice  to  be  quickly  taken  of  him.  His  degree 
of  Master  of  Arts,  he  took  not,  until,  in  course,  he  was  to  proceed 
Batchellor  of  Divinity :  and  then  with  universal  approbation,  he  received 
both  of  these  laurels  together. 

§  3.  This  pious  man  was  both  an  hard  student,  and  a  great  preacher. 
His  custom  was  to  sit  up  very  late  at  his  lucubrations ;  whereby,  il.Dugh 
he  found  no  sensible  damage  himself,  and  never  felt  his  head  ach,  yet  his 
counsel  was,  that  other  students  would  not  follow  his  example.  But  the 
eifects  of  his  industry  were  seen  by  all  men,  in  his  approving  himsclt 
upon  all  occasions,  aii  universal  scholar.  As  for  the  sermons  whercwitli 
he  fed  the  church  of  God,  he  wrote  them  for  the  most  part,  more  largeh- 
than  the  most  of  ministers  ;  and  he  spoke  them  with  a  gravity,  an  en- 
ergy, an  acceptableness,  whereto  few  ministers  ever  have  arrived  :  in- 
deed his  greatest  enemies,  vv'hen  they  heard  him,  would  acknowledge 
him  to  be  among  the  best  of  preachers.  The  ablest  men  about  London 
were  his  nearest  friends ;  among  whom  he  held  a  very  particular  corres- 
pondence with  Dr.  Preston  :  he,  when  he  dyed,  left  his  notes  with  Mr. 
Davenport,  by  him  to  be  published  ;  and  accordingly  with  Dr.  Sibs. 
you'll  tind  Mr.  Davenport  signing  some  of  their  dedications. 

§  4.  About  the  year  1626,  there  were  several  eminent  persons,  amonji 
whom  were  two  Doctors  of  Divinity,  with  two  other  divines,  and  foui 
lawyers,  whereof  one  the  King's  Serjant  at  law,  and  four  citizens,  where- 
of one  the  Lord  Mayor  of  London,  engaged  in  a  design  to  procure  a  pur- 
chase of  impropriations,  and  with  the  profits  thereof  to  maintain  a  con 
•stant,  able,  and  painful  ministry,  in  those  parts  of  the  kingdom,  where 
there  was  most  want  of  such  a  ministry.  The  divines  concerned  in  this 
design,  were  Dr.  Gouge,  Dr.  Sibs,  Mr.  Offspring,  and  our  Mr.  Davenport ; 
and  such  an  incredible  |)rogress  was  made  it;  it,  that  it  is  judged,  all  the 
impropriations  in  England  would  have  been  honestly  and  easily  lecover- 
ed  unto  the  immediate  service  of  the  reformed  religion.  But  Bishop 
Land  looking  with  a  jealous  eye  on  this  undertaking,  least  it  might  ii* 


294  THE  HISTORY  OF  lsEVV-ENGLAI\'L>.  [ijooic  HI, 

tiQie  give  a  secret  growth  to  non-conformity,  he  obtained  a  bill  to  be  ex- 
hibited ia  the  Exchequer  Chamber,  by  the  King's  Attorney-General, 
against  the  Feoffees,  that  had  the  management  of  it.  Upon  this  occasion, 
I  tind  this  great  man  writing  in  his  great  Bible,  the  ensuing  passages  : 

'  Feb.  11,  1632.  The  business  of  the  feoffees  being  to  be  heard  the 
'  third  time  at  the  Exchequer,  I  prayed  earnestly,  that  God  would  assist 
'  our  counsellors,  in  opening  the  case,  asid  be  pleased  to  grant,  that  they 
'  might  get  no  advantage  against  us,  to  punish  us  as  evildoers  ;  promising 
'  to  observe  what  answer  he  gave.  Which  seeing  he  hath  graciously 
'  done,  and  delivered  me  from  the  thing  I  feared,  1  record  to  these  ends  ; 

*  1.  To  be  more  industrious  in  my  family. 
'  2.   To  check  my  tinthankfulness. 
'  3.  To  quicken  my  self  to  (hankfidness. 

'  4.   To  awaken  my  self  to  more  watchfidness  for  the  time  to  come,  in 
'  remembrance  of  his  mercy. 

'  Which  I  beseech  the  Lord  to  grant ;  upon  whose  faithfulness  in  his 
'  covenant,  I  cast  my  self,  to  be  made  faithful  in  my  covenant. 

'  John  Davexport.' 

The  issue  of  the  business  was  this:  the  court  condemned  their  pro-* 
ceedings  as  dangerous  to  the  church  and  state  ;  pronouncing  the  gifts, 
feoffments,  and  contrivances,  made  to  the  uses  aforesaid,  to  be  illegal,  and 
so  dissolved  the  same,  coutiscating  their  money  unto  the  King's  use.  Yet 
ih.e  criminal  part  referred  unto,  was  never  prosecuted  in  the  star-cham- 
her ;  because  the  design  was  generally  approved,  and  multitudes  of  dis- 
creet and  devout  men,  extreamly  resented  the  mine  of  it. 

§  5.  It  happened  that  soon  after  this,  the  famous  Mr.  John  Cotton  wag 
fallen  under  such  a  storm  of  persecution  for  his  non-conformity ,  as  made 
it  necessary  for  him  to  propose  and  purpose  a  removal  out  of  the  land  : 
whereupon  Mr.  Davenport,  with  several  other  great  and  good  men,  con- 
sidering the  eminent  learning,  prudence,  and  holiness  of  that  excellent 
person,  could  be  at  no  I'est,  until  they  had  by  a  solemn  conference  inform- 
ed themselves  of  what  might  move  him  to  such  a  resolution.  The  issue 
of  the  conference  was,  that  instead  of  their  disswading  him  from  exposing 
himseif  to  such  suiTerings,  as  were  now  before  him,  he  convinced  them  of 
the  truth  in  the  cawse  for  which  he  suffered  ;  and  they  became  satisfied 
both  of  the  evil  in  sundry  matters  of  worship  and  order,  imposed  upon 
them,  and  of  the  duty  which  lay  upon  them,  in  their  places  to  endeavour 
the  reformation  of  things  in  the  church,  according  to  the  word  of  God. 
Mr.  Duvenporfs  inclination  to  nan- conformity  from  this  time,  fell  under 
the  notice  and  anger  of  his  diocesan  ;  who  presently  determined  the 
marks  of  his  vengeance  for  him  :  of  which  being  seasonably  and  sufficient- 
ly advertised,  he  convened  the  principal  persons  under  his  pastoral 
charge  in  Coleman-street,  at  a  general  vestry,  desiring  them  on  this  occasion 
to  declare,  what  they  would  advise  ;  for  acknowledging  the  right  which 
they  had  in  him,  as  their  pastor,  he  would  not,  by  any  danger,  be  driven 
from  any  service,  which  they  should  expect  or  demand  at  his  hands  ;  but 
lie  would  imitate  the  exan-ple  of  Luther,  who  upon  letters  from  the 
t  hurch  of  Wittenberg,  from  whence  he  had  withdrawn  for  his  securitj/-, 
upon  the  direction  of  the  Duke  of  Saxony,  returned  unto  the  couragious 
exercise  of  his  ministry.     Upon  a  serious  deliberation,  they  discharged 


Book  111.]  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.  295 

his  conscientious  obligation,  by  agreeing  with  him,  that  it  wouid  be  best  for 
him  to  resign  ;  but  although  he  now  hoped  for  something  of  a  quiet  life, 
his  hope  was  disappointed  ;  for  he  was  continually  dogged  by  raging  bu- 
sie  pursivants,  fr(Jm  whom  he  had  no  safety  but  by  retiring  into  Hol- 
land. 

§  6.  Over  to  Holland  he  wont,  in  the  latter  end  of  the  year  1633. 
Where  the  messengers  of  the  church,  under  the  charge  of  Mr.  Paget, 
met  htm  in  his  way  to  Amsterdam,  inviting  hira  to  become  the  collegue 
of  their  aged  pastor.  But  Mr.  Davenport  had  not  been  long  there,  be- 
fore his  indisposition  to  the  promiscuous  baptising  oi children,  concerning 
whom  there  was  no  charitable  or  tolerable  testimony  of  iheir  belonging 
to  christian  parents,  was  by  Mr.  Paget  so  improved  against  him,  as  to 
procure  him  the  displeasure  of  the  Dutch  classes  in  the  neighbourhood. 
The  contention  on  this  occasion  proceeded  so  far,  that  though  the  Dutch 

ministers  had  under  their  hands  declared We  desire  nothing  more,  than 

that  Air.  Davenport,  whose  eminent  learning,  and  singular  piety  is  much 
approved  and  commended  of  all  the  English  oiir  brethren,  may  be  lawfully 
promoted  unto  the  minstry  of  tlie  English  church :  zee  do  also  greatly  ap- 
prove of  his  good  zeal  and  care,  of  his  having  some  precedent  private  exam- 
ination of  the  parents,  and  sureties  of  children  to  be  baptised  in  the  christian 
religion.  Yet  the  matter  could  not  be  accommodated  ;  Mr.  Davenport 
could  not  be  allowed,  except  he  would  promise  to  baptize  the  children 
of  such  whose  parents  and  sureties  were,  upon  examination,  found  never 
so  much  unchristianized,  ignorant,  or  scandalous.  He  therefore  desisted 
from  his  publick  ministry  in  Amsterdam,  about  the  beginning  of  the  year 
1635,  contenting  himself  to  set  up  a  catechetical  exercise  in  the  family, 
where  he  sojourned  on  the  afternoon  of  the  Lord's  days,  an  hour  after  the 
publick  sermons  were  over.  But  some  considerable  number  of  people, 
at  length,  resorting  to  thA  exercise,  a  jealousie  was  pretended  by  his  ad- 
versary, that  the  design  of  it  was  to  promote  such  sects,  as  indeed  the 
chief  design  of  it  was  to  prevent ;  and  upon  this  pretence  he  was  hin- 
dered, even  from  this  lesser  opportunity  of  doing  service  also.  The 
fuller  story  of  these  uncomfortable  and  unreasonable  brangles,  the  rea- 
der may  find  in  an  apologelical  discourse  of  Mr.  Davenport's,  published  for 
his  own  vindication  ;  wherein  he  does  with  a  learned  pen,  handle  several 
points  much  controverted  in  the  reformed  churches,  and  shew  himself  a 
divine  well  studied  in  the  controversies  of  the  present  and  the  former 
ages.  But  the  upshot  of  all  was,  that  he  returned  back  to  London  ;  where 
he  told  his  friends,  That  he  thought  God  carried  him  over  into  Holland,  on 
purpose  to  bear  witness  against  that  promiscuous  baptism,  which  at  least  bor- 
dered very  near  upon  a  profanation  of  the  holy  institution. 

§  7.  He  observed,  that  when  a  reformation  of  the  church  has  been 
brought  about  in  any  part  of  the  world,  it  has  rarely  been  afterwards 
carried  on  any  one  step  further,  than  the  first  reformers  did  succeed  in 
iheiv  first  endeavours  ;  he  observed  that  as  easily  might  the  ark  have  been 
removed  from  the  mountains  of  Ararat,  where  it  tirst  grounded,  as  a 
people  get  any  ground  in  reformation,  after  and  beyond  the  first  remove 
of  the  reformers.  And  this  observation  quickned  him  to  embark  in  a 
design  oi  reformation,  wherein  he  might  have  opportunity  to  drive  things 
ID  the  tirst  essay,  as  near  to  the  precept  and  pattern  of  scripture,  as  they 
^ouldbe  driven.  The  plantation  of  New-England  afforded  him  this  op- 
portunity, with  the  chief  undertakers  whereof  he  had  many  consulta- 
tions, before  he  had  ever  taken  up  any  purpose  of  going  himself  into 
that  part  of  the  world  ;  and  he  had.  indeed,  a  very  great  stroke  in  the 


;^96  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.        [Book  HI. 

encouraging  and  enlivening  of  that  noble  undertaking.  He  was  one  of 
those  by  whom  the  patent  for  the  Massachusct  colony  was  procured  ;  and 
though  his  nome  were  not  among  the /la^en^ees,  because  he  himself  desir- 
ed it  might  be  omitted,  lest  his  enemy,  the  Bishop  of  Londo7i,  then  of 
the  King's  privy  council,  should  upon  his  account  appear  the  more 
fiercely  against  it  ;  yet  his  purse  was  in  it,  his  time  was  in  it,  and  he  con- 
tributed unto  it  all  manner  of  assistances  :  this  he  did  before  his  going  to 
Holland.  And  while  he  was  in  Holland,  he  received  letters  of  Mr.  Cotton, 
from  the  country  whereto  he  had  thus  been  a  father ;  telling  him,  That 
the  order  of  the  churches,  and  the  common-wealth  teas  now  so  settled  in 
New-England,  by  common  consent,  that  it  brought  into  his  mind  the  new 
lieaven,  and  the  new  earth,  wherein  dwells  righteousness.  Wherefore, 
soon  after  his  return  for  London,  he  shipped  himself,  with  several  emi- 
nent christians,  and  their  families,  for  New-England  ;  where,  by  the  good 
hand  of  God  upon  them,   they  arrived  in  the  summer  of  the  year  1637. 

§  8.  Mr.  Cotton  welcomed  Mr.  Davenport,  as  jV/osf s  did  Jethro,  hoping 
that  he  would  be  as  eyes  unto  them  in  the  wilderness.  For  by  the  cunning 
and  malice  of  Sata7i,  all  things  in  this  J\'ew- English  wilderness,  were  then 
surprised,  into  a  deal  of  confusion,  on  the  occasion  of  the  Antinomian 
opmions  then  spread  abroad  ;  but  the  learning  and  wisdom  of  this  worthy 
man  in  the  Synod  then  assembled  at  Cambridge,  did  contribute  more  than 
a  little  to  dispel  the  fascinating  mists  which  had  suddenly  disordered  all 
our  affairs.  Having  done  his  part  in  that  blessed  work,  (as  we  have 
elsewhere  more  fully  related)  he,  with  his  friends,  who  were  more  fit 
for  Zebulo7i''s  ports,  than  for  Issachar^s  tents,  chose  to  go  farther  west- 
ward ;  where  they  began  a  plantation  and  a  colony,  since  distinguished 
by  the  name  of  Kew-Haven ;  and  endeavoured  according  to  his  under- 
standing, a  yet  stricter  conformity  to  the  word  of  God,  in  settling  of  all 
matters,  both  civil  and  sacred,  than  he  had  yet  seen  exemplified  in  any  oth- 
er part  of  the  world.  There  the  famous  church  o{  New- Haven,  as  well  as 
the  other  neighbouring  towns,  enjoyed  his  ministry,  his  discipline,  his  gov- 
ernment, and  his  universal  direction  for  many  years  together :  even  till  after 
the  restoration  of  King  Charles  II.  Connecticut  and  New-Haven,  were  by 
one  charter  incorporated.  And  here,  with  what  holiness,  with  whnt  watch- 
fulness, with  what  usefulness  he  discharged  his  ministry,  it  is  worthy  of  a 
remembrance  among  all  that  would  propose  unto  themselves  a  worthy 
example.  Nevertheless,  all  that  I  shall  here  preserve  of  it,  is  this  one 
article.  A  young  minister  once  receiving  of  wise  and  good  councils 
from  this  good  and  wise  and  great  man,  he  received  this  among  the  rest, 
That  he  should  be  much  in  ejaculatory  prayer  :  for  indeed,  ejaculatory 
prayers,  as  arrows  in  the  hand  of  a  mighty  man,  so  are  they,  happy  is  the 
man  that  has  his  quiver  full  of  them!  And  it  was  believed,  by  some  cu- 
rious observers,  that  Mr.  Davenport  himself,  was  well  used  unto  that 
.sacred  skill  of  walkiyig  zi-ith  God,  and,  having  his  eyes  ever  towards  the 
Lord,  and  bei7ig  in  the  fear  of  the  Lord  all  the  day  long,  by  the  use  of 
ejaculatory  prayers,  on  the  innumerable  occasions,  which  every  turn  of 
our  lives  does  bring  for  those  devotions.  He  was  not  only  constant  in 
more  settled,  %vhether  social  or  secret  prayers  ;  but  also  in  the  midst  of  all 
besieging  incumbrances,  tying  the  wishes  of  his  devout  soul  unto  the  ar- 
rows of  ejaculatory  prayers,  he  would  shoot  them  away  unto  the  heavens, 
from  whence  he  still  expected  all  his  help.  With  such  a  glory,  with  such 
a  defence,  Avas  New-Haven  blessed  ! 

§  9.  But  his  influences  were  not  confined  unto  his  own  colony  of  JVm- 
fJnven  ;  they  were  extended  as  far  a«  his  cenernl  and  penerou?  rare  of  alt 


Book  HI.)  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  297 

the  churches,  could  carry  him.  And  hence,  I  find  him  in  a  particular  man- 
ner, expressing  his  good  affections  unto  the  Jrenio  designs  and  studies, 
which  were  in  those  days  managing  by  some  great  men,  for  the  restoring 
of  communion  among  the  divided  churches  of  the  reformat  ion.  Perhaps, 
1  cannot  give  an  exacter  character  of  this  eminent  person's  disposition, 
than  by  my  transcribing  and  my  translating  of  a  few  paes.a2;es  in  a  letter 
to  the  famous  Dury,  by  him  composed,  and  by  the  rest  of  the  ministers  in 
his  colony  subscribed. 

Flagrante  Schismalis  Incendio,  Ecclesixis,  qiias  oportebat  Arctissimo  Pads 
4'  Unitatis  Vinculo  Colligari,  misera  in  seclas  Invisa  Deo  Lacerabat  Eri- 
nu^'s  J  nsque  adeo  ul  qui  mutuam  contra  commuues  Hostes  opem  conferrent, 
prob  dolor  !  Concertationes  Midianiticas  invicem  agunt ;  Sicut  enim  Juve- 
nes  guos  ad  Dimicandum  Abnerus  Provoeabat,  se  mutuis  Vulneribus  Confe- 
cerunt ;  sic,  quorundam  Vitio,  qui  partes  potius  agunt  male  Disputantiura, 
quambene  Evangelizantium,  Jurgia,  Lites,  Animorum  Divortia,  Schismata 
4'  Scandala.  in  Ecclesiis  Evangelicis,  Suboriujitur,  non  sine  gravi  Injirmo- 
rum  Off'endiculo,  nee  sine  sumino  bonoriim  omnium  Marore,  ac  Juimicorvin 
Evangelicoe  Veritatis  Oblcctamento. 

'  While  the  fire  of  schisin  has  been  raging,  the  hateful  fury  has  mis- 
'  erably  torn  to  pieces,  the  churches  that  should  have  been  held  together 
'  in  the  strictest  bonds  of  love  and  unity  ;  insomuch  that  they  who  should 
'  have  united,  for  mutual  help  against  the  common  enemy,  alas,  have  even 
'  fallen  upon  one  another,  as  in  the  day  of  Midian.  As  the  young  men, 
'  upon  the  provocation  of  Abner,  wounded  one  another  to  death ;  thus, 
'  by  the  fault  of  some,  who  do  the  part  rather  of  bad  zDranglers,  than  of 
'  good  preachers,  there  do  arise  in  the  reformed  churches,  those  broils 
'  and  strifes,  and  animosities,  and  schisms,  and  scandals,  which  offend  the 
'  weak,  and  afflict  the  good,  and  are  no  little  satisfaction  to  the  enemies  of 
'  gospel-truth.^ 

jXunc  Vtro,  Postquam  Gustos  Israelis,  Deus  Pacis,  dedit  in  Corda  toi 
Ecclesiarum  <S,'  Magistratum,  ut  Vulneribus  istis  Medicinam  faciendara  esse, 
JVecessarium  Judicarint,  En  J  Bunorum  omnium  Ani mi,  in  Spent  erecli, 
JMaloruin  istorum  Sulutarem  Clausulum  f^xpectatit,  6,'  Votis  inlimis,  Patrem 
Misericordiarum  Vobiscum  invocant,  ut  Spiritus  sui  Gratia,  Secundum  Ver- 
bmn  Smun,  Consilia  4*  actiones  Servorum  Suorum  dirigere,  ad  Sancli  JVont- 
inis  Sui  Gloriam  dignetur.^ 

'  But  now  that  the  Keeper  of  Israel,  the  God  of  peace,  hath  put  it  into 
'  the  hearts  of  many  churches  and  rulers,  to  apprehend  it  necessary,  that 
'  a  cure  should  be  sought  for  these  wounds,  behold  !  the  minds  of  all 

*  good  men  do  with  a  raised  hope  expect  an  happy  close  of  these  mis- 
'  chiefs  ;  and  with  most  hearty  prayers,  do  beseech  the  Father  of  Mer- 

*  cies,  that  he  would,  by  the  grace  of  his  Spirit,  accordinii  to  his  word, 
'  please  to  direct  the  counsels  and  actions  of  his  servants,  for  the  glory 
'  of  his  own  holy  name.' 

Recte  quidemfecisti,  Reverende  Fratcr  Dursee,  quod  nos  etiam  in  eodem 
Vobiscum  Corpore,  Sub  eodem  Capite  Jesu  Chrisfo,  C'onstifutos,  ad  Negotium 
Iioc,  i7i  Sanctorum  Communione  Promovendum,  fraterne  invitasti. 

'  You  have  done  right  well,  reverend  brother,  in  that  you  have,  after 
'  a  brotherly  manner,  unto  the  promoting  of  this  affair,   in  the  commiin- 

*  ion  of  saints  invited  us,  who  belong  to  the  same  mystical  body,  with 
Vyour  selves,  under  one  head,  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

■?    Dica  Vera  non  est  Orlhodoxis   iinpingenda,  quasi  Optotissimoe  illi  Paci. 
quae  inter  Scissas  Evangelicas  Ecclesias  qua^ritur,  Offcndiculum  posuerint, 
4r  remoram   qui  Necessitate    Postulante,   ea    vtvnlur  Libertate    PefictamU 
Vol.   I.  r.P. 


298  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  Hi 

'Errores,  quam    Pax  non  debet  impcdire  :  adeoqne  suo  Exemplo  futurain 

pacem  pncmiiniant,  a  Vitiisin  Excessu  positis. Quippe  quod  sincere  de 

Erroribus  Judicare,  4*  Errorcs  tamen  in  Fratribv,s  Injirmis  Tolerare,  Ut~ 
rumque  Jitdicumiis  esse  Apostolicce  Doctrince  Cimsonum.  Toleratio  Vero 
Fratrum  Jnfirinoimn,  iwn  debet  esse  adsque  Retlarguiione,  Sed  tant^im  ab- 
absque  Rejectione. 

'Nevertheless,  'tis  not  to  be  made  an  article  of  complaint  against  the 
'  orthodox,  .as  if  they  \vould  hinder  or  delay  the  peace  desired  so  much 
'  among  the  reformed  churches,  because  they  do,  as  necessity  shall  call 
'  for  it,  use  that  liberty  oi'  refuting  errors,  which  peace  ought  to  be  no  bar 
'  unto  ;  and  by  their  example,  would  rescue  the  future  peace  from  the 

'  extremes  wherewith  it  would  be  rendred  faulty. For  we  reckon 

*•  that  as  well  to  judge  what  things  are  errors^  as  to  bear  -with  such  er- 
'  rors  in  weaker  brethren,  are  buth  of  them  agreeable  to  what  we  have 
'  been  taught  by  the  apostles.  The  toleration  of  our  erroneous  breth- 
'  ren;  should  not  be  without  rebuking,  but  it  should  be  without  rejecting 
'  of  those  bi'ethren. 

§   10.  It  is  a  notable   expression,  and  a  wonderful  concession   of  that 
great  Cardinal  Bellerniinc,  the   last  Goliah  of   the   Romish  Philistines  ; 
Ecclcsia  ex  Intentione  Fideles  tantum  Colligit,  4*  ni  nosset  hnpios  ^  incrcdu- 
los,  cos  aut   nunquam   admitterei,   aut   casu  Admissos  Excluderet  :   '  The 
'  church  (he  says)  intentionally  gathers    only   tr^ie   believers,  and  if  she 
'.  knew  wjio  were  zricked  and  faithless,  either  she  would  not  admit  them 
'  at  all,  or  if  they  were  accidentally  admitted,  she  would  exclude  them.' 
Our  Davenport  conceiving  it  a  shame,  that  any  Protestant  should  protest 
for  less  church  purity,  than  what  the  confessions  of  a  learned  Papist  al- 
lowed e'er  he  was  aware,  to  be  contended  for,   did   now  at  Kew-Haven^- 
make  church  purity  to  be  one  of  his  greatest  concernments  and  endeav- 
ours.    It  was  his  declared  principle,  that  more  is   required  of  men,  in 
order  to  their  being  members  of  an  instituted  church,  than  that  they  pro- 
fess the  christian /ta'^/t,  and  ask  the   visible  seals  of  the  covenant  in  the 
fellowship  of  the  church  ;  all  which  may  be  done,  by  persons  notorious- 
ly scandalous  in  their  lives,  from  whom  the  command  is,  turn  arvay :  but 
only  such  person^   may  be  received  as  members  o{  a  particular  church. 
who  (according  to  Mat.   xvi.    18,  19.)  make  such  a  publick  profession  of 
their  faith,  as  the  church  may,  in  charitable  discretion  judge,  has  bles- 
sedness annexed  unto  it,  and  such  as  flesh  and   blood  hath  not  revealed, 
in  pursuance  of  this  principle,  he  was,  like  his   dear  friend,  that  great 
man,  Dr.  Thomas  Goodwin,  perswaded,  that  (as  he  speaks)  there  are  ma- 
ny rules  in  the  word,  whereby  it  is  meet  for  us,  to  judge  who  are  saints;  by 
zvliich   rides  those   who   are   betrusted    to  receive  men  unto   ordinances  in 
churches,  are  to  be  guided,  and  so  to   separate  bctzeeen  the  precious  and  the 
unclean,  as  the  Priests  of  old  were  enabled  and  commanded  by  ceremonial 
differences,  which  God  then  made  to  typifie  the  like  discriminaiion  of  persons. 
And  therefore,  making  the  marks  of  a  repenting  and  a  believing  soid, 
given  in  the  word  of  God,  the  rules  of  his  tryals,  he  used  a  more  than 
ordinary  exactness  in  trying,   those  that  were  admitted  unto   the   com- 
munion  of  the  church  :  indeed  so   very  thoroughly,  and  I  had  almost 
said,  severely  strict,  were  the  terms  of  his  communion,  and  so  much,  I 
had  well  nigh  said,  overmuch,  were  the  golden  snuffers  of  the  sanctu- 
ary employed  by  him  in  his  exercise  of  discipline  towards  those   that 
were  admitted,  that  he  did  all  that  was  possible,  to  render  the  renowned 
church  of  Kcw-liavcn,  like  the  New-Jerusalem  ;  and  yet,  after  all,  the 
Lord  gave  him  to  see  that  in  this  world,  it  was  impossible  to  see  a  chmrh 


liooK  III.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  299 

ita(e,  whereinto  tliere  enters  nothing  n-hich  (ieji'es.  This  great  man,  hatli 
himself,  in  one  of  his  own  treatises  observed  it.  The  officers  and  brethren 
of  the  church,  are  but  men,  irho  judge  by  the  outXk.'ard  appearance.  There- 
fore their  judgment  is  fallible,  and  hath  been  deceived  ;  as  ice  see  in  the 
Judgment  of  the  apostles,  and  the  church  at  Jarusalem,  concerning  Ananias 
and  Sapphira  ;  and  in  that  of  Philip,  and  the  church  i?i  Samaria,  concern- 
ing Simon  3Iagus.  Their  duty  is  to  proceed,  as  far  as  men  may,  by  rule, 
rsith  due  moderation  and  gentleness,  to  try  them,  zvhu  offer  themselves  to  fel- 
lowship, wtiether  they  be  believers  or  not ;  refusing  knoZd.n  hypocrites  ; 
thouglm'hen  they  have  done  all  they  can,  close  hypocrites  u-ill  creep  in.  And 
now,  1  might  entertain  my  reader,  I  hope,  with  a  profitable,  I  am  sure, 
with  a  very  prodigious  history  ;  I  will  on  this  occasion,  relate  most 
horrible  things  done  in  the  land,  which  this  good  man  saw,  to  confirm  his 
own  observation  :  but  I  will  take  a  fitter  occasion  for  it. 

§  11.  After  this,  the  remaining  days  of  this  eminent  person,  were 
worn  away  under  the  unhappy  temptations  of  a  wilderness.  It  so  hap- 
pened, that  the  most  part  of  the  first  church  in  Boston,  the  metropolis 
of  the  colony,  out  of  respect  unto  his  vast  abilities,  had  applied  them- 
selves unto  him,  to  succeed  those  famous  lights.  Cotton,  and  .Xorton, 
jind  Wilson,  who  having  from  that  golden  candlestick,  illuminated  the 
whole  country,  were  now  gone  to  shine  in  an  higher  orb.  His  removal 
from  .Yezi'-Haven  was  clogged  with  many  temptations  difficulties  :  (for, 
Miraculiinstar,  vita  Iter  si  longum,  sine  Off'ensione,  Percurrc re  :)  hut  he 
broke  through  them  all,  in  expectation  to  do  what  he  judged  would  be  a 
Hiore  comprehensive  service  unto  the  churches  of  JVcoi'-England,  than 
could  have  been  done  by  him,  in  his  now  undistinguished  colony.  On 
this  occasion,  if  I  should  mention  that  lamentable  observation  of  old 
Rpiphanius,  who  says,  /  have  known  some  confessors,  ivho  delivered  up  their 
body  and  their  spirit,  for  the  L'jrd,  and  persevering  in  confession  and  charity, 
obtained  great  proof  of  the  sincerity  of  their  faith,  and  excelled  in  piety,  hu- 
manity, and  religion,  and  were  continual  in  fastings,  and  in  a  word,  flour- 
ished in  vertue  ;  and  yet  these  very  men  were  blemished  with  some  vice,  as 
either  they  were  prone  to  reproach  men,  or  would  swear  profanely,  or  were 
over  talkative,  or  were  prone  to  anger,  or  got  gold  and  silver,  or  were  defiled 
ivith  some  suchfllh;  which  nevertheless  detract  not  from  the  just  praises  of  their 
vertue.  I  must  add  upon  it,  that  Mr.  Davenport  was  a  confessor  flourish- 
ing in  vertue,  upon  whom  they  tliat  upon  the  score  of  his  removal,  were 
most  of  all  dissatisfied  at  him, would  not  yet  charge  those  unhappy  6/emiVie.s.- 
and  if  any  good  men  in  the  sifting  times,  did  count  him  either  too  strait, 
or  too  high,  in  some  of  his  apprehensions  :  nevertheless,  these  things  also 
detract  not  from  the  just  praises  of  his  vertue. 

§  12.  So  rich  a  treasure  of  the  best  gifts,  as  was  in  our  Davenport, 
was  well  worth  coveting  by  the  considerablest  church  in  the  land.  He 
was  a  most  incomparable  preacher,  and  a  man  of  more  than  ordinary  ac- 
complishments ;  a  prince  of  preachers,  and  worthy  to  have  been  a 
preacher  to  princes  :  he  had  been  acquainted  with  great  men,  and  great 
things,  and  was  great  himself,  and  had  a  great  fame  abroad  in  the  world  ; 
jea,  now  he  was  grown  old,  like  Aloses  his  force  was  not  abated.  And 
the  character  which  I  remember  that  old  Pagan  historian,  Diodorns  the 
Sicilian,  gave  of  our  Moses,  every  body  was  ready  to  give  of  our  Daven- 
port, He  was  a  man  of  a  great  soul,  and  very  powerful  in  his  life.  But 
his  removal  did  seem  too  much  to  verifie  an  observation,  by  the  famous 
.Dr.  Tuckney  thus  expressed  :  Jt  is  ill  trcinsplantijig  p.  tree  that  thrives  in 


300  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLANU.         [Book  HI. 

the  soil:  for  accepting  the  call  of  2>osio;i-charcli,  in  the  year  1667,  that 
church,  and  the  world,  must  enjoy  him  no  longer  than  till  the  year  1670  : 
when  on  JMarcfi  15,  aged  seventy  two  years,  he  was  by  apoplexy  fetch- 
ed away  to  that  glorious  world,  where  the  spirits  of  Cotton  and  Daven- 
port, are  together  in  heaven,  as  their  bodies  are  now  in  one  tomb  on 
earth. 

§  13.  His  constant  and  various  employments  otherwise,  would  not  per- 
mit him  to  leave  many  printed  effects  of  his  judicious  iudustr\',  besides 
those  few  already  mentioned  :  although  he  were  so  close  and  bent  a  stu- 
dent, that  the  rude  Pagans  themselves  took  much  notice  of  it,  and  the 
Indian  salvages  in  the  neighbourhood  would  call  him,5o  big  study  man. 
Onjy  there  is  in  the  hands  of  the  faithful,  a  savory  treatise  of  his,  entitu- 
led,  The  Saints  Anchor -hold  ;  in  the  preface  whereof,  a  Duumvirate  of  re- 
nowned men  ;  to  wit,  Mr.  Hook,  and  Mr.  Caryl,  give  this  attestation  : 
'  As  touching  the  author  of  this  Treatise,  in  whose  heart  the  text  was 
'  written  by  the  finger  of  God,  before  the  discourse  was  penned  by  his 
'  ovvn  hand  ;  his  piety,  learning,  gravity,  experience,  judgment,  do  not 
'  more  commend  him  to  all  that  knoiv  him,  than  this  work  of  his  may 
'  commend  itself  to  them  that  read  it.  The  christian  faith  has  also  been 
solidly  and  learnedly  maintained  by  him,  in  a  discourse  long  since  pubr 
lisned,  tor  the  demoyistrutioii  of  ov.r  blessed  Jesus,  io  be  the  true  Messias. 
ISor  would  I  forget  a  sermon  of  his  on  2  Sam.  xxiii.  3,  at  the  anniversa- 
ry court  of  election  at  Boston,  1669,  afterwards  published.  Aud  among 
the  many  epistles  which  he  hath  prefixed  unto  the  books  of  other  au- 
thors, I  know  not  whether  his  excellent  epistle  before  Mr.  Scudders  Dai- 
ly-walk, may  not,  for  the  worth  of  it,  be  reckoned  it  self  a  book,  as  the 
book  it  self  was  the  directory  of  his  own  daily  walk.  Moreover,  there 
is  published  a  treatise  of  his  under  this  title,  The  Power  of  Congregational 
Churches  ;  in  the  preface  whereof  Mr.  Xathanael  Mather,  [at  this  time 
the  worthy  and  well-known  Pastor  of  such  a  church  in  the  city  of  Lon- 
don) has  these  very  significant  expressions  concerning  him  :  Certain  it  is, 
the  principles  held  forth  in  this  treatise,  cost  the  Reverend  Author,  not  only 
many  sufferings,  but  also  many,  very  many  sad  searchings.  and  much  read' 
1  ing  and  study,  on  set  purpose,  accompanied  with  manifold  prayers  and  cries 
to  the  Father  of  Lights,  for  light  therein.  After  all  which,  he  was  more  con- 
firmed in  them,  and  attained  to  such  comfortable  clearness  therein,  as  bore 
him  up  with  much  inward  peace  and  satisfaction,  under  all  his  afflictions,  on 
the  account  of  his  pe7-swasion  in  these  points,  .'ind  so  perswaded,  lived,  and 
so  died  this  grave  and  serious  spirited  man.  'J  here  is  likewise  published, 
A  discourse  about  Civil  Government,  in  a  New  Plantation,  whose  design  is 
■religion  :  in  the  title  page  whereof,  the  name  of  Mr.  Cotton,  is,  by  a 
mistake,  put  for  that  of  Mr.  Davenport.  And  there  was  lately  transcri- 
bed for  the  press  from  his  notes,  a  large  volume  of  accurate  and  elabo- 
rate sermons,  on  the  whole  book  of  Canticles.  But  the  death  of  the  gen- 
tleman chiefly  concerned  in  the  intended  impression,  proved  the  death 
of  the  impression  itself. 

§  14.  To  conclude  :  there  will  be  but  an  unjust  account  given  of  the 
things  preached  and  written  by  this  reverend  man,  if  we  do  not  mention 
one  singular  favour  of  heaven  unlo  him.  It  is  well  known,  that  in  the 
earliest  of  the  primitve  times,  the  faithful  did  in  a  literal  sence,  believe 
the  second  coming  of  the  Lord  .'esus  Christ,  and  the  rising  and  reigning 
of  the  saints  with  him.  a  thousand  years  before  the  rest  of  the  dead  lix^e 
again  :  a  doctrine,  which  however  some  of  later  years  have  counted  it 
heretical;  yet,  in  the  day?  o{  Ircmms.  was  questioned  by   none  but  such 


Book  III.]         TMK  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  Jul 

as  were  counted  hercticks.  'Tis  evident  from  Justin  Marltjr,  that  this 
doctrine  ol'the  Chiliad,  was  in  his  days  embraced,  among  all  orlhodox 
christians  ;  nor  did  this  kingdom  of  our  Lord,  begin  to  be  doubted,  until 
the  kingdom  of  antichi'ist  began  to  advance  into  a  considerable  tigure  ; 
and  then  it  fell  chiefly  under  the  reproaches  of  such  men,  as  were  liiia  to 
deny  the  divine  authority  of  the  book  o(  Revelation,  and  of  the  second 
Epistle  of  Pc?e/'.  He  is  a  stranger  to  antiquity,  who  doe.?  not  fmd  and 
own  theancients  generally  of  the  perswasion,  which  is  excellently  summed 
up  in  those  words  of  Laciantius,  Feniet  Summi  fy  maxinii  Dei  Filins.  Ve- 
rum  ille,  eum  deleverit  injustitiam,  Judiciianquc.  maximum  fecerit,  ac  Justos, 
qui  a  Priiicipio  fuerunt,  ad  vitaiu  Rejlauraverit ,  Alille  Annis  infer  Homines 
Versahitur,  eosque  Justissimo  Imperio  rcget.  Nevertheless,  at  la.st  men 
came,  not  onlv  to  lay  aside  the  modesty  expressed,  by  one  of  the  iirst 
considerable  dnti  Alillenarics,  namely  Jerom,  when  he  said,  Qw«  licet  nan 
sequamur,  tamen  condemnare  nonpossumus^  eo  quod  inulti  Virorum  Eccle- 
siasticorum  4'  Martyrum,  is(u  dixcrint :  but  also  with  violence  to  persecute 
the  millenary  truth  as  an  heretical  pravity  So  the  mystery  of  our  Lord's 
appearing  in  hi$kingdom,lay  buried  in  popish  darkness,  till  the  light  there- 
of had  a  fresh  dawn,  since  the  antichrist  entred  into  the  last  half  time  of 
the  period  allotted  for  him  ;  and  now,  within  the  last  few  sevens  of  years, 
as  things  grow  nearer  to  accomplishment,  learned  and  pious  men,  in  great 
numbers  every  where,  come  to  receive,  explain,  and  maintain  the  old 
faith  about  it.  But  here  was  the  special  favour  of  heaven,  to  our  Da- 
venport, that  so  many  years  ago,  when  in  both  Englands  the  true  notion 
of  the  Chiliad,  was  hardly  apprehended  by  as  many  divines  of  note,  as 
there  are  mouths  of  .Xilus,  yet  this  worthy  man  clearly  saw  into  it,  and 
both  preached  and  wrote  those  very  things,  about  the  future  state,  and 
coming  of  the  Lord,  the  calling  of  the  Jews,  and  the  first  and  second  resur- 
rection of  the  dead,  which  do  now  of  late  years  get  more  ground  against  the 
opposition  of  the  otherm-ise  minded,  and  find  a  kinder  entertainment  among 
them  that  search  the  scriptures:  and  whereof  he  afterwards,  when  he  was 
an  old  man,  gave  the  world  a  little  tast,  in  a  judicious  preface  before  a 
most  learned  and  nervous  treatise,  composed  by  one  that  was  then  a 
yoitng  man,  about  the  mystery  of  the  salvation  of  Israel.  Even,  then,  so 
long  ago  it  was,  that  he  asserted,  A  personal,  visible,  powerful,  and  glori- 
ous coming  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  unto  judgment,  long  before  the  end  of 
the  world. 

But  thus  we  take  our  leave  of  this  renowned  man,  and  leave  him  rest- 
ing in  hope,  to  stand  in  his  lot,  at  that  end. 

EPITAPHIUM. 

Johannes   Davenportus, 

In  Porium  Delatus. 
^'^ivus  JVov-Anglice,  ac  Ecclesice  Ornamentum. 

ET 

Mortuus,  Utriusque  Triste  Desideritim. 


APPENDIX. 


The  Light  of  the  Western  Churches  :  or  the  Life  of  Mr.  Thomas  Hookkr. 
the  renowned  Pastor  of  Hartford  Church,  and  Pillar  of  Coimecticnl 
Colony,  in  JSi'ew- England. 


Essayed  by  Cotton  Mathek. 


Quod  si  digna  Tua  minus  est  mea  Pagina  Laude, 
At  voluisse  sat  est. 

To  the  Churches  in  the  Colony  of  Connecticut. 

ALTHOUGH  the  providence  of  heaven,  whereby  the  bounds  of  people 
are  set,  hath  carried  you  so  far  westward,  that  some  have  pleasantly  said, 
the  last  conflict  with  antichrist,  must  be  in  your  colony  :  yet,  I  believe,  you 
do  not  reckon  your  selves  removed  beyond  the  reach  of  temptation  and  cor- 
ruption. Tis  a  great  work  that  you  have  done,  for  our  Lord  Jestt,s  Christ, 
in  forming  a  colony  of  evangelical  churches  for  him,  where  Satan  alone  had 
reigned  with  ^at  controul  in  all  former  ages  :  but  your  icomparable  Hooker, 
who  was  one  of  the  greatest  in  the  foundation  of  that  work,  was  in  his  day, 
well  aware,  that  Satan  would  make  all  the  hast  he  could,  unhappily  to  get 
all  buried  in  the  degeneracies  of  ignorance ,  worldliness,  and  profanity.  To 
advise  you  of  your  dangers,  and  uphold  the  life  of  religion  amo7ig  you,  I 
presume  humbly  to  lay  before  you,  the  life  of  that  excellent  man,  who  for 
learning,  wisdom,  and  religion,  was  a  pattern  well  worthy  of  perpetual  con- 
sideration. Having  served  my  own  province,  with  the  history  of  no  less  than 
four  famous  Johns,  all  fetched  from  one  church,  I  was  for  certain  special 
causes,  unwilling  to  have  it  complained,  as  once  it  was  of  the  disciples,- 
Thomas  was  not  with  them  :  wherefore  I  was  willing  to  make  this  appen- 
dix unto  that  history , confessing  that  through  want  of  information  I  have  under- 
done in  this,  more  than  in  any  part  of  the  composure  ;  yet  so  done,  that  I 
hope  the  good  hand  of  the  Lord,  whom  I  have  designed  therein  to  glori/ie, 
will  make  what  is  done,  to  be  neither  unacceptable,  nor  unprofitable  unto 
his  people. 

Cotton  Mather. 


^iiTjiii  rav  ^EKKMo-tat}  ^eTTrijpiav .     The  Life  of  Mr.  Thomas  Hooker. 

§  1.  When  Toxaris  met  with  his  countryman  .4nac/m?-sis,  in  .j^^/iens,  he 
gave  him  this  invitation,  Cotne  along  with  me,  and  I  will  shew  thee  at  once 
all  the  wonders  0/ Greece  ;  wherupon  he  shewed  him  Solon,  as  the  per- 
son in  whom  there  centered  all  the  glories  of  that  city,  or  country.  I 
shall  now  invite  my  reader  to  behold  at  once  the  wonders  of  JVew-Eng- 


Book  III.]        THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  303 

[and,  and  it  is  one  Thomas  Hoooker  that  he  shall  behold  them  :  even  in 
that  Hooker,  whom  a  worthy  writer  would  needs  call,  S  lut  Hooker,  for 
the  same  reason,  (he  said)  and  with  the  same  freedom  that  Latimer  would 
speak  of  Saint  Dibicy,  in  his  commemorations.  'Tis  that  Hooker,  of  whom 
1  may  venture  to  say,  that  the  famous  Romanist,  who  wrote  a  book,  De 
Tribus  Thomis ;  or,  Of  three  Thomas's ;  meaning  Thomas  the  Apostle,  Thom- 
as Becket,  and  Sir  Thomas  More,  did  not  a  thousandth  part  so  well  sort 
his  Thomas's,  as  a  New- England er  might,  if  he  should  write  a  book,  Df- 
Duohus  Thomis,  or  Of  trco  Thomas's  ;  and  with  Tliomas  the  Apostle,  joyn 
our  celebrious  Thomas  Hooker  :  my  oneThomas,  even  our  apostolical  flovk- 
€r  would  in  justballances,  weigh  down  two  of  5'iope/!!on's  rebellious  Arch- 
bishops, or  bigotted  Lord  Chancellors.  'Tis  he,  whom  I  may  call,  as 
Theodoret  called  Irencciis,  The  light  of  the  rcestern  churches. 

§  2.  This  our  Hooker  was  born  at  Marfeld,  in  Leicestershire,  about  the 
year  1586,  of  parents  that  were  neither  unable,  nor  unwilling  to  bestow 
upon  him  a  liberal  education  ;  whereto  the  early  and  lively  sparkles  of 
wit  observed  in  him,  did  very  much  encourage  them.  His  natural  temper 
was  cheerful  and  courteous  ;  but  it  was  accompanied  with  such  a  sensi- 
ble granrfei^ro/rnnirf,  as  caused  his  friends,  without  thehelp  of  astrology,  to 
prognosticate  that  he  was  born  to  be  considerable.  The  influence  which 
he  had  upon  the  reformation  of  some  growing  abuses,  when  he  was  one  of 
the  proctors  in  the  university,  was  a  thing  that  more  emir.ently  signalised 
him,  when  his  more  publick  appearance  in  the  world  was  coming  on:  wi  ith 
was  attended  with  an  advancement  unto  a  fellozvship,  in  Emar.uel  Col- 
ledge,  in  Cambridge  ;  the  students  whereof  were  originally  designed 
for  the  study  of  divinity. 

§  3.  With  what  abihty  and  fidelity  he  acquitted  himslf  in  his  fcUozcship, 
it  was  a  thing  sensible  unto  the  whole  university.  And  it  was  while  he 
was  in  this  employment,  that  the  more  effectual  grace  of  God,  gave  him 
the  experience  of  a  true  regeneration.  It  pleased  the  spirit  of  God  very 
powerfully  to  break  into  the  soul  of  this  person,  with  such  a  sense  of 
his  being  exposed  unto  the  just  wrath  of  heaven,  as  filled  him  with 
most  unusual  degress  of  horror  and  anguish,  which  broke  not  only  his 
rest,  but  his  heart  also,  and  caused  him  to  cry  out.  While  I  svjf'er  they  ter- 
rors, O  Lord,  I  am  distracted!  While  he  long  had  a  soul  harassed  with 
such  distresses,  he  had  a  singular  help  in  the  prudent  and  piteous  car- 
riage of  Mr.  Ash,  who  was  the  Sizer,  that  then  waited  upon  him  ;  and 
attended  him  with  such  discreet  and  proper  compassions,  as  made  him 
afterwards  to  respect  him  highly  all  his  days.  He  afterwards  gave  this 
account  of  himself,  That  in  the  time  of  his  agonies,  he  conld  reason  him-^^ 
self  to  the  rule,  and  conchide  that  there  was  no  reay  bvt  submission  to  God. 
and  lying  at  the  foot  of' his  mercy  in  Christ  Jesus,  and  xvailing  hum- 
bly there,  till  lie  should  please  to  perswade  the  soul  of  his  favour :  nev- 
ertheless when  he  came  to  apply  this  rule  unto  himself  in  his  own  con- 
dition, his  reasoning  woidd  fail  him,  he  rras  able  to  do  nothing.  Having 
been  a  considerable  while  thus  troubled  with  such  impressions  for  the 
sjjirit  of  bondage,  as  were  to  fit  him  for  the  great  services  and  enjoy- 
ments, which  God  intended  him  ;  at  length  he  received  the  spirit  of  adop- 
tion, with  well-grounded  perswasions  of  his  interest  in  the  new  covenant. 
It  became  his  manner,  at  his  lying  down  for  sleep,  in  the  evening,  to 
single  out  some  certain  promise  of  God,  whicli  he  would  repeat  and  pon- 
der, and  keep  his  heart  close  unto  it,  until  he  found  that  satisfaction  of 
soul  wherewith  he  could  say,  /  will  lay  me  down  in  peace,  and  sleep  ;  for 
thou,  0  Lord,  mahcst  me  dwell  in  assurance.     And  he  would   aftcrvvai"ds 


304  THE  HiSTOKY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  iii 

counsel  others  to  take  the  same  course  ;  telling  them,  That  the  promise 
was  the  boat,  ichich  teas  to  carry  a  perishing  sinner  over  unto  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ. 

§  4.  Mr.  Hooker  being  now  well  got  through  the  storm  ot"  soul,  which 
h^d  helped  hira  unto  a  most  experimental  acquaintance  with  the  truths  ol 
of  the  gospel,  and  the  way  of  empioyina;,  and  applying  those  truths,  he 
was  willing  to  serve  the  Church  of  God  in  the  ministry,  whereto  he  was 
devoted.  At  his  first  leaving  of  the  miiversity,  he  sojourned  in  the 
house  of  Mr.  Drake,  a  gentleman  of  great  note,  not  far  from  London; 
whose  worth}'  consort  being  visited  with  such  distresses  of  soul,  as  3Ir. 
Hooker  himself  had  passed  through,  it  proved  an  unspeakable  advantage 
ynto  both  of  them,  that  he  had  that  opportunity  of  being  serviceable  ; 
for  indeed  he  now  had  no  superiour,  and  scarce  any  equal,  for  the  skill  of 
treating  a  troubled  soul.  When  he  lelt  Mr.  Drake's  family,  he  did  more 
publickiy  and  frequently  preach  about  London  ;  and  in  a  little  time  he 
grew  fimous  for  his  ministerial  abilities,  but  especially  for  his  notable 
faculty  at  the  wise  and  tit  management  of  xcounded  spirits.  However,  he 
was  not  ambitious  to  exercise  his  ministry  among  the  great  ones  of  the 
world,  from  whom  the  most  of  preferment  might  be  expected  ;  but  in 
this,  imitating  the  example  and  character  of  our  blessed  Saviour,  of 
whom  'tis  noied,  that  according  to  the  prophesie  of  Isaiah,  by  bim, 
The  poor  had  the  gospel  preached  unto  them  ;  be  chose  to  be  where  great 
numbers  of  the  poor  might  receive  the  gospel  from  him. 

§  5.  About  this  time  it  was,  that  Mr.  Hooker  grew  into  a  most  intimate 
acquaintance  with  i\Ir.  Rogers  o{  Dcdham  ;  who  so  highly  valued  him  for 
his  multifarious  abilities,  that  he  used  and  gained  many  endeavours  to  get 
him  settled  at  Colchester ;  whereto  3Ir.  Hooker  did  very  much  incline,  be- 
cause of  its  being  so  near  to  Dedham,  where  he  might  enjoy  the  labonr.< 
and  lectures  of  Mr.  Rogers,  whom  he  would  sometimes  call,  Hie  prince  of 
nil  the  preachers  in  England.  But  the  providence  of  God  gave  an  ob- 
struction to  that  settlement  ;  and,  indeed,  it  was  an  observation  which 
Mr.  Hooker  would  sometimes  afterwards  use  unto  his  friends.  Ihat  the 
providence  of  God  often  diverted  him  from  employment  in  such  places  as  he 
himself  desired,  and  still  directed  him  to  such  places,  as  he  had  no  thoughts 
of.  Accordingly,  Chelmsford  in  Essex,  a  town  of  great  concourse,  want- 
ing one  to  b7-cak  the  bread  of  life  unto  them  ;  and  hearing  the  fame  of  Mr. 
Hooker^s  powerful  ministry,  addressed  him  to  become  their  lecturer  : 
and  he  accepted  their  oflTor  about  the  year  162G,  becomi-r^g  not  only  their 
lecturer,  but  also  on  the  Lord's  days,  an  assistant  unto  one  Jlr.  Mitchel, 
the  incumbent  of  the  place,  who  though  he  were  a  smaller,  yet  being  a 
s^odly  person,  gladly  encouraged  Mr.  Hooker,  and  lived  with  him  in  a  most 
comtbrtable  amity. 

§  6.  Here  his  lecture  was  exceedingly  frequented,  and  proportionably 
succeeded  ;  and  the  light  of  his  ministry  shone  through  the  whole  county 
of  Essex  There  was  a  rare  mixture  of  pleasure  and  profit  in  his 
preaching;  ar.d  his  hearers  felt  those  penetrating  impressions  of  his 
ministr}'  upon  their  souls,  which  caused  them  to  reverenoe  him,  as  a 
teacher  sent  from  God.  He  had  a  most  excellent  f iculty  at  the  applica- 
tions of  his  doctrine ;  and  he  would  therein  so  touch  the  consciences  of 
his  auditors,  that  a  judicious  person  would  say  of  him.  He  n:as  the  best  at 
an  use  that  ever  he  heard.  Hereby  there  was  a  great  relormafion  wrought, 
not  only  in  the  town,  btit  in  the  adjacent  country,  from  all  parts  whereof 
they  came  to  hear  the  nnsdom  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  in  his  gospel,  by 
"his  worthv  man  dispensed  :   and   ^nmf"  of  ereat  rjnnlitv  among  the  rest, 


Book  Ill.J         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  305 

would  often  resort  from  far  to  his  assembly  ;  particularly  the  truly  nobh- 
Earl  of  Worzi'ick,  whose  countenance  of  good  ministers,  procured  more 
prayers  to  God  for  him,  than  most  noble-men  in  England. 

When  he  tirst  setup  his  lecture,  there  was  more  prcfaneness  than  de- 
iotion  in  the  town  ;  and  the  multitude  of  inns  and  shops  in  the  town, 
produced  one  particular  disorder,  of  people's  filling  the  streets  with  un- 
suitable behaviour,  after  the  publick  services  of  the  Lord's  day  were 
over.  But  by  the  power  of  his  ministry  in  pubiick,  and  by  the  pru- 
dence of  his  carriage  in  private,  he  quickly  cleared  the  streets  of  this 
disorder,  and  the  sabbath  came  to  be  very  visibly  sanctified  among  the 
people. 

§  7.  The  joy  of  the  people  in  this  light  was  but  for  a  season.  The 
conscientious  non-conformity  of  Mr.  Hooker,  to  some  rites  of  the  Church 
of  England,  then  vigorously  pressed,  especially  upon  such  able  and  use- 
ful ministers,  as  were  most  likely  to  be  laid  aside  by  their  scrupling  of 
those  rites,  made  it  necessary  for  him  to  lay  down  his  ministry  in  Chelms- 
ford, when  he  had  been  about  four  years  there  employed  in  it.  Here- 
upon, at  the  request  of  several  eminent  persons,  he  kept  a  school  in  his 
oxi-n  hired  house,  having  one  Mr.  John  Eliot  for  his  usher,  at  little  Bad- 
don;,  not  far  from  Chelmsford ;  where  he  managed  his  charge  with  such 
discretion,  with  such  authority,  and  such  efficacy,  that  able  to  do  more 
with  a  word,  or  a  look,  than  most  other  men  could  have  done  by  a  se- 
verer discipline,  he  did  very  great  service  to  the  church  of  God,  in  the 
education  of  such,  as  afterwards  proved  themselves  not  a  little  servicea- 
ble. I  have  in  my  hands,  a  manuscript,  written  by  the  hands  of  our 
blessed  Eliot,  wherein  he  gives  a  very  great  account  of  the  little  academy 
then  maintained  in  the  house  of  Mr.  Hooker ;  and  among  other  things,  he 
sa3's,  To  this  place  I  zi,as  called,  through  the  injinite  riches  of  God's  mercy 
in  Christ  Jesiis  to  my  poor  soid :  for  here  the  Lord  said  unto  my  dead  so7d, 
live  ;  and  ihrovgh  the  grace  of  Christ,  I  do  live,  and  I  shall  live  for  ever  ! 
When  [came  to  this  blessed  family,  I  then  saw,  and  never  before,  the  power  of 
godliness,  in  its  lively  vigour,  and  efficacy. 

§  8.  While  he  continued  thus  in  the  heart  of  Essex,  and  ia  the  hearts 
of  the  people  there,  he  signalized  his  usefulness  in  many  other  in- 
stances. 

The  godly  ministers  round  about  the  country,  would  have  recourse 
unto  him,  to  be  directed  and  resolved  in  their  difficult  cases;  and  it  was 
by  his  means  that  those  godly  ministers  held  their  monthly  meetings,  for 
fasti?ig  and  prayer,  and  profitable  conferences .  'Twas  the  effect  of  his 
considtations  also,  that  such  godly  ministers  came  to  be  here  and  there 
settled  in  several  parts  of  the  country  ;  and  many  others  came  to  be  bet- 
ter established  in  some  great  points  of  Christianity,  by  being  in  his  neigh- 
bourhood and  acquaintance.  He  was  indeed  a  general  blessing  to  the 
church  of  God  !  But  tfiat  which  hindred  his  taking  his  degree  oi Batch- 
dlor  in  Divinity,  must  also,  it  seems,  hinder  his  being  a  preacher  of  Di- 
vinity;  namely,  his  being  a  non-conformist  unto  some  things,  whereof 
true  divinity  could  not  approve.  And  indeed  that  which  made  the  si- 
lencing of  Mr.  Hooker  more  unaccountable  was,  that  no  less  than  seven 
and  forty  conformable  ministers  of  the  neighbouring  towns,  understand- 
ing that  the  Bishop  of  London  pretended  Mr.  Hooker''s  ministry  to  be  in- 
jurious or  offensive  to  them,  subscribed  a  petition  to  the  Bishop  for  his 
continuance  in  the  ministry  at  Chelmsford;  in  which  petition,  though  he 
Was  of  a  perswasion  so  different  fi'om  them,  yet  they  testific  in  so  many 
words,  That  they  esteem  andknow  the  said  Mr.  Thomas  Hooker,  to  be  for 

Vol.  I.  '  ^9 


306  '       THE  illoTOia    Qf  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  HI. 

doctrine,  orthodox  ;  for  life  and  conversation,  lionest ;  for  disposition,  peacea- 
ble, and  in  no  nuse  turbulent  or  factions.     And  yet  all  would  not  ttvail 
Bonus  vir  Hookerijs,  sed  idea  mains,  quia  Puritanus. 

§  9.  The  yround-u'ork  of  his  knowledge,  and  study  of  the  arts,  was  iis 
the  tables  of  Mr.  Alexander  Richardson,  whom  he  closely  followed,  ad- 
miring him  for  a  man  of  transcendent  ability,  and  a  most  exalted  piety  ; 
and  would  say  of  him,  Tliat  he  tsas  a  master  of  so  much  understanding, 
that  like  the  great  arnuj  o/' Gideon,  he  was  too  many  to  be  employed  in  doing 
what  was  to  be  done  for  the  church  of  God.  This  most  emment  Richard- 
son leaving  the  university,  lived  a  private  life  in  Essex,  whither  many 
students  in  Cambridge  resorted  unto  him,  to  be  illuminated  in  the  ab- 
struser  parts  of  learning  ;  and  from  him  it  was,  that  the  incomparable 
Doctor  Ames  imbibed  tI)Ose  principles  both  in  philosophy ,  and  in  divinity, 
which  afterwards  not  only  gave  clearer  methods  and  measures  to  all  the 
liberal  arts,  but  also  fed  the  whole  church  of  God  with  the  choicest 
marrow.  Nevertheless,  this  excellent  man,  as  he  lived,  so  he  died  in  a 
most  retired  obscurity  ;  but  so  far  as  a  inetempsychosis  whs  attainable,  the 
soul  of  him,  I  mean  the  notions,  the  accomplishments,  the  dispositions  of 
that  great  soul,  transmigrated  into  our  most  Richardsonian  Hooker. 

§  10.  As  his  person  was  thus  adorned  with  a  well-grounded  learning, 
so  his  preaching  was  notably  set  oif  with  a  liveliness  extraordinary  :  inso- 
much that  I  cannot  give  d  fuller,  and  yet  briefer  description  of  him,  thaa 
that  which  I  tind  given  of  Bucholtzer ,  that  pattern  of  preachers,  before 
him  ;  Vivida  in  eo  omnia  fuerunt,  vivida  vox,  vividi  oculi,  vividce  manus, 
gestus  ornnes  vividi:  he  was  all  that  he  was,  and  he  did  all  that  he  did, 
unto  the  life!  He  not  only  had  that  which  QiiintUian  calls,  A  natural 
moveableness  of  soul,  whereby  the  distinct  images  of  things  would  come 
80  nimbly,  and  yet  so  fitly  into  his  mind,  that  he  could  utter  them  with 
iiuent  expressions,  as  the  old  orators  would  usually  ascribe  unto  a  special 
assistance  of  heaven,  [Derim  tunc  Adfuisse,  veretes  Oratores  aibarit^  and 
counted  that  men  did  therein  theios  legein,  or  speak  divinely ;  but  the 
rise  of  this  fluency  in  him,  was  the  divine  relish  which  he  had  of  the 
things  to  be  spoken,  the  sacred  panting  of  his  holy  soul  after  the  glori- 
ous objects  of  the  invisible  vvoild,  and  the  true  zeal  of  religion  givingj(?re 
to  his  discourses.  Whence,  though  the  ready  audnoisy  performances  of 
many  preachers,  when  they  are  as  Plato  speaks,  theatrou  mestoi,  or 
full  of  the  theatre,  acting  to  the  height  in  the  publick  for  their  applause, 
may  be  ascribed  unto  ver}'  mechanical  principles ;  yet  the  vigour  in  the 
ministry  of  our  Hooker,  being  raised  by  a  coal  from  the  altar  of  a  most 
real  devotion,  touching  his  heart;  it  would  be  a  wrong  unto  the  good 
Spirit  of  our  God,  if  he  should  not  be  acknowledged  the  author  of  it. 
That  Spirit  accordingly  gave  a  wonderful  and  unusual  success,  unto  the 
ministry  wherein  he  breathed  so  remarkably.  Of  that  success  there  were 
many  instances  ;  but  one  particularly  I  lind  mentioned  in  Clark's  exam- 
plea,  to  this  purpose.  A  profane  person  designing  therein  only  an  un- 
godly diversion  and  merriment,  said  unto  his  companions,  Come,  let  us  go 
hear  what  that  bawli}\g  Hooker  will  say  to  us  ;  and  thei'eupon  with  an  in- 
tention to  make  sport,  unto  Chelmsford  lecture  they  came.  The  man 
had  not  been  long  in  the  church,  beibre  the  rjuick  and  powerful  word  of 
God,  in  the  mouth  of  his  faithful  Hooker,  pierced  the  soul  of  him  ;  he 
came  out  with  an  awakened  and  a  distressed  soul,  and  by  the  further 
blessing  of  God  upon  Mr.  Hooker'' s  ministry,  he  arrived  unto  a  true  con- 
version ;  for  which  cause  he  would  not  afterwards  leave  that  blessed 
ministry,  but  went  a  thousand  leagues  to  attend  it,  and  enjoy  it.     Another 


Book  III.]  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  307 

memorable  thing  of  this  kind,  was  this  ;  it  was  Mr.  Hooker^  manner 
once  a  year  to  visit  his  native  county  :  and  in  one  of  those  visits,  he  had 
an  invitation  to  preach  in  the  great  church  of  Leicester.  One  of  the 
chief  burgesses  in  the  town  much  opposed  his  preaching  there  ;  and 
when  he  could  not  prevail  to  hinder  it,  he  set  certain  /7JZers  at  work  to 
disturb  him  in  the  church-porch,  or  church-yard.  But  such  was  the  vi- 
vacity of  Mr.  Hooker,  as  to  proceed  in  what  he  was  about,  without  either 
the  damping  of  his  mind,  or  the  drowning  of  his  voice  ;  whereupon  the 
man  himself  went  unto  the  church-door  to  over-hear  what  he  said.  It 
pleased  God  so  to  accompany  some  words  uttered  by  Mr.  Hooker,  as 
thereby  to  procure,  first  the  attenlio7i  and  then  the  conviction  of  that 
wretched  man  ;  who  then  came  to  Mr.  Hooker  with  a  penitent  confession 
of  his  wickedness,  and  became  indeed  so  penitent  a  convert,  as  to  be  at 
length  a  sincere  professor  and  pructiser  of  the  godliness,  whereof  he  had 
been  a  persecutor. 

§  11.  The  spiritual  court  sitting  at  Chelmsford,  about  the  year  1630, 
had  not  only  silenced  Mr.  Hooker,  but  also  bound  him  over  in  a  bond  of 
tifty  pound  to  appear  before  the  high  commission,  which  he  could  not  now 
attend,  because  of  an  ague  then  upon  him.  One  of  his  hearers,  namely 
Mr.  JS'asli,  a  very  honest  yeoman,  that  rented  a  great  farm  of  the  Earl  of 
Wam-ick  at  Miich-JVultham,  was  bound  in  that  sum  for  his  appearance'; 
but  as  Paul  was  advised  b}'  his  friends,  that  he  would  not  venture  into  the 
theatre  at  Ephcsus,  thus  Mr.  Hookers  friends  advised  him  to  forfeit  his 
bonds,  rather  than  to  throw  himself  an}'  further  into  the  hands  of  his  en- 
emies. Wherefore,  when  the  day  for  his  appearance  came,  his  honest 
surety  being  reimbursed  b}'  several  good  people  in  and  ne^r  Chelmsford, 
sent  in  the  forfeited  sum  into  the  court  ;  and  Mr.  Hooker  having,  by  the 
Earl  of  Warwick,  a  courteous  and  private  recess  provided  for  his  family 
at  a  place  called  Old  Park,  for  which  I  tind,  the  thanks  of  Dr.  Hill  after- 
wards publickly  given  in  his  dedication  of  Mr.  Fenner's  treatise  about  27n- 
penitency  ;  he  went  over  to  Holland.  In  his  passage  thither,  he  quickly 
had  occasion  to  discover  himself,  when  they  were  in  eminent  hazard  of 
shiprc-i-ack  upon  a  shelf  of  sand,  whereon  they  ran  in  the  night ;  but  Mr. 
Hooker,  like  Paid,  with  a  remarkable  confidence,  assured  them,  that  they 
should  be  all  preserved  ;  and  they  had  as  remarkable  a  deliverance.  I 
have  also  heard,  that  when  he  fled  from  the  pursevants,  to  take  his  pas- 
sage for  the  Low-Countries,  at  his  last  parting  with  some  of  his  friends, 
one  of  them  said.  Sir,  what  if  the  zvind  should  not  be  fair,  when  you  come 
to  the  vessel?  Whereto  he  instantly  replied,  Brother,  let  its  leave  that  with 
Him,  who  keeps  the  wind  in  the  hollow  (f  his  hand:  and  it  was  observed, 
that  although  the  wind  was  cross,  until  he  came  aboard,  yet  it  immediately 
then  came  about  fair  and  fresh,  and  he  was  no  sooner  under  sail,  but  the 
officer  arrived  at  the  sea  side  happily  too  late  now  to  come  at  him  : 
which  minds  me  of  what  befel  Dr.  Goodwin,  not  long  after.  That  great 
man  lay  wind-bound  iti  hourly  suspicion*  that  the  persevants  would  stop 
his  voyage,  and  seize  his  person  before  the  wind  would  favour  his  getting 
away  for  Holland.  In  this  distress,  humbh'  praying  to  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  for  a  more  propitious  wind,  he  yet  said.  Lord,  if  thou  hast  at  this 
time,  any  poor  servant  of  thine,  that  wants  this  wind,  more  than  I  do  anoth- 
er, I  do  not  ask  for  the  changing  of  it ;  I  submit  unto  it.  And  immediately 
the  wind  came  about,  unto  the  right  point ;  and  carried  him  clear  from 
his  pursuers. 

§  12.  Arriving  in  Holland,  he  was  invited  unto  a  settlement  with  old 
Mr.  Paget ;  but  the   old   man   being  secretly  willing  that  Mr.  Hooker 


■JUii  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [BookIH. 

should  not  accept  of  this  invitation,  he  contrived  many  ways  to  render 
him  suspected  unto  the  classis,  on  a  suspicion  that  he  favoured  the 
Bronnists  ;  unto  whom  he  had,  indeed,  an  extream  aversion.  The  mis 
understandings  operated  so  far,  as  to  occasion  Mr,  Hooker^s  removal  from 
Amsterdam  ;  notwithstanding  he  had  so  fully  expressed  himself,  when  in 
his  answer  to  one  of  Mr.  Pagefs  questions,  he  declared  in  these  words, 
To  separate  from  the  faithful  assemblies  and  churches  in  England,  as  no 
churches,  is  an  error  in  judgment,  and  sin  i)i  practice,  held  and  maintained 
by  the  Brownists  ;  OJid  therefore  to  c:)mmunicate  with  them  in  their  opinion 
or  practice,  is  sinful  and  utterly  vmlaxvful ;  and  care  should  he  taken  to  pre- 
vent offence,  aither  by  encouraging  them  in  their  way,  or  by  drawing  others 
to  a  further  approbation  of  that  way  than  is  meet.  Going  from  Amsterdam, 
he  went  unto  Delft;  where  he  was  most  kindly  received  by  Mr.  Forbs, 
an  aged  and  holy  Scotch  minister,  under  whose  ministry,  many  English 
merchants  were  then  settled.  The  text  whereon  he  tirst  preached  at 
his  coming  thither,  was  Phil.  i.  29,  To  you  it  is  given  not  only  to  believe, 
hut  also  to  suffer;  and  after  that  sermon,  Mr.  Forbs  manifested  a  strong- 
desire  to  enjoy  the  fellowship  of  Mr.  Hooker  in  the  work  of  the  gos- 
pel ;  which  he  did  for  about  the  space  of  two  years  :  in  all  which  time 
they  lived  so  like  brethren,  that  an  observer  might  say  of  them,  as  they 
said  of  Basil  and  Nazianzen,  They  were  but  one  soul  in  two  bodies;  and  if 
they  had  been  for  any  little  while  asunder,  they  still  met  with  such 
friendly  and  joyful  congratulations,  as  testified  a  most  ailectionate  satis- 
faction in  each  other's  company. 

§  13.  At  the  end  of  two  years,  he  had  a  call  to  Rotterdam ;  which  he 
the  more  heartily  and  readily  accepted,  because  it  renewed  his  acquaint- 
ance with  his  invaluable  Dr.  Ames,  who  had  newly  left  his  place  in  the 
Frisian  Universit}'.  With  him  he  spent  the  residue  of  his  time  in  Hol- 
land, and  assisted  him  in  composing  some  of  his  discourses,  which  are. 
His  Fresh  Suit  against  the  Ceremonies :  for  such  was  the  regard  which 
Dr.  Ames  had  for  him,  that  notwithstanding  his  vast  ability  and  experi- 
ence, yet  when  it  came  to  the  narrow  of  any  question  about  the  instituted 
worship  of  God,  he  would  still  profess  himself  conquered  by  Mr.  Hook- 
er's reason  ;  declaring,  that  though  he  had  been  acquainted  with  many 
scholars  of  divers  nations,  yet  he  never  mclwith  Mr.  Hooker's  equal,  either 
for  preaching  or  for  disputing.  And  such  was  the  regard,  which  on  the 
other  side,  he  had  for  Dr.  Ames,  that  he  would  say.  If  a  scholar  was  but 
well  studied  in  Dr.  Ames  his  Medulla  Theologim,  and  Casus  Conscientiw , 
so  as  to  understand  them  thoroughly,  they  would  make  him  (supposing 
him  versed  in  the  scriptures,)  a  good  divine,  though  he  had  no  more 
books  in  the  world.  But  having  tarried  in  Holland  long  enough  to  see 
the  state  of  religion  in  the  churches  there,  he  became  satisfied,  that  it 
was  neither  eligible  for  him  to  tiirry  in  that  country,  nor  convenient  for 
his  friends  to  be  invited  thither  after  him.  I  have  at  this  time  in  my 
hands,  hi*  letter  from  Rotterdamto  Mr.  Cotton,  wherein  are  these  words  ; 
'  The  state  of  these  provinces  to  my  weak  eye,  seems  wonderfully  tick- 
'  lish  and  miserable.  For  the  better  part,  heart  religion,  they  content 
'  themselves  with  very  forms,  though  much  blemished  ;  but  the  power 
'  of  godliness,  for  ought  I  can  see  or  hear,  they  know  not ;  and  if  it  were 
'  thoroughly  pressed,  I  fear  legist  it  will  be  fiercely  opposed.  My  ague 
'  yet  holds  me  ;  the  wa3's  of  God's  providence,  wherein  he  has  walked 
'  towards  me,  in  this  long  time  of  my  sickness,  and  wherein  1  have  drawn 
'  forth  many  wearyish  hour.-,  under  his  Almight}'  hand  (blessed  be  his 
'  name)  together  with  pursuits  and  banishmentj  which  have  waited  upon 


.,uoKill.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  309 

•  me,   as  one  wave  follows  another,  have  driven  me  to  an  amazement : 

•  his  paths  being  too  secret  and   past  finding  out  by  such   an  ia;noraat, 

•  worthless  worm  as  my  self.     1  have  looked  over  my  heart  and  life,  ac- 

•  cording  to  my  measure  ;  aimed  and   guessed  as   well  as  I  could  :  and 

•  entreated  his  Majesty  to  make  known  his  mind,  whereia  I  missed  ;  and 
'  yet  methinks  1  cannot  spell  out  readily  the  purpose  of  his  proceedings  ; 
'  which  I  confess  have  been  wonderful  in  miseries,  and  more  than  won- 
'  derful  in  mercies  to  me  and  mine.'  Wherefore,  about  this  time,  under- 
standing that  many  of  his  friends  in  Essex,  were  upon  the  ti/;;"^,  for  a-j:;il- 
derness  in  America  ;  where  they  hoped  for  an  opportunity  to  enjoy  and 
practise  the  pure  -u:  or  ship  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  in  churches  gathered 
according  to  his  direction,  he  readily  ansv/ered  their  invitation  to  accom- 
pany them  in  this  undertaking.  Dr.  Ai7ies  had  a  design  to  follow  Mr. 
Hooker;  but  he  died  soon  after  Mr.  Hooker's  removal  from  Rolterdam. 
However  his  widow  and  children  afterwards  came  to  Xexi:-Ev gland ; 
where  having  her  house  burnt,  and  being  reduced  unto  much  poverty 
and  affliction,  the  charitable  heart  of  Mr.  Hooker  (and  others  that  joined 
with  him)  upon  advice  thereof,  comfortably  provided  for  them. 

§  14.  Returning  into  England  in  order  to  a  further  voyage,  he  was 
quickly  scented  by  the  pursevants  ;  who  at  length  got  so  far  up  with  him, 
as  to  knock  at  the  door  of  that  very  chamber,  where  he  was  now  dis- 
coursing with  Mr.  Stone  ;  who  was  now  become  his  designed  companion 
and  assistent  for  the  J^'erv-Euglish  enterprize.  Mr.  Slone  was  at  tiiat  in- 
stant smoking  of  tobacco  ;  for  which  Mr.  Hooker  had  been  reproving  him. 
as  being  then  used  by  few  persons  of  sobriety  ;  being  also  of  a  sudden 
and  pleasant  wit,  he  stept  imto  the  door,  with  his  pipe  in  his  mouth,  and 
such  an  air  of  speech  and  lock,  as  gave  him  some  credit  with  the  otlicer. 
The  othcer  demanded,  Hit  ether  Mr.  Hooker  ivere  not  there  i''  Mr.  Stone 
replied  with  a  braving  sort  of  confidence,  JVhat  Hooker?  Do  you  meai, 
Hooker  that  lived  once  at  Chelmsford!  The  officer  answered,  Yes.  he! 
'Sir.  Stone  immediately,  with  a  diversion  like  that  which  once  helped 
.ithanasius,  made  this  true  answer.  If  it  be  he  you  look  for,  Isazv  him  ahovl 
an  hour  ago,  at  such  an  house  in  the  tozi-7i  ;  you  Jiad  best  hasten  thither  after 
him.  The  officer  took  tliis  for  a  sufficient  account,  and  went  his  wr^y  ; 
but  Mr.  Hooker,  upon  this  intimation,  concealed  himself  more  carefully 
and  securely,  till  he  went  on  board,  at  the  Dozens,  in  the  year  1633,  the 
ship  which  brought  him,  and  Mr.  Cotton,  and  Mr.  Stone  io  NeTD- England  : 
v.here  none  but  Mr.  Stone  vvas  owned  for  a  preacher,  at  their  first  coming 
aboard  ;  the  other  two  delaying  to  take  their  turns  in  the  publick  woi 
chip  of  the  ship,  till  they  were  got  so  far  into  the  main  ocean,  that  thev 
might  with  safety,  discover  who  they  were. 

^  15.  Amongst  Mr.  Fen/ier's  works,  I  find  some  imperfect  and  shatter- 
ed, and  I  believe,  injurious  notes  of  a  farezi:cl  sermon  upon  Jer.  xiv.  9. 
We  are  called  by  thy  name,  leave  ns  not :  winch  far  ezi-cl  sermon  was  indeed 
Mr.  Hookers,  at  his  leaving  of  England.  There  are  in  those  fraoimeiils 
of  a  sermon,  some  vevy  pathetical  and  mo^.t  prophetical  passages,  Avhero 
some  are  these. 

It  is  not  gold  and  prosperity  rchich  makes  God  to  be  our  God  ;  there  is 
^more  gold  in  the  West-Indies,  than  there  zt  in  all  Christendom  ;  btft  it  i> 
Gorf's  ordinances  in  the  vertue  of  them,  that  shorv  the  presence  of  God. 

Again,  Is  not  England  ripe  '  Is  she  not  zvearyof  God  '  ^Yav.  .v'c  (<>  ^rj' 
\fatfor  the  slaughter. 


310  'J'HE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  III. 

Once  more,  England  hath  seen  her  best  days,  and  now  evil  days  are  be- 
falling us. 

And,  thou,  England,  -xhichhast  been  lifted  vp  to  heaven  Tiith  means,  shall 
be  abased,  and  brought  down  to  hell;  for  if  the  mighty  works,  which  have 
been  dotie  in  thee,  had  been  done  in  India  or  Turkey,  they  would  have  re- 
pented e'er  this. 

These  passages  I  quote,  that  1  may  the  more  eflectually  describe  the 
apprehensions  with  which  this  worthy  man  took  his  farewel  of  his  native 
country. 

But  there  is  one  strange  passage  in  that  sermon,  that  I  know  not  what 
well  to  think  ot";  and  yet  it  is  to  be  thought  of.  I  remember,  'tis  a  pas- 
sage in  the  lite  of  the  reverend  old  Btackerby,  who  died  in  the  year 
1G48.  '  That  he  would  often  ?ny  it  was  very  probable  the  English  nation 
'  would  be  sorely  punished  by  the  French:  and  that  he  believed,  Popery 
'  would  come  in,  but  it  would  not  last,  nor  could  it  recover  its  former 
'  strength.'  The  notable  fulhhnent  which  that  passage  hath  seen,  would 
carry  one  to  consider  the  unaccountable  words  which  our  Hooker  uttered 
in  his  farezcel  sermon.  'Tis  ver}'  likely,  that  the  scribe  has  all  along 
wronged  the  sermon  ;  but  the  words  now  referred  unto,  are  of  this  pur- 
port. That  it  had  been  told  him  from  God,  that  God  will  destroy  England, 
and  lay  it  wast ;  and  that  the  people  should  be  put  unto  the  sword,  and  the 
temples  burnt,  and,  many  houses  laid  in  ashes.  Long  after  this,  when  he 
lived  at  Hartford  in  Aew-England,  his  friends  that  heard  that  sermon, 
having  the  news  of  the  miseries  upon  Evghnid,  by  the  civil  wars, 
brought  unto  them,  enquired  of  him.  Whether  this  were  not  tlie  time  of 
God's  destroying  England,  whereof  he  had  spoken  ?  He  replied,  JV*o  ;  this 
is  not  the  time ;  there  will  be  a  time  of  respite  after  these  wars,  and  a  time 
wherein  God  will  farther  try  England  ;  and  England  will  further  sin  against 
him,  and  shew  an  antipathy  against  the  government  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
in  his  church  ;  his  royal  power  in  the  governing  thereof  will  be  denied  and 
rejected.  There  w-ill  therefore  a  time  come,  when  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  will 
plead  his  own,  and  his  own  cause,  and  the  cause  of  them  who  hnve  suffered 
for  their  fidelity  to  her  institutions  :  he  will  plead  it  in  a  more  dreadful,  way, 
and  break  the  nation  of  England  in  pieces,  like  a  potter's  vessel.  Then  a 
man  shall  be  precious  as  the  gold  of  Ophir  ;  but  a  small  remnant  shall  be 
left:  and  affem-ard  God  will  raise  up  churches  to  himself,  after  his  own 
heart,  in  his  ozen  time  and  way.  God  knows,  what  there  may  be  in  this 
prediction. 

<>  16.  Mr.  Hooker  nxii]  Mr.  Cotton  were,  for  their  different  genius,  the 
Luther  and  Melanclhon  of  New- Engl  and;  at  their  arrival  unto  which 
country.  Mr.  Cotton  settled  with  the  church  of  Boston,  but  Mr.  Hooker 
with  the  church  of  ?<Ccz(C'Town,  having  Mr.  Stone  for  his  assistant.  Inex- 
pressil)!e  now  was  the  joy  of  Mr.  Hooker,  to  lind  himself  surrounded 
with  his  friends,  who  were  come  over  the  j'car  before,  to  prep:tre  for 
his  reception  ;  with  open  arms  he  embraced  them,  and  uttered  these 
words.  .'Voti'  Hive,  if  yon  stand  fast  in  the  Lord.  But  such  multitudes 
flocked  over  to  JS'cw-Engla.rid  after  them,  that  the  plantation  of  A'en-- 
Towu.  became  loo  straight  for  them  ;  and  it  was  Mr.  Hooker's  advice,  (hat 
they  should  not  incur  the  danger  of  a  Sifna,  or  an  Esek,  where  they 
mic;ht  Ijave  H  iiC/(o6o^?t.  Accordingly  in  the  month  of  J«??e,  16.36,  thoy 
'cmoved  an  hundred  miles  to  the  westward,  with  a  purpose  to  settle  upon 
♦he  delightful  banks  cf  Connecticut  River  :  and  there  were  about  an  hun- 
d'-pf^  persons  in  t'io  f\r^t  comnanv  that  madr>  this  removal  :  who  n<^t  being 


Book  III.]  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.  311 

able  to  walk  above  ten  miles  a  day,  took  up  near  a  fort.night  in  the  jour- 
ney ;  having  no  pillows  to  take  their  nightly  rest  upon,  but  such  as  their 
father  Jacob  found  in  the  way  to  Padan-Aram.  Here  Mr.  Hooker  was 
the  chief  instrument  of  beginning  another  colony,  as  Mr.  Cotton,  whona 
he  left  behind  him,  was,  of  preserving  and  perfecting  that  colony  where 
he  left  hiai  ;  for,  indeed  each  of  them  were  the  oracle  of  their  several 
colonies. 

§  17.  Though  Mr.  Hooker  had  thus  removed  hon\  Vac  Massaclmset-bay, 
yet  he  sometimes  came  down  to  visit  the  churches  in  that  bay  :  but 
when  ever  he  came,  he  was  received  with  an  affection,  like  that  which 
Paul  found  among  the  Go/«im/is  ;  yea,  'tis  thought,  that  once  there  seem- 
ed so:ne  intimation  from  heaven,  as  if  the  good  people  had  overdone  in 
that  affection  :  for  on  May  26,  1639,  Mr.  Hooker  being  here  to  preach 
that  Lord's  day  in  the  afternoon,  his  great  fame  had  gathered  a  vast  mul- 
titude of  hearers  from  several  other  congregations,  and  among  the  rest, 
the  governour  himself,  to  be  made  partaker  of  his  ministry.  But  when 
he  came  to  preach,  he  found  himself  so  unaccountably  at  a  loss,  that  after 
some  shattered  and  broken  attempts  to  proceed,  he  made  a  full  stop  ; 
saying  to  the  assembly.  That  every  thing  xn-hich  he  would  have  spoktji,  was 
taken  both  out  of  his  mouth,  and  out  of  his  7nind  also  ;  wherefore  he  de- 
sired them  to  sing  a  psalm,  while  he  withdrew  about  half  an  hour  from 
them  :  returning  then  to  the  congregation,  he  preached  a  most  admirable 
sermon,  wherein  he  held  them  for  two  hours  together  in  an  extraordina- 
ry strain  both  of  pertinency  and  vivacity. 

After  sermon,  when  some  of  his  friends  were  speaking  of  the  Lord's 
thus  withdrawing  his  assistance  from  hira,  he  humbly  replied.  We  daily 
confess,  that  TL'e  have  nothing,  and  can  do  nothing,  without  Christ;  and  what 
if  Christ  will  make  this  manifest  in  us,  and  on  us,  before  our  congregations? 
What  remains,  but  that  we  be  humbly  contented  ?  and  what  manner  of  dis- 
couragement is  there  in  all  of  this/'  Thus  content  was  he  to  be  nullified, 
that  the  Lord  might  be  magnified  ! 

§  18.  Mr.  Hooker  that  had  been  born  to  serve  many,  and  was  of  such 
a  publick  spirit,  that  I  find  him  occasionally  celebrated  in  the  life  of  Mr. 
Angier,  lately  published  for  one,  who  would  be  continually  inquisitive  how 
it  fared  with  the  church  of  God,  both  at  home  and  abroad,  on  purpose 
that  he  might  order  his  prayers  and  cares  accordingly  :  [which,  by  the 
way,  makes  me  think  on  Mr.  F'irmin^s  words  :  I  look  on  it  (saith  he)  as 
an  act  of  a  grown  christian,  whose  interest  in  Christ  is  well  cleared,  and  his 
heart  walking  close  with  God,  to  be  really  taken  up  with  the  publick  interest 
of  Christ.]  He  never  took  his  opportunity  to  serve  himself,  but  lived  a 
sort  of  exile  all  his  days,  except  the  last  fourteen  yeai-s  of  his  life,  among 
his  own  spiritual  children  at  Hartford;  however,  here  also  he  was  an 
exile.  Accordingly,  where-ever  he  came,  he  lived  like  a  stranger  in  the 
world !  When  at  the  Land's-end,  he  took  his  last  sight  of  England,  he 
said,  Farewel  England  !  I  expect  now  no  more  to  sec  that  religious  zeal,  and 
power  of  godliness,  which  I  have  seen  among  professors  in  that  land  !  And 
he  had  sagacious  and  prophetical  apprehensions  of  the  declensions  which 
would  attend  reforming  churches,  when  they  came  to  enjoy  a  place  of 
liberty  :  he  said,  That  adversity  had  slain  ils  thousands,  but  prosperity  would 
slay  its  ten  thousands  !  He  feared.  That  they  who  had  been  lively  Chris- 
tians in  the  fire  of  persecution,  would  scon  become  cold  in  the  midst  of  uni- 
versal peace,  except  some  few,  whom  God  by  sharp  tryals.  would  keep  in  a 
faithful,  watchful,  humble,  and  praying  frame.  But  under  these  pre-ap- 
prehensionsj  it  was  his  own  endeavour  to  beware  of  abating  his  own  first 


312      r  THE  HlbTOKY  OF  InEVV-ENGLAND.  [Book  IH 

love!  and  of  so  watchful,  so  prayerful,  so  fruitful  a  spirit  was  Mi 
Hooker,  that  the  spirit  of  prophecy  it  self,  did  seem  to  grant  him  some 
singular  afflations.  Indeed,  every  wise  man  is  a  prophet ;  but  one  so 
eminently  acquainted  with  scripture  and  reason,  and  church-history,  as 
our  Hooker,  must  needs  be  a  seer,  fiom  whom  singular  prognostications 
were  to  be  expected.  Accordingly,  there  were  many  things  prognosti- 
cated by  him,  wherein  the  future  state  of  New-England,  particularly  of 
Comiecticut,  has  been  so  much  concerned,  that  it  is  pity  they  should  be 
forgotten.  But  1  will  in  this  history,  record  only  two  olhis  predictions. 
One  v/as.  That  God  would  punish  the  wantoti  spirit  of  the  professors  in  thi$ 
country,  with  a  sad  want  of  able  men  in  all  orders.  Another  was,  That  in 
certain  places  of  great  light  here  sinned  against,  there  would  break  forth 
such  horrible  sins,  as  would  be  the  amazement  of  the  world. 

§  19.  He  was  a  man  of  praj'er,  which  was  indeed  a  ready  way  to  bo 
come  a  man  of  God.  He  would  say.  That  prayer  was  the  principcl  par 
of  a  minister''i  zvork  ;  'twas  by  this,  that  he  was  to  carry  on  the  rest.  Ac- 
cordingly, he  still  devoted  one  day  in  a  month  to  private  prayer,  with 
fasting,  before  the  Lord,  besides  the  publick  fasts,  which  often  occurred 
unto  him.  He  would  say.  That  such  extraordinary  fo.vnurs.,  as  the  life  of 
religion,  and  the  potcer  of  godliness.,  must  be  preserved  by  the  frequent  use 
of  such  extraordinaiy  means,  as  prayer  M'w/i  fasting;  and  that  if  profes- 
sors grow  negligent  of  these  means,  iniquity  will  abound,  and  the  love  of 
many  tvax  cold.  Nevertheless,  in  the  duty  of  prayer,  he  affected  strength 
leather  than  length  ;  and  thougli  he  had  not  so  much  variety  in  his  pub- 
lick  praying,  as  in  his  publick  preaching,  yet  he  always  had  a  seasonable 
respect  unto  present  occasions.  And  it  was  observed,  that  his  prayer 
was  usually  like  Jacob'' s  ladder,  wherein  the  nearer  he  came  to  an  end, 
the  nearer  he  drew  towards  heaven  ;  and  he  grew  into  such  rapturous 
pleadings  with  God,  and  praisings  of  God,  as  made  some  to  say,  That  like 
the  master  ofthefuist,  he  reserved  the  best  wine  until  the  last.  Nor  was  the 
wonderful  success  of  his  prayer,  upon  special  concerns,  unobserved  by 
the  whole  colony  ;  who  reckoned  him  the  Moses,  which  turned  away  the 
wrath  of  God  from  them,  and  obtained  a  blast  from  heaven  upon  their 
Indian  Amahkites,  by  his  uplifted  hands,  in  those  remarkable  deliverances 
Tvhich  they  sometimes  experienced.  It  was  very  particularly  observed, 
nhen  there  was  a  battel  to  be  fought  between  the  Karo-aganset,  and  the 
Monhegin  Indians,  in  the  year  1643.  The  Narraganset  Indians  had  com- 
plotted  the' ruine  of  the  En^^/(V/t,  but  the  Monhegin  w^ve  confederate 
with  us  ;  and  a  war  now  being  between  those  two  nations,  much  notice 
was  taken  of  the  prevaiiiiig  importunity,  wherewith  Mr.  Hooker  urged 
for  the  accomplishment  of  that  great  promise  unto  the  people  of  God,  / 
will  bless  them  that  bless  thee,  but  Iivill  curse  him  that  curses  thee.  And  the 
eflect  of  it  was,  that  the  Narragansets  received  a  wonderful  overthrow 
from  the  Monhegins,  though  the  former  did  three  or  four  to  one  for 
number,  exceed  the  latter.  Such  an  Israel  at  prayer,  was  our  Hooker  ! 
And  this  praying  pastor  was  blessed  ;  as,  indeed,  such  ministers  use  to 
be,  with  a  ^vwyiugpeoph :  there  fell  upon  his  pious  people,  a  double  por- 
tion of  the  Spirit,  which  they  beheld  in  him. 

§  20.  That  reverend  and  excellent  man,  Mr.  Whitfield,  having  spent 
many  years  in  studying  of  books,  did  at  length  take  two  or  three  years  to 
study  men;  and  in  pursuance  of  this  design,  having  acquainted  himself 
with  the  most  considerable  divines  '\x\  England,  at  last  he  fell  into  the  ac- 
quaintance Qi  Mv.  Hooker ;  concerning  whom,  he  afterwards  gave  Ibis 
testimony  :  '  That  he  had  not  thought  there  had  been  such  a  man  on 


Book  III.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  333 

'  earth  ;  a  man  in  whom  there  shone  so  many  excellencies,  as  were  in 
'  this  incoinpcirahle  Hooker  ;  a  man  in  whuin  learmng  and  tvisdom  were 
•  so  tempered  10 ilh  zeal,  holinese,  and  watchfnhiess.''  And  the  same  ob- 
herver  having  exactly  noted  Mr.  Hooker,  made  tliis  remark,  and  gave  this 
report  more  particularly  of  him,  Thai  he  had  the  best  command  of  his 
own  spirit,  %vhich  he  ever  saw  in  any  man  zvhatever.  For  though  he  were 
'  a  man  of  a  cholerick  disposition,  and  had  a  mighty  vigour  and  fervour  of 
spirit,  which  as  occasion  served,  was  wondrous  useful  unto  him,  yet  he 
had  ordinarily  as  much  government  of  his  choler,  as  a  m;ui  has  of  a  mas- 
tiff dog  in  a  chain  ;  he  could  let  out  his  dog,  and  pull  in  his  dog,  as  he 
pleased-  And  another  that  observed  the  heroical  spirit  and  courage,  with 
which  this  great  man  fulfilled  his  ministry,  gave  this  account  of  him.  He 
ivas  a  person  who  while  dovig  his  master^s  work,  would  pmt  a  king  in  his 
pocket. 

Of  this  there  was  an  instance,  when  the  Judges  were  in  their  circuit, 
present  at  Chelmsford,  on  a  fast  kept  throughout  the  nation,  Mr.  Hooker 
then,  in  the  presence  of  the  Judges,  and  before  a  vast  congregation,  de- 
clared freely  the  sins  of  England,  and  the  plagues  that  would  come  for 
such  sins  ;  and  in  his  prayer  he  besought  the  God  of  heaven,  to  set  on 
the  heart  of  the  King,  what  his  own  mouth  had  spoken,  in  the  second 
chapter  of  Malachy,  and  the  eleventh  and  twelfth  verses,  [in  his  prayer 
he  so  distinctly  quoted  it  I]  An  abomination  is  committed,  Judah  halh  mar- 
ried the  daughter  of  a  strange  God,  the  Lord  will  cut  off  the  man  that  doeth 
this.  Though  the  Judges  turned  unto  the  place  thus  quoted,  yet  Mr. 
Hooker  came  into  no  trouble  ;  but  it  was  long  before  the  kingdom  did. 

§  21.  He  was  indeed  of  a  very  condescending  spirit,  not  only  towards 
his  brethren  in  tke  ministry,  but  also  towards  the  meanest  of  any  chris- 
tians whatsoever.  He  was  very  willing  to  sacrifice  his  own  apprehen- 
sions into  the  convincing  reason  of  another  man  ;  and  very  ready  to  ac- 
knowledge any  mistake,  or  failing,  in  himself.  I'll  give  one  example  : 
there  happened  a  damage  to  be  done  unto  a  neighbour,  immediately 
whereupon,  Mr.  Hooker  meeting  with  an  unlucky  boy,  that  often  had  his 
name  up,  for  the  doing  of  such  mischiefs,  he  fell  to  chiding  of  that  boy, 
as  the  doer  of  this.  The  boy  denied  it,  and  Mr.  Hooker  still  went  on  in 
an  angry  manner,  charging  of  him  ;  whereupon  said  the  boy,  Sir,  J  see 
you  are  in  a  passion.  III  say  no  more  to  you :  and  so  ran  away.  Mr. 
Hooker,  upon  further  enquiry,  not  finding  that  the  boy  could  be  proved 
guilty,  sent  for  him  ;  and  having  first  by  a  calm  question,  given  the  boy 
opportunity  to  renew  his  denial  of  the  fact,  he  said  unto  him  :  Since  J 
cannot  prove  the  contrary,  I  am  bound  to  believe  ;  and  I  do  believe  what  you 
say :  and  then  added,  indeed  I  was  in  a  passion,  when  I  spake  to  you  be- 
fore ;  it  was  my  sin,  and  it  is  my  shame,  and  I  am  truly  sorry  for  it:  and  I 
hope  in  God  I  shall  be  more  watchful  hereafter.  So  giving  the  boy  some 
good  counsel,  the  poor  lad  went  away  extreamly  affected  with  such  Ji 
carriage  in  so  good  a  man  ;  and  it  proved  an  occasion  of  good  unto  the 
soul  of  the  lad  all  his  days. 

On  this  occasion  it  may  be  added,  that  Mr.  Hooker  did  much  abound  in 
acts  of  charity.  It  was  no  rare  thing  for  him  to  give  sometimes  five 
pound,  sometimes  ten  pound  at  a  time,  towards  the  support  of  widows 
and  orphans,  especially  those  of  deceased  ministers. 

Thus  also,  when  the  people  at  Southampton,  twenty  leagues  from  Hart- 
ford, wanted  corn,  Mr.  Hooker,  and  some  icw  that  joined  with  them, 
sent  them  freelv  a  whole  bark's  load  of  corn,  of  many  hundred  bushels. 

Vol.  I.  '  40 


;il4  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  HI. 

to  relieve  them.     Thus  he  had  those  that  Chrijsostom  calls  itiAA«y<o-^5 
eivccvTippyiTiii,  unanswerable  sylogisms,  to  demonstrate  Christianity. 

^  22.  He  had  a  singular  ability,  at  giving  answers  to  cases  of  con- 
science ;  whereof  happy  was  the  experience  of  some  thousands  :  and 
for  this  work  he  usually  set  apart,  the  second  day  of  the  week  ;  where- 
in he  admitted  all  sorts  of  persons  in  their  discourses  with  him,  to  reap 
the  benefit  of  the  extraordinary  experience  which  himself  had  found  of 
Satan's  devices.  Once  particularly,  Mr.  Hooker  was  addressed  by  a 
student  in  divinity,  who  entring  upon  his  ministry,  was,  as  the  most  use- 
ful ministers,  at  their  entrance  thereupon,  use  to  be  horridly  bufieted 
with  temptations,  vviuch  were  become  almost  intolerable  :  repairing  to 
Mr.  Hooker  in  the  distresses  and'anguishes  of  his  mind,  and  bemoaning 
his  own  overwhelming  fears,  while  the  lion  was  thus  roaring  at  him, 
Mr.  Hooker  answered,  /  can  compare  with  any  man  living  for  fears  !  My 
advice  to  you  is,  that  you  search  out,  and  analise  the  humhling  causes  of 
them,  and  refer  them  to  their  proper  places  ;  then  go  and  pour  them  out  be- 
fore the  Lord ;  and  they  shall  prove  more  profitable  to  you  than  any  books 
you  can  read.  But  Mr.  Hooker  in  his  dealing  with  troubled  consciences, 
observed  that  there  were  a  sort  of  crafty  and  guileful  souls,  which  he 
would  find  out  with  an  admirable  dexterity  ;  and  of  these  he  would  say, 
as  Paul  of  the  Cretians,  They  must  be  reproved  sharply,  that  they  may  be 
found  in  the  faith;  sharp  rebukes  make  sound  christians.  Indeed,  of  some 
he  had  compassion,  making  a  difference ;  and.  others  he  saved  with  fear ^ 
prdling  them  out  of  the  fire. 

§  23.  Although  he  had  a  notable  hand  at  the  discussing  and  adjusting 
of  controversal  points,  yet  he  would  hardly  ever  handle  any  polemical 
tZn'z?u7?/ in  the  pulpit;  but  the  very  spirit  of  his  ministry,  lay  in  the 
points  oflhe  most  practical  religion,  and  the  grand  concerns  of  a  sinner's 
preparation  for,  implantation  in,  and  salvation  by,  the  glorious  Lord  Je- 
sus Christ.  And  in  these  discourses  he  would  frequently  intermix  most 
affectionate  warnings  of  the  declensions  which  would  quickly  befal  the 
churches  of  jVew- England. 

His  advice  to  young  ministers,  may  on  this  occasion  be  fitly  mention- 
ed. It  was,  that  at  their  entrance  on  their  ministry,  they  would  with 
careful  study  preach  over  the  whole  body  of  divinity  methodically,  (even 
in  the  Amesian  method)  which  would  acquaint  them  with  all  the  more 
intelligible  and  agreeable  texts  of  scripture,  and  prepare  them  for  a  fur- 
ther acquaintance  with  the  more  difficult,  and  furnish  them  with  abili- 
ties to  preach  on  whole  chapters,  and  all  occasional  subjects,  which  by 
the  providence  of  God,  they  might  be  directed  unto. 

Many  volumes  of  the  sermons  preached  by  him  were  since  printed  ; 
and  this  account  is  to  be  given  of  them. 

While  he  was  fellow  of  ^wanweZ-College,  he  entertained  a  special  in- 
clination to  those  principles  of  divinity,  which  concerned,  the  applica- 
tion, of  redemption  ;  and  that  which  eminently  fitted  him  for  the  handling 
of  those  principles,  was,  that  he  had  been  from  his  youth  trained  up  in 
the  experience  of  those  humiliations  and  consolations,  and  sacred  com- 
munions, which  belong  to  the  new  creature  ;  and  he  had  most  critically 
compared  his  own  experience,  with  the  accounts  which  the  qjiick  and 
powerful  word  of  God,  gives  of  those  glorious  things.  Accordingly  he 
preached  first  more  briefly  on  these  points,  whilst  he  was  a  catechist  in 
Emanitel-Co\\es,e,  in  a  more  scholastic  way  ;  which  was  mobt  agreeable 
to  his  present  station  ;  and  the  notes  of  what  he  then  delivered  were  so 
esteemed,  that  many  copies  thereof  were  transcribed  and  preserved 


JiooK  III.j         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  315 

Afterwards  he  preached  more  largely  on  those  points,  in  a  more  popu- 
lar way  at  Chdmsford,  the  product  of  which  were  those  books  oi prepa- 
ration for  Christ,  contrition,  humiliation,  vocation,  union  "unth  Christ,  and 
communion,  and  the  rest,  which  go  under  his  name  ;  for  many  wrote  af- 
ter him  in  short-hand  ;  and  some  were  so  bold  as  to  publish  many  of 
them,  Avithout  his  consent  or  knowledge  ;  whereby  his  notions  came  to 
be  deformedly  misrepresented  in  multitudes  of  passages  ;  among  which 
I  will  suppose  that  crude  passage,  which  Mr.  Giles  Firmin,  in  his  Real 
Christian,  so  well  confutes.  That  ij  tin  sold  be  rightly  humbled,  it  is  content 
to  bear  the  state  of  damnation.  But  when  he  came  to  Aew-England,  ma- 
ny of  his  church,  which  had  been  his  old  Essex  hearers,  desired  him 
once  more  to  go  over  the  points  of  God^s  regenerating  zcoiks  upon  the 
soul  of  his  elect ;  until,  at  last,  their  desires  prevailed  with  him  to  re- 
sume that  pleasant  subject.  The  subject  hereby  came  to  have  a  third 
concoction  in  the  head  and  heart  of  one,  as  able  to  digest  it,  as  ai'>:vcn>:n 
living  in  the  world  ;  and  it  was  his  design  to  perfect  with  his  owu  land 
his  composures  for  the  pres?,  and  thereby  vindicate  both  authn-  and  mat- 
ter, from  the  wrongs  done  to  both,  by  surreptitious  editions  heretofore. 
He  did  not  live  to  tinish  what  he  intended  ;  yet  a  worthy  minister,  name- 
ly, Mr.  John  Iligginson,  one  richly  able  himself  to  have  been  an  author 
of  a  not  unlike  matter,  transcribed  from  his  manuscripts,  near  two  hun- 
dred of  these  excellent  sermons,  which  were  sent  over  iuio  England, 
that  they  might  be  published  ;  but  by  what  means  I  know  not,  scarce 
half  of  them  have  seen  the  light  unto  this  day.  However,  'tis  possible, 
the  valuableness  of  those  that  are  published,  may  at  some  time  or  other 
awaken  some  enquiries  after  the  unknown  hands  wherein  the  rest  are 
as  yet  concealed. 

§  24.  But  this  was  not  all  the  service  which  the  pen  of  Mr.  Hooker  did 
for  the  church  of  God  !  It  was  his  opinion,  that  there  were  txn^o  great 
reserves  of  enquiry,  for  this  age  of  the  world;  the  first,  wherein  the 
spiritual  rule  of  our  Lord's  kingdom  does  consist,  and  after  what  manner 
it  is  internally  revealed,  managed  and  maintained  in  the  souls  of  his  peo- 
ple ?  The  second,  atter  what  order  the  government  of  our  Lord's  king- 
dom is  to  be  externally  managed  and  maintained  in  his  churches  ?  Ac- 
cordingly, having  done  his  part  for  delivering  the  former  subject  from 
Pharisaical  fir  mality,  on  the  one  hand,  and  from  familistical  enthusiasm 
on  the  other,  he  was  by  the  solicitous  icoportunity  of  his  frjends,  pre- 
vailed withal  to  compose  a  treatise  on  the  other  subject  also.  Upon  this 
occasion,  he  wrote  his  excellent  book,  which  is  entituled,  A  Survey  of 
Church  Discipline ;  wherein,  having  in  the  name  of  the  other  ministers 
in  the  country,  as  well  as  his  own,  professed  his  concurrence  with  holy 
and  learned  Mr.  Rutherford,  as  to  the  number  and  nature  of  cliurch-oth- 
cers  ;  the  right  of  people  to  call  their  own  officers  ;  the  nntitness  of 
scandalous  persons  to  be  members  of  a  visible  church  ;  the  unwarrant- 
ableness  of  separation  from  churches  for  certain  defective  circumstances  ; 
the  lawfulness,  yea,  needfulness  of  a  consociation  among  churches  ;  and 
calling  in  the  help  of  such  con-ociations,  upon  emerging  difficulties  ; 
and  the  power  of  such  consociations  to  proceed  against  a  particular 
church,  pertinaciously  offending  with  a  sentence  of  non-commlinion  : 
he  then  proceeds  to  consider,  a  church  congregational  compleatly  consti- 
tuted iK-'ith  all  its  officers,  having  full  power  in  its  self  to  exercise  alt  church 
discipline,  in  all  the  censures  thereof ;  and  the  intei'est,  which  the  consent 
of  the  people  is  to  have  in  the  exercise  of  this  discipline.  The  first  fair 
and  full  copy  of  this  book  was  drowned  in  its  passage  to  England,  with 


316  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  III 

many  serious  and  eminent  christians,  which  were  then  buried  by  ship- 
wrack  in  the  ocean  :  for  which  cause  there  was  another  copy  sent  after- 
wards, which  through  the  pre-mature  death  of  the  author,  was  not  so 
perfect  as  the  former  ;  but  it  was  a  reflection,  which  Dr.  Goodwin  made 
upon  it,  The  destiny  Zi'hich  hath  attended  this  book,  hath  visited  my  thoughts 
■with  an  apprehension  of  something  like  omen  to  (he  cause  it  self:  that  after 
the  overrrhcliiitng  of  it  with  a  flood  of  obloquies,  and  disadvantages  and  mis- 
representations, and  injurious  oppressions  cast  out  after  it,  it  might  in  the 
time,  which  God  alone  hath  put  in  his  own  pozcer,  be  again  emergent.  He 
adds,  /  ha-ce  looked  for  this  ;  that  this  truth  and  all  that  shoxdd  be  said  of  it, 
was  ordained  as  Christ  of  whom  every  truth  is  a  ray,  to  be  as  a  seed  corn, 
ichich  unless  it  fall  to  the  ground  and  die,  and  this  perhaps  together  with 
some  of  the  persons  that  profess  it,  it  brings  yet  forth  much  fruit.  Howev- 
er, the  ingenious  Mr.  Sto7ie  who  was  collegue  tolUr.  Hooker,  accompani- 
ed this  book,  with  a  little  epigram,  whereof  these  were  the  concluding 
disticks. 

If  avy  to  this  platform  ca7i  reply 
With  better  reason,  let  this  volume  die  ; 
But  better  ai'guments,  if  none  can  give, 
Then  Thomas  Hooker's  policy  shall  live. 

§  25.  In  his  administration  of  church  di?:cipline  there  were  several 
things  as  imitable,  as  observable.  As  he  was  an  hearty  friend  unto  the 
consociati  m  of  churches  ;  and  hence  all  the  time  that  he  lived,  the  pastors 
of  the  neighbouring  churches  held  their  frequent  meetings  for  mutual 
consultation  in  things  of  common  concernment  ;  so,  in  his  own  particu- 
lar church,  he  was  \  ery  careful  to  have  every  thing  done  with  a  chris- 
tian moderation  and  unanimity.  Wherefore  he  would  have  nothing  pub- 
lickly  propounded  unto  the  brethren  of  the  church,  but  what  had  been 
first  privately  prepared  by  the  elders  ;  and  if  he  feared  the  happening 
of  any  debate,  his  way  aforehand  was,  to  visit  some  of  tlie  more  noted 
and  leading  brethren,  and  having  engaged  them  to  second  what  he  should 
move  unto  the  church,  he  rarely  missed  of  a  full  concurrence  :  to  which 
purpose  he  would  say.  The  elders  must  have  a  church  in  a  church,  if  they 
v:ould  preserve  the  peace  of  the  church  :  and  he  would  say,  the  debating 
matters  of  difference,  first  before  the  whole  body  (f  the  church,  w'ill  doubtless 
break  any  church  in  pieces,  and  deliver  it  up  unto  loathsome  contempt.  But 
if  any  difficult  or  divided  agitation  was  raised  in  tlic  church,  about  any 
matter  offered,  he  would  ever  put  a  stop  to  that  publick  agitation,  by 
delaying  the  vote  until  another  meeting  ;  before  which  time,  he  would 
ordinarily  by  private  conferences,  gain  over  such  as  were  unsatisfied. 
As  for  the  admi&sion  of  communicants  unto  tlie  Lord's  table,  he  kept  the 
examination  of  them  unto  the  eiders  of  the  church,  as  properly  belong- 
ing unto  their  ttort  and  charge;  and  with  his  ciders  he  would  order 
then  to  make  before  the  whole  chiirch  a  profession  of  a  repenting  fiith, 
as  they  v.cre  able,  or  willing  to  do  it.  Some,  that  could  unto  edifica- 
tion do  it,  he  put  upon  thus  relating  the  manner  of  their  conversion  to 
God  ;  but  usually  they  only  answered  unto  certain  probatory  questions, 
which  were  tendered  them  ;  and  so  after  their  names  had  been  lor  a  few 
weeks  before  signified  unto  the  congregation,  to  learn  whether  any  ob- 
jectirm  or  exception  could  be  made  against  them,  of  any  thing  scandalous 
in  their  conversations,  now  cotssenting  unto  the  covenant,  they  were 
admitted  into  the  church  communion.      As  for  ecclesiastical  censures, 


Book  III.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  ai7 

he  was  very  watchful  to  prevent  all  proceedures  unto  them,  as  far  as 
was  consistent  with  the  rules  of  our  Lord  ;  for  which  cause  (except  in 
grosser  abominations)  when  offences  happened,  he  did  his  utmost,  tnat 
the  notice  thereof  might  be  extended  no  further,  tluin  it  was  when  they 
first  were  laid  before  him  :  and  having  reconciled  the  offenders  with  sen- 
sible and  convenient  acknowledgments  of  their  miscarriages,  he  would 
let  the  notice  thereof  be  confined  unto  such  as  were  aforehand  there- 
with acquainted  ;  and  hence  there  was  but  one  person  admonished  in, 
and  but  one  person  excommunicated  from  the  churcti  of  Hartford.,  in 
all  the  fourteen  years,  that  Mr.  Hooker  lived  there.  He  was  much 
troubled  at  the  too  frequent  censures  in  some  other  churches  ;  and  he 
would  say,  '  Church  censures  are  things,  wherewith  neither  we,  nor 
'  our  father's  have  been  acquainted  in  the  prnctice  of  them  ;  and  there- 
'  fore  the  utmost  circumspection  is  needful,  thai  we  do  not  spoil  the  or- 
'  dinances  of  God,  by  our  management  thereof '  In  tliis  point  he  was 
like  Be2a,  who  defended  the  ordinance  of  excommunication  against  Eras- 
tus ;  and  yet,  he  with  his  collegues,  were  so  cautelous  in  the  use  of  it, 
that  in  eleven  years,  there  was  but  one  excommunication  passed  in  all 
Geneva. 

§  26.  He  would  say,  that  he  should  esteem  it  a  favour  from  God,  if  he 
miglit  live  no  longer  than  he  should  be  able  to  h-old  up  lively  in  the  -work  of 
his  place  ;  and  that  when  the  time  of  his  departure  should  come,  God  would 
shorten  the  time  :  and  he  had  his  desire.  Some  of  his  most  observant 
hearers  observed  an  astonishing  sort  of  a  cloud  in  his  congregation,  the  last 
Lord's  day  of  his  publick  ministry,  when  he  also  administred  the  Lord's 
Supper  among  them  ;  and  a  most  unaccountable  heaviness  and  sleepi- 
ness, even  in  the  most  watchful  christians  of  the  place,  not  unlike  the 
drowsiness  of  the  disciples,  when  our  Lord  was  going  to  die  ;  for  which, 
one  of  the  elders  publickly  rebuked  them.  When  those  devout  people 
afterwards  perceived  that  this  was  the  last  sermon  and  sacrament 
wherein  they  were  to  have  the  presence  of  the  pastor  with  them,  'tis  in- 
expressible how  much  they  bewailed  their  unattentiveness  unto  his^are- 
7vel  dispensations  ;  and  some  of  them  could  enjoy  no  peace  in  their  own 
souls,  until  they  had  obtained  leave  of  the  elders  to  confess  before  the 
whole  congregation  with  many  tears,  that  inadvertency.  But  as  for  Mr. 
Hooker  himself;  an  epidemical  sickness,  which  had  proved  mortal  to 
many,  though  at  first  small  or  no  danger  appeared  in  it,  arrested  him. 
In  the  time  of  his  sickness  he  did  not  say  much  to  the  standers  by  ;  but 
being  asked,  that  he  would  utter  his  apprehensions  about  some  important 
things,  especially  about  the  state  of  JVew-Engiond,  he  answered,  /  have 
not  that  work  uow  to  do;  I  have  already  declared  the  counsel  of  the  Lord : 
and  when  one  tfiat  stood  weeping  by  the  bed  side  said  unto  him,  Sir,  you 
are  going  to  receive  the  reward  of  all  your  labours,  he  replied,  Bnither,  I 
am  going  to  receive  mercy!  At  last  he  closed  his  own  eyes  with  his  own 
hands,  and  gently  streaking  his  own  forehead,  with  a  smile  in  his  counte- 
nance, he  gave  a  little  groan,  and  so  expired  his  bifssed  soul  into  the 
arms  of  his  fellow  servants,  the  holy  angels,  on  July  7,  1647.  In  which 
last  hours,  the  glorious  peace  of  soul,  which  he  had  enjoyed  without  any 
interruption  for  near  thirt}'  years  together,  so  gloriously  accompanied 
him,  that  a  worthy  spectator  then  writing  to  Mr.  Cotton  a  relation  there- 
of, made  this  reflection.  Truly  Sir,  the  sight  of  his  death,  will  make  me 
have  more  pleasant  thoughts  of  death,   than  ever  I  yet  had  in  my  life  ! 

§  27.   Thus  lived  and  thus  died  oris  of  the  ^^rsM/iree.     lie,  of  whom 
the  great  Mr.  Cotton  gave  this  character,  that  he  di6,  ^Ogmen  ducere&  da- 


318  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  [Book  III. 

tninari  in  Concionibns,  gratia  Spi7'itus  Sancti  4'  virtute  plenis  :  and  that  he 
was,  Vir  Solertis  S,-  Accerriini  judicii ;  and  at  length  uttered  his  lamenta- 
tions in  a  funeral  elegy,  whereof  some  lines  were  these. 

'Twas  of  Geneva''s  worthies  said  with  wonder, 
(Those  worthies  three)  Farel  was  wont  to  thunder, 
Virei  like  rain  on  tender  grass  to  show'r, 
But  Cahin,  lively  oracles  to  pour. 

All  these  in  Hooker'' s  Spirit  did  remain, 
A  son  of  thunder,  and  a  show'r  of  rain; 
A  pourer  forth  of  lively  oracles, 
In  saving  soul,  the  sumin  of  miracles. 

This  was  he,  of  whom  his  pupil  Mr.  Ash,  gives  this  testimony  ;  for 
Ins  great  abililies  and  glorious  services,  both  in  this  and  in  the  other  England, 
he.  deserves  a  place  in  the.  first  rank  of  them,  whose  lives  are  of  late  n  corded. 
And  this  was  he.  of  whom  his  reverend  contemporary,  Mr.  Ezekiel  Rogers, 
tendered  this  for  an  epitaph  ;  in  every  line  whereof,  methinks  the  writer 
deserves  a  reward  equal  to  what  Virgil  had,  when  for  every  line,  referring 
to  Marcrdlus  in  the  end  of  his  sixth  JEneid,  he  received  a  sum  not  much 
less  than  eighty  pounds  in  money,  or  as  ample  a  requital  as  cardinal  i?ic/i- 
luxi  gave  to  a  poet,  when  he  bestowed  upon  him  two  thousand  Sequins 
for  a  witty  conceit  in  one  verse,  of  but  seven  words,  upon  his  coat  of  arms. 

.America,  although  she  do  not  boast 

Of  all  the  gold  and  silver  from  that  coast, 

L^.rd  to  her  sister  Europe's  need  or  pride  ; 

(For  that  repaid  her,  Avith  much  gain  beside, 

In  one  rich  pearl,  which  heaven  did  thence  afford. 

As  pious  Herbert  gave  his  honest  word  ;) 

Yet  thinks,  she  in  the  catalogue  may  come 

^Vith  Europe,  Africk,  Asia,  for  one  tomb. 

But  as  Ambrose  could  say  concerning  Theodosius,  JVon  Toius  recessit ; 
ndiquit  nobis  Libcros,  in  quibiis  euin  debemus  agnoscere,  ^  in  quibus  eum 
Cernimvs  4'  Tenemus  ;  thus  we  have  to  this  day  among  us,  our  dead 
Hookn'  yet  living  in  his  Avorthy  son,  Mr.  Samuel  Ho-'Jcer,  an  able,  fliithful, 
useful  minister,  at  Farmington,  in  the  Colony  of  Connecticut. 

EPITAPHIUM. 

T)i<jMAs  Hooker. 

Ucu  !  Pietas  ;  Hen  !   priscu  Fides. 

Or,  lor  a  more  extended  Epitaph,  we  may  take  the  abridgement 
of  his  fjifc,  as  offered  in  some  lines  of  Mr.  Elijah  Corlet,  that  memorable 
old  school -masttr  in  Cambridge,  from  who?e  education  our  colledge  and 
country  has  received  so  many  o(  its  Tcorthy  men,  that  he  is  himself  worthy 
1o  have  his  name  celebrated  in  no  less  a  paragraph  of  our  church  history, 
than  that  '.vherein  I  may  introduce  him,  endeavouring  to  celebrate  the 
n-'imo  of  our  great  Hooher,  unto  th!"  purpose. 


Book  III.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  31 P 

Si  mea  cum  vestris,  vahiissent  vota,  Nov-Angli, 

Hookerus  Tardo  viserat  Astra  Gradu. 
Te,  Reverende  Senex,  Sic  te  dileximus  omnes, 

Ipsa  Invisa  forent  vt  tibi  Jura  poli. 
Morte  Tua  Infandum  Cogor  Renovare  dolorem, 

Qlitippe  Tuavideat  Terra  Nov-Angla  suam. 
Dignus  eras,  Aquilae  similis,  Renovasse  Juventam, 

Et  Fato  in  Terris  Condidiore  frui. 
Tu  Domus  Emanuel,  Soror  Angustissima,  Mater 

Mille  Prophetarum,  Tu  niihi  Testis  eris. 
Te  Testem  apello,  quandam  Chelmsfordia,  CcrUs 

Proxima  ;   Tepraico  Sustulit  ille  Tims, 
Non  tulit  ,h(EC  Chalcas,  Arcis  Pfuebique  Sacerdos, 

JVam  pnpulo  Sperni  sic  sua  sacra  videt. 
Vidit  •I'  e.-c  Rostris  Genti  prcedicerevatem 

Bella,  quod  in  Christum  Tota  Rebellis  erut. 
Quein  Patria  exegit,ferus  Hostis  Episcopus  ;  Hostii 

Hunc  minus,  in  Batavis,  vexat  amara  Febris, 
Post  various  casus,  Quassata  Nov-Anglia,  tandem 

Ramifer^  inde  Tibi  Diva  Columba  venit. 
Ille  Tuos  Caetas  Ornat,  pascitque  Fideles, 

Laudibus  Innumeris  addit  4'  Me  Tuis. 
Dulcis  Amicus  erat,  Pastorquc  Insignis,  ^  Alius 

Dotibus,  Eloquio,  Moribus,  Ingenio. 
Prob  Pudor !  Ereptum  te  vivi  vidimus,  4*  7ion 

ExcessurcE  Animcc  Struximvs  Insidias ! 
Insidias  precibus,  Lacrymisque  perrennibus,  unde 

Semita  Coelestis  sic  tibi  clausaforet. 
Sed  Frustra  hate  meditor  ! — 
Lustra  per  Hookerus  ter  quinque  Viator,  erat ;  jam 

Ccshstem  patriam  Possidet  ille  svam. 


SEPHEll  JEREIM,  i.  e.  LIBER  DEUM  TIMENTIUM 

OR, 

DEAD  ABEL'S  YET  SPEAKENG,  AND  SPOKEN  OF 
IN  THE  HISTORY  OF 


Mr.  Francis  Higginson, 

Mr.  John  Avery, 

Mr.  Jonathan  Burr, 

Mr.  George  Philips, 

Mr.  Thomas  Shepard, 

Mr.  Peter  Prudden,  and  several 

others  of  JVew-Haven  colony. 
Mr.  Peter  BuLKi.y, 
Mr.  Ralph   Partridge, 
Mr.  Henry  Dunster, 
Mr.  Ezekiel  Rogers, 
Mr.  Nathanael  Rogers, 
Mr.  Samuel  Newman, 
Mr.  Samuel  Stone, 
Mr.  William  Thompson, 


Mr.  John  Warham," 
Mr.  Henry  Flint, 
Mr.  Richard  Mather, 
Mr.  Zechariah  Symmes, 
Mr.  John  Allin, 
Mr.  Charles  Chauncey, 
Mr.  John  Fisk, 
Mr.  Thomas  Parker, 
Mr.  James  Noyes, 
Mr.  Thomas  Thacher, 
Mr.  Peter  Hobart, 
Mr.  Samuel  Whiting, 
Mr.  John  Sherman,; 
Mr.  Thomas  Corbet, 
Mr.  John  Ward. 


Eminent  Ministers  of  the  Gospel  in  the  Churches  of  New-England. 


By  Cotton  Mather. 


THE  SECOND  PART. 

Solus  Honor  Merita  qui  dahir,  ille  datur. 

Thus  shine,  ye  glories  of  your  age,  while  we 
Wait  to  till  up  your  martyrologie. 

Bono  estate  Animo,  {Dilecti  Fratres)  appropinguat  Tempus  quando  erit  JVo- 
minum  ceque  ac  Corporvm  Resurrectio. 

Wilkinson.  Concion.  ad  Academic. 


INTRODUCTION. 

WriEJV  the  incomparable  Hevelius  was  preparing  for  the  world,  his 
new,  and  rare,  and  most  accurate  Selenography,  his  design  was,  to  advance 
into  the  heavens,  the  names  of  the  most  meritorious  astronomers,  hy  naming 
from  them  the  several  distinguishable  parts  of  the  planet,  which  was  to  be 
described,  by  him  ;  so  that  in  the  moon,  there  would  viow  hove  been  seen,  an 


Book  III.]  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  321 

Oceanns  Coperntceus,  an  Oceanus  Tychonicus,  a  Mare  Kepplerianum, 
a  Laciis  Gallil^i,  a  Palus  Majstlini,  an  Insula  Scheiveriana,  a  Peninsula 
Gassendi,  a  iMons  Mersenni,  a  V' allis  Biillialdi,  a  Sinus  Wendelini,  a  Pro- 
montorum  Crugerianum,  a  Desertum  Linnemanni,  onJ  other  svch  denorni- 
nations.  Bui  upon  second  thoughts,  Jie  saw  that  tJiis  could  not  be  done  withottt 
envy  ayid  offence  ;  for  there  -were  certain  places  more  eminent  than  others, 
and  he  nii<rht  happen  to  assign  them  unto  such  persons  as  ^eere  less  eminent 
in  the  opinions  of  mankind  about  their  merits  :  Ta'herefore  he  chose  rather 
geographical  denominations,  for  the  Macula?  Lunares,  7ihich  "juerc  now  to  he 
distinguished. 

Reader,  there  is  a  number  of  divines  «os;  before  us,  demanding  their 
places  in  our  Church-History  ;  their  souls  arc  in  the  heavens ;  their  names 
also  should  be  there.  I  zsas  thinking  to  have  ranked  them  according  to  their 
merits;  I  raould  have  assigned  their  places,  according  to  their  eminencies 
in  the  church  of  God.  But  finding  that  this  attempt  zi-ould  have  been  in- 
vidious ;  I  xcw7/  have  them  to  take  their  places,  as  in  the  hisforij  of  lives  tises 
to  be  done.  Secundum  Annorum  Eraortualim  Scriem,  accoi-ding  totheyeaTS 
-Jsherein  thoj  died. 

What  I  zvritc,  shall  be  Tn'ritten -with  all  christian  xevnc.xiy,  and  fidelity. 
Heaven  forbid,  that  I  should  indulge  my  pen,  in  such  flourishing  flatteries, 
as  fill  the  lives  of  the  Lutheran  divines,  in  the  collections  that  VV'itten  has 
made  of  the  Memoriae  Theologorum  nostri  saecuii  Clarissimorum,  reno- 
vatae.  Heaven  forbid,  that  I  shoidd  in  any  one  instance  deserve  to  be 
thought  a  xvriter  of  such  legends,  as  they  generally  (and  it  may  be  sometimes 
unrighteously)  have  reproached  the  lives  of  the  ancients,  m-ritten  by  Simeon 
Metaphrastes  :  for  I  "U-'ill  norv  confess  to  my  reader,  07ie  thing  that  has  en- 
couraged me,  in  my  endeavour  to  preserve  the  memory  of  these  tcorthy  men. 

I  read  in  Prov.  x.  7,  The  memory  of  the  just  is  blessed  ;  or,  for  a 
blessing  :  and  I  knoxa  the  common  glosses  upon  it.  But  I  have  met  zcith  a 
note  of  Dr.  Jermyn's  thereupon,  which  I  will  now  count  as  worthy  to  be 
transcribed,  as  I  have  heretofore  counted  it  worthy  to  be  pondered. 

The  very  remembring  of  them  [saith  fte]  shall  bring  a  blessing  to  such 
as  do  remember  them.  God  will  bless  those  that  honour  the  memory  of 
his  servants  :  and  besides,  the  memory  of  them  will  make  them  imitated, 
which  is  a  blessing  that  will  be  rewarded  with  blessedness. 

I  will  add,  that  examples  do  strangely  charm  lis  into  imitation.  When 
holiness  is  pressed  upon  us,  we  are  prone  to  think,  that  it  is  a  doctrine  cal- 
culated for  angels  and  spirits,  whose  dwelling  is  not  with  flesh.  But  when 
we  recird  the  lives  of  them  that  excelled  in  holiness,  though  they  irere  persons 
©/*  like  passions  with  our  selves,  the  conviction  is  wonderful  and  powerful. 
Reader,  behold  loud  calls  to  holiness,  from  those  rc/fo  said.  not.  ite  illuc  ; 
hut,  Venite  h.\\c,,wlicn  the  calls  zvere  uttered 


Vol.   ]  V. 


3£2  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-EiNGLAND.         [Book  II. 

CHAPTER  I. 

Janus  Nov-Jinglicanus.     The  Life  of  Mr.  FnANcis  Hioginso.\ 

Semper  Hanoi-,  Nomenque  Tuum,  Laudesqnc  Manebunt. 

§  1.  Without  recourse  to  any  {dhnlonn,  ■wheihar  Egyptiaii  or  Grecian 
shams  of  antiquity,  we  have  other  intimations  enough,  that  our  father 
JVoah,  after  a  new  -world  began  to  be  peopled  from  him,  did  remove  with 
his  eldest  son  Japhet,  from  his  own,  and  his  old  country  of  Ogyge^  or 
Palestine,  into  the  country  which  is  now  called  Italy.  And  it  is  particu- 
larly remarkable,  that  his  great  grandson  Doc^amm,  removing  with  a  col- 
ony of  his  increasing  posterity,  into  Epirus,  he  built  a  city,  which  with 
the  whole  province,  was  called  by  the  name  of  Dodona ;  where  he  built 
a  city,  which  with  the  whole  province,  was  called  by  the  name  of  Do- 
dona; where  he  built  a  temple,  in  which  the  people  did  assemble  to 
worship  God,  and  hear  the  precepts  of  the  Patriarch  preached  upon. 
But  it  was  not  long  before  a  fearful  degeneracy  overtaking  the  posterity 
of  these  planters,  they  soon  left  and  lost  the  religion  of  their  progeni- 
tors ;  and  in  that  very  place  where  Dodanim  had  his  church,  there  suc- 
ceeded the  Dodoncean  oracles.  Now  among  the  memorable  names,  which 
in  other  monuments  of  antiquity,  besides  those  of  Tuscany,  exposed  by 
Inghiramius,  we  tind  put  upon  our  illustrious  father  JVoah,  one  is  that  of 
Janus,  which  at  first  they  pronounced  Janes,  from  the  Hebrezv  word,  Jl^, 
Jajin,  for  zviyie,  which  was  the  true  original  of  it  ;  and  so  his  famous 
vineyard  was  therein  commemorated.  For  which  cause  Cato  also  tells 
us,  Janus  primus  invenit  Far  4'  Viymm,,  ^  ob  id  ductus  fuit  Priscus  Oeno- 
trills  :  and  Antiochus  Syracusanus,  mentions  the  Ocnotrii,  which  JVoah  car- 
ried with  him.  Of  this  Janus,  the  Thuscians  employed  a  ship,  as  a  me- 
morial ;  they  had  a  ship  on  his  coins,  doubtless  with  an  eye  to  the  ark  of 
JVoah ;  but  there  was  also  on  the  reverse,  as  Ovid  relates,  Altera  Forma 
Biceps ;  and  this  double  face  was  ascribed  unto  Janus,  because  of  the 
view  which  he  had  of  the  two  worlds,  the  old  and  the  new.  The  cove- 
nant which  God  established  with  JVoah,  was  by  after-ages  referred  unto, 
when  they  feigned  Janus  to  be  the  president  of  all  covenant  and  concord : 
and  the  figure  which  J^oah  made  among  mankind  was  confessed  by  them, 
when  they  gave  Janus  the  sir-name  oi  Pater,  as  being  so  to  all  the  heroes^ 
who  obtained  a  place  among  the  gods.  Moreover,  the  mythical  writers 
tell  us,  that  in  the  reign  of  this  Janus,  all  the  dwellings  of  men  were 
hedged  in  with  piety  and  sanctity ;  in  which  tradition  the  exemplary  right- 
eousness of  JVoah  seems  to  have  been  celebrated  :  and  hence  in  their  old 
rituals,  he  was  called  Cerus,  JVIanus,  which  is  as  much  as  to  say,  Sanctus 
^  Bonus.  But  without  pursuing  these  curiosities  nuy  further,  I  will  now 
lay  before  my  reader  the  story  of  that  worthy  man  ;  who  when  'tis  con- 
sidered, that  he  crossed  the  sea  with  a  renowned  colony,  and  that  having 
seen  an  old  world  in  Europe,  where  a  flood  of  iniquity  and  calamity  car- 
ried all  before  it,  he  also  saw  a  new  world  in  .'Imcrica  ;  where  he  appears 
the  first  in  a  catalogue  of  heroes,  and  where  he  with  his  people  were 
admitted  into  the  covenant  of  God  ;  whereupon  an  hedge  of  piety  and 
sanctity  continued  about  (hat  people  as  long  as  he  lived  ;  may  therefore 
be  called  the  JVoah,  or  Janus  of  Nezv-England.  This  was  Mr.  Francis 
Higginson, 


l3ooK  lll.j         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  32i^ 

§  2.  If  in  the  history  of  the  church  for  more  than  four  thousand 
years,  contained  in  the  scriptures,  there  is  not  recorded  either  the  birth- 
day of  any  one  saint  whatever,  or  the  birth-day  of  hitn  that  is  the  Lord, 
of  all  saints ;  I  hope  it  will  be  accounted  no  defect  in  our  history  of  this 
worthy  man,  if  neither  the  day,  nor  the  place  of  his  birth  can  be  recov- 
ered. We  will  therefore  begin  the  iiistory  of  his  life,  where  we  tind 
that  he  began  to  live. 

Mr.  Francis  Higginson,  after  he  had  been  educated  at  Emamiel-Co\- 
ledge,  that  seminary  of  Puritans  in  Cambridge,  until  he  was  Master  of 
Arts:  and  after  that,  the  true  Emanuel,  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  had  by 
the  work  o[  regeneration  upon  his  heart,  instructed  him  in  the  better  and 
nobler  aris,  o{  living  unto  God;  he  was  by  the  special  providence  of 
heaven,  made  a  servant  of  our  Emanuel,  in  the  ministry  of  the  gospel, 
at  one  of  the  five  parish-churches  in  Leicester.  The  main  scope  of  his 
ministry,  was  now  to  promote,  first,  a  thorough  conversion,  and  then  a 
godly  conversation,  among  his  people  :  and  besides  his  being  as  the  famous 
preacher  in  the  n-ilderness  was,  a  voice,  and  preaching  lectures  of  Chris- 
tianity by  his  whole  christian,  and  most  courteous  and  obliging  behaviour, 
he  had  also  a  most  charming  voice,  which  rendred  him  unto  his  hearers, 
in  all  his  exercises,  another  Ezekiel :  for,  Lo,  he  zeas  unto  them,  as  a  very 
lovely  song  of  one  that  hath  a  pleasant  voice,  and  can  play  well  xipon  an  in^ 
striiinent :  and  from  all  parts  in  the  neighbourhood  they  tlocked  unto  him. 
Such  was  the  divine  presence  with,  and  blessing  on  the  ministry  of  this 
good  man,  in  this  place,  that  the  influence  thereof  on  the  whole  town, 
was  quickly  become  a  matter  of  observation  :  many  were  turned  from 
darkness  to  light,  and  from  Satan  to  God ;  and  many  were  bvilt  up  intheir 
most  holy  faith  ;  and  there  was  a  notable  revival  of  religion  among  them. 
And  such  were  his  endeavours  to  conform  unto  the  example  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  our  grand  Exemplar,  in  the  whole  course  of  his  ministry, 
that  we  might  easily  have  written  a  book  of  those  conformities. 

6  3.  For  some  years  he  continued  in  his  conformity,  to  the  rites  then 
required  and  practised  in  the  Church  oi  England ;  but  upon  his  acquaint- 
ance with  Mr.  Arthur  Hildersham,  and  Mr.  Thomas  Hooker,  he  set  himself 
to  study  the  controversies,  about  the  evangelical  church-discipline,  then 
agitated  in  the  church  of  God  :  and  then  the  more  he  studied  the  scrip- 
ture, which  is  the  sole  and  full  rule  of  church-administrations,  the  more 
he  became  dissatisfied  with  the  ceremonies,  which  had  crept  into  the 
worship  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  not  only  without  the  allowance  of 
scripture,  but  also  without  the  countenance  of  the  earliest  antiquity. 
From  this  time  he  became  a  conscientious  non-conformist ;  and  therefore 
he  was  deprived  of  his  opportunity  to  exercise  his  ministry,  in  his  par- 
ish-church :  nevertheless,  his  ministry  was  generally  so  desirable  unto 
the  people,  that  they  procured  for  him  the  hberty  to  preach  a  constant 
lecture,  on  one  part  of  the  Lord's  day  ;  and  on  the  other  part,  as  an  as- 
sistant unto  a  very  aged  parson,  that  wanted  it.  He  was  now  maintained 
by  the  voluntary  contribution  of  the  inhabitants  ;  and  though  the  rest  of  the 
ministers  there  continued  conformists,  yet  they  all  freely  invited  him  unto 
the  use  of  their  pulpits,  as  long  as  they  could  avoid  any  trouble  to  them- 
selves by  their  so  doing  :  by  which  means  he  preached  successively  in 
three  of  the  parish-churches,  after  that  he  had  been  by  noii-conformity 
made  incapable.  He  preached  also  at  Belgrave,  a  mile  out  of  the  town  ; 
but  under  God,  the  chief  author  of  these  more  easie  circumstances  unto 
such  a  non- conformist,  was  the  generous  goodness  and  candour  of  Dr. 
Williams,  the  Bishop  of  Lincoln,   to  whose  diocess  Leicester  belonged 


324  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEVV.ENGLA^iD.         [Book  HI. 

It  continued  until  the  fray  between  that  Bishop,  and  Laud,  the  Bishop 
of  London,  who  set  himself  to  extirpate  and  extinguish  all  the  non-con- 
formists, that  were  Williams'  favouriles,  among  whom  one  was  Mr.  Hig - 
ginson. 

§  4.  The  signal  blessing  of  God,  which  accompanied  the  ministry  oi 
Mr.  Higginson,  in  Leicester,  was  followed  with  two  very  contrary  conse- 
quences. On  the  one  side,  a  great  multitude  of  christians,  then  called 
Puritans,  did  not  only  attend  the  worship  of  God  more  publickly  in  their 
assc7Tiblies,  and  more  secretly  in  their  families,  but  also  they  frequently 
bad  their  private  meetings,  for  prayer  (sometimes  with  fasting)  and  re- 
peating of  sermons,  and  maintaining  of  profitable  conferences,  at  all  which 
Mr.  Higginson  himself  was  often  present :  and  at  these  times,  if  any  of 
their  society  were  scandalous  in  their  conversation,  they  were  personally 
admonished,  and  means  were  used  with  them  to  bring  them  unto  repent- 
ance. On  the  other  side,  there  was  a  j^rofane  party,  tilled  with  wolvish 
rage  against  the  flock  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  especially  against 
tliis  good  man,  who  was  the  pastor  of  the  flock  :  whose  impartial  zeal  in 
reproving  the  common  sins  of  the  time  and  place,  did  more  than  a  little 
add  unto  the  exasperations  of  that  party  ;  but  also  divers  of  them  turned 
persecutors  hereupon,  yet  many  remarkable  providences  laid  a  restraint 
upon  them,  and  the  maiignants  were  smitten  with  a  dread  upon  their 
minds,  That  the  judgments  of  God  would  pmrsue  those,  that  shoxdd  go  to 
harm  sxtch  a  fallower  of  him  that  is  good. 

§  5.  Even  the  Episcopal  party  of  the  English  nation,  among  whose 
thirty  nine  articles,  one  is,  That  the  visible  church  is  a  congregation  o/' faith- 
ful men,  where  the  word  of  Christ  is  didy  preached,  and  the  sacraments  he 
rightly  admiiusfrcd;  have  concluded  it,  as  a  godly  discipline  in  ihe  primi- 
tive church,  that  notorious  sinners  were  put  to  open  penance.  And  in  the 
r«6rjc  before  the  communion,  have  ordered  ministers  to  advertise  all  no- 
torious evil  livers,  and  such  as  have  wronged  their  neighbours  by  word 
or  deed,  or  such  as  have  malice  and  hatred  reigning  between  them,  that 
they  should  not  presume  to  come  to  the  Lord^s  table,  till  they  have  openly  de- 
clared themselves  to  have  truly  repented.  Under  the  encouragement 
hereof,  Mr.  Higginson,  before  he  became  a  non- conformist,  professed  this 
principle,  That  ignorant  and  scandalotis  persons  are  not  to  be  admitted 
unto  the  Lord's  Supper  :  and  as  far  as  he  could,  he  practised  what  he  pro- 
fessed. Wherefore  he  did  catechise  and  examine  persons  about  their  lit- 
ness  for  the  communion  ;  and  if  any  persons  were  notoriously  scanJa/otts, 
he  not  only  told  them  of  their  sins  in  private,  but  also  in  publick  de- 
clared, that  they  were  not  to  be  admitted  unto  the  LorcVs  Supper,  until 
the  congregation  had  some  testimonies  of  their  serions  repentance. 

It  was  a  good  courage  of  old  Cyprian,  to  dechire  :  if  any  think  to  join 
themselves  unto  the  churc/i,  not  by  their  humiliatioii  and  satisfactio7i,  when 
iheyhave  sccndcdized  the  brethren,  but  by  their  great  zrords  and  threats,  let 
ihem  know,  that  ihe  churcli  of  God  will  oppose  them,  and  the  tents  of  Christ 
irill  not  be  conquered  by  them.  And  no  less  was  the  good  metal  in  our 
Higginson.  Accordingly  after  a  sermon  on  those  words  of  our  Saviour, 
Give  not  that  wlucli  is  holy  unto  dogs,  unto  this  jiurpose  applied,  going  to 
administer  the  Lord's  Supper  unto  the  communicants,  now  come  into  the 
chancel,  he  espied  one  that  was  known  unto  them  all,  to  be  a  common 
drunkard  and  swearer,  and  a  very  vicious  ])erson  ;  he  told  that  man  be- 
fore them  all,  That  he  was  not  willing  to  give  the  Lord'' s  Supper  unto  him, 
until  he  had  professed  his  repentance,  unto  the  satisfaction  of  the  congrega- 
tion:  and  therefore  he  desired  the  man  to  withdraw  :  the  sinner  with- 


Book  111.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  325 

drew,  but  went  ont  full  of"  such  f<assion  and  poison  against  3rr.  Higrrin. 
fon,  and  horror  in  his  own  conscience,  that  he  fell  sick  upon  it;  ami 
while  he  lay  sick  ho  was  visited,  as  well  by  good  people,  that  endeavour- 
ed his  conver:^ion,  as  by  bad  people  that  had  been  his  old  companions, 
and  now  threatned  what  they  would  do  against  Mr.  Higginscn.  The 
wretch  continued  in  an  exorbitant  frame  for  a  few  days,  aird  at  last  roar- 
ed out,  Tlial  he  was  damned.,  and  that  he  zeas  a  dog,  and  that  he  t^a.v  <Toin<r 
to  the  dogs  for  ever .  So  he  cried,  and  so  he  died  :  and  this  was  knozi'n  to 
all  people. 

§  6.  There  were  many  such  marvellous  judgments  of  God,  which 
came  like  ^rfi  from  heaven,  to  restrain  and  revenge  the  wrongs  whicli 
were  offered  unto  this  faithful  -witness  of  our  Lord  .Tesus  Christ.  Par- 
ticularly, there  was  a  pious  gentlewoman,  the  wife  of  a  very  profane  gca- 
tlcman,  dwelling  in  another  parish,  who  would  frequently  go  to  attend 
upon  Mr.  Higginsoiis  ministry,  both  in  the  publick  and  private  exercises 
of  our  holy  religion  ;  whereat  her  husband,  after  many  other  expres- 
sions of  his  deep  displeasure,  vowed,  that  he  would  be  revenged  on 
Higginson  ;  and  accordingly  he  resolved  upon  a  journey  to  London,  there 
to  exhibit  a  complaint  against  tliis  good  man,  at  the  Uigh-Comnmsion 
Court :  but  when  he  had  got  all  things  ready  for  his  journey,  just  as  he 
was  mounting  his  horse,  he  was  by  an  immediate  hand  of  heaven,  smitten 
with  an  intolerable  torment  of  body,  and  horror  of  conscience,  and  was 
led  into  his  house,  and  laid  upon  his  bed  ;  where  within  a  few  hours, 
death  did  his  office  upon  him. 

§  7.   And  unto  the  remarkable  appearances  of  heaven,  on  the  behalf  of 
this  faithful  man,  may  be  enumerated  that  which  befel  a  famous  Doctor 
of  Divinity,  prebend  of  a  cathedral,   and  chaplain  to  his  Majesty,  who 
then  lived  in  Leicester:  ihi^  gentleman   preached  but  very  seldom  ;  and 
when  he  did  at  all,  it  was  after  that  fashion,  which  has  been  sometimes 
called  gentleman-preaching  ;  after   a  flaunting   manner,  and  with  such  a 
I   vain  ostentation  of  learning,  and  affectation  oi language,  as  ill  became  the 
oracles  of  God  ;  the  people  generally  flocking  more  to  the  more  edifying 
i   ministry  of  Mr.  Higginson,  than  to  these  harangues.     Our  Doctor  so  ex- 
I   treamly  resented  it,  that  both  {)ublickly  and  privately,  on  all  opportunies. 
he  expressed  his  indignation  against  Mr.  Higginson,  and  vowed,  That  ht 
-jsould  certainly  drive,  him  out  of  the,  turan.     Nov/  it  so  fell  out,  that  the 
Sheriff  appointed  this  Doctor  to  preach  at  the  Ge^ral  Assizes  there,  and 
gave  him  a  quarter  of  a  year's  time  to  provide  a  sermon  for  that  occasion  : 
but  in  all  this  time,  he  could  not  provide  a  sermon  unto  his  own  satisfac- 
tion ;  insomuch,  that  a  fortnight  before  the  time  was  expired,  he  expres- 
sed unto  some  of  his  friends,  a  despair  of  being  well  provided  :  where- 
fore his  friends  perswaded  him  to  try  ;  telling  him,  that  if  it  came  to  the 
worst,  Mr.  Higginson  might  be  procured  to  preach  in  his  room  ;  he  was 
always  ready.      The  Doctor  v.as  wonderi\il!y  averse  unto  this  last  pro- 
posal ;  and  therefore  studied  with  all  his  might,  for  an  agreeable  sermon  ; 
but  he  had  such  a  blast  from  heaven  upon  his  poor  studies,  that  the  very 
night  before  the  Assizes  began,  he  sent  his  wife  to  the  devout  lady  Cave., 
who  prevailed  x-jith  Mr.  Hisginson  to  supply  his  ])]ace  the  day  ensuing  ; 
which  he  did,  with  a  most  suitable,  profitable,  and  acceptable  sermon  ; 
and  unto  the  great  satisfaction  of  the  auditory.     When  the  lady  Cave  had 
let  it  be  known,  hoiv  this  thing,  which  was  much  wondred  at,  came  about, 
the  common  discourse  of  the  town  upon  it,  so  confounded  the  Doctor, 
that  he  left  the  town,  vowing,  Thai  he  xcouldnever  come  into  it  again.   Thus 
Mr.  Higginson  was  left  in  the  town  !  but  I  pray,  '^'■•hr>  wa«  driven  out  "* 


326  THE  HISTORY  Of    iNEVV-ENGLAND.         [Book  llf' 

§  o.  We  lately  stylei!  Mr.  Higgiition^  faithful  man:  and  innumer- 
able were  the  instances,  wherein  he  so  approved  himself,  particularly 
there  was  a  time  when  many  courtiers,  lords,  and  gentlemen  coming  in 
a  frolick  to  Leicester,  which  was  counted  a  puritanical  town,  resolved, 
that  they  would  put  a  trick  upon  it.  AVheretbre,  they  invited  the  Mayor 
and  Aldermen,  whereof  divers  were  esteemed  pwr?7a?is,  unto  a  collation; 
and  overcome  them  to  di-ink  a  number  of  healths,  with  the  accustomed 
ceremonies  of  drinking  upon  their  knees,  till  they  all  became  shamefully 
and  extreamly  drimk.  This  business  becoming  the  common  discourse  of 
the  town,  Mr.  Higginson,  from  a  text  chosen  to  the  purpose,  in  the  audi- 
ence of  the  Mayor  and  Aldermen  themselves,  demonstrated  the  sinfulness  of 
health-drinking ,  and  of  drunkenness,  and  the  aggravation  of  that  sinfulness, 
when  it  is  found  in  magistrates,  whose  duty  'tis  to  punish  it  in  other  men  : 
therewithal  admonishing  them  to  repent  seriously  of  the  scandal  which  they 
had  given.  This  faithfulness  of  Mr.  Higginson  was  variously  resented  ; 
some  of  the  people  disliked  it  very  much,  and  some  of  the  j^Werme//  were 
so  disturbed  and  enraged  at  it  that  they  breathed  out  threatnings  till  they 
were  out  of  breath  :  but  the  better  sort  of  people  generally  approved  it,  as 
a  conformity  to  that  rule,  them  that  sin  before  ail,  rebuke  before  all,  that 
others  may  fear ;  and  several  of  the  Alderman  confessed  their  sin  with  a  ve- 
ry penitent  and  pertinent  ingenuity.  The  issue  was,  that  Mr.  Higginson 
was  brought  into  no  trouble  ;  and  the  God  of  Heaven  so  disposed  the 
hearts  of  the  Mayor  and  Aldermen,  that  after  this,  upon  the  death  of  old 
Mr.  Sacheverel,  they  chose  Mr.  Higginson  to  be  their  town-preacher ,  unto 
which  place  there  was  annexed  a  large  maintainance,  to  be  paid  out  of 
the  town  treasury.  In  answer  hereunto,  Mr  Higginson  thanked  them  for 
their  good  will  ;  but  he  told  them,  that  he  could  not  accept  of  it,  because 
there  were  some  degrees  of  conformity  therein  required,  which  he  could 
not  now  comply  withal ;  nevertheless  there  being  divers  competitors  for 
the  place,  about  whom  the  votes  of  the  Alderman  were  much  divided, 
he  prevailed  with  them  to  give  their  votes  for  a  learned  and  godly  con- 
formist, one  Mr.  Angel  ;  who  thereby  came  to  be  settled  in  it.  There 
were  also  made  unto  him,  several  offers  of  some  of  the  greatest  and  rich- 
est livings  in  the  country  thereabouts  ;  but  the  conscientious  disposition 
to  non-conformity,  now  growing  upon  him,  hindred  his  acceptance  of  them. 

§  9.  While  Mr  Higginson  continued  in  Leicester,  he  was  not  only  a 
good  man  full  of  faith^^ut  also  a  good  man  full  of  work.  He  preached 
constantly  in  the  parish  churches  ;  and  he  was  called,  while  a  conformist, 
frequently  to  preach  visitation  sermons,  assize  sermons,  and  funeral 
sermons  :  and  as  well  then,  as  afterwards,  he  was  often  engaged  in 
fasts,  both  in  publick  and  private,  both  at  home  and  abroad  ;  and 
many  repaired  unto  him  with  cases  of  conscience,  and  for  help  about 
their  interiour  state.  Besides  all  this,  he  was  very  serviceable  to  the 
education  of  scholars,  either  going  to,  or  coming  from  the  university  ; 
and  such,  as  afterwards  proved  eminently  serviceable  to  the  church  of 
God  ;  whereof  some  ivere  Dr.  Seaman,  Dr.  Brian,  Mr.  RichardsoUy 
and  Mr.  Howe,  all  of  them  Leicestershire  men,  who  would  often  say,  how 
much  they  owed  unto  Mr.  Higginson.  And  he  was  very  useful  in  forr 
w'ardingand  promoting  of  contributions,  for  the  relief  of  the  pi-otestant- 
cxiles,  which  came  over  from  the  ruined  Bohemia,  and  the  distressed 
Palatinate,  in  those  times  ;  and  many  other  pious  designs.  But  when 
(as  he  that  writes  the  life  of  holy  Mr.  Bains  expresses  it)  the  hour  and. 
power  of  darkness  zvas  come  from  Lambeth,  or  when  the  Bishop  o{  Lon- 
don, prevailed,  and  the  Bishop  of  Lincoln  retired,  the  blades  of  the  Lau- 
dian  faction  about  Leice^tec  appeared,  informed  and  articled  against  Mr.. 


Book  III.]  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  327 

Higginson,  so  that  he  lived  in  continual  expectation  to  be  dragged  away 
by  the  pursevants,  unto  the  High  Comviission  Court,  where  a  sentence  of 
perpetual  imprisonment  was  the  best  thing  that  could  be  looked  for. 

§  10.  Now  behold  the  interposing  and  seasonable  providence  of  hea- 
ven !  A  considerable  number  of  wealthy  and  worthy  merchants,  ob- 
taining a  charter  from  K.  Charles  1.  whereby  they  were  incorporated  by 
the  name  of,  The  Governour  and  Company  of  the  Massachuset-Bay  in  JVew- 
England ;  and  intending  to  send  over  ships  with  passengers  for  the  be- 
ginning of  a  plantation  there,  in  the  beginning  of  the  year  1629.  And 
resolving  to  send  none  upon  their  account,  but  godly  and  honest  men, 
professing  that  religion,  which  they  declared  was  the  e7id  of  this  planta- 
tion:  these  were  informed  of  the  circumstances  whereto  Mr.  Higginson 
was  now  reduced  ;  and  accordingly  they  dispatched  a  couple  of  messen- 
gers unto  him,  to  invite  him  unto  a  voyage  into  New-England,  with  kind 
promises  to  support  him  in  the  voyage.  These  two  messengers  were 
ingenious  men  ;  and  understanding  that  pursevants  were  expected  every 
hour,  to  fetch  Mr.  Higginson  up  to  London,  they  designed  for  a  while  to 
act  the  parts  of  pursevants :  coming  therefore  to  his  door,  they  knocked 
roundly  and  loudly,  like  fellows  equipped  with  some  authority  ;  and  said, 
Where  is  Mr.  Higginson  ?  roe  nmst  speak  with  Mr.  Higginson  !  in'^omuch 
that  his  affrighted  wife  ran  up  to  him,  telling  him  that  the  purseva7its  were 
come,  and  praying  him  to  step  aside  out  of  their  way,  but  Mr.  Higginson 
said,  JVo,  /  will  go  down  and  speak  with  them, ;  and  the  will  of  the  Lord  be 
done  I  When  the  messengers  were  come»into  the  hall,  they  held  out 
their  papers  unto  him,  and  with  a  certain  roughness  and  boldness  of  ad- 
dress told  him.  Sir,  we  come  from  London,  and  our  business  is  to  fetch  you 
up  to  London,  as  you  may  see  by  these  papers!  which  they  then  put  into 
his  hands  ;  whereat  the  people  in  the  room  were  confirmed  in  their 
opinion,  that  these  blades  were  pursevants ;  and  Mrs.  Higginson  herself 
said,  /  thought  so:  and  fell  a  weeping.  But  when  Mr.  Higginson  had 
lookt  upon  the  papers,  he  soon  perceived,  that  they  were  letters  from 
the  governour  and  com^anj/ inviting  him  to  New-England  ;  with  a  copy  of 
the  charter,  and  propositions  for  managing  their  design  of  establishing 
and  propagating  reformed  Christianity  in  the  new  plantation  :  whereupon 
he  bad  them  welcome !  and  there  ensued  a  pleasant  conversation  betwixt 
him,  and  his  now  undisguised  friends.  In  answer  to  this  invitation,  Mr. 
Higginson  having  first  consulted  heaven  with  humble  and  fervent  suppli- 
cations, for  the  divine  direction  about  so  great  a  turn  of  his  life,  he  ad- 
vised then  with  several  ministers  ;  especially  with  his  dear  friend  Mr. 
Hildersham,  who  told  him.  That  were  he  himself  a  younger  man,  and  un- 
der his  case  and  call,  he  shoidd  think  he  had  a  plain  invitation  of  heaven 
unto  the  voyage ;  and  so  he  came  unto  a  resolution  to  comply  therewithal. 

§  11.  When  Mr.  Higginson^s  resolution  came  to  be  known,  it  made  so 
much  noise  among  the  Pjtritaiis,  that  many  of  them  receiving  satisfac- 
tion unto  the  many  enquiries  which  they  made  on  this  occasion,  resolved, 
that  they  would  accompany  him.  And  now  it  was  not  long  before  his 
farewel  sermon  was  to  be  preached  !  before  he  knew  any  thing  about  aa 
offer  of  a  voyage  to  New-England.  In  his  meditations  about  the  state  of 
England,  he  had  strange  and  strong  apprehensions  that  God  would  short- 
ly punish  England  with  the  calamities  of  a  war,  and  he  therefore  com- 
posed a  sermon  upon  those  words  of  our  Saviour,  Ljt^exxi.  20,  21,  When 
you  see  Jerusalem  compassed  with  armies,  then  flee  to  the  mouniains.  Now 
after  he  was  determined  for  New-England,  he  did,  in  a  vast  assembly 
preach  this  for  his  farezvel  sermon  :  and  therein  having  mentioned  nni'j 


39.S  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND,         [Book  HI. 

them,  what  he  took  to  be  the  provoking  sins  of  England  in  general,  and 
of  Leicester  in  particular,  he  [)lainly  told  them,  that  he  v/as  pcrswaded. 
God  would  clia^tise  England  with  a  rror,  in  the  s^ufierings  wliereof  Le/- 
cester  would  have  a  more  than  ordinary  share.  How  this  prediction  was 
afterwards  accomplished,  is  known  to  mankind  ;  and  it  was  especially 
known  to  Leicester,  which  being  strongly  fortified  and  garrisoned,  and 
having  the  wealth  of  all  the  country  al'out,  brought  into  it,  was  besieged, 
and  at  length  carried  by  storm  ;  and  the  town  was  horribly  plundered, 
and  eleven  hundred  people  were  slain  in  the  streets. 

But  Mr.  Higgiuson  having  ended  this  his  prophetical  sermon,  he  gave 
thanks  to  the  mr.gistrates,  and  the  other  christians  of  the  place,  for  all 
the  liberty,  countenance,  and  encouragement,  which  they  had  given  unto 
his  ministry  :  and  he  told  them  of  his  intended  removal  to  Nezv- En  gland, 
the  principal  end  of  which  plantation,  he  then  declared,  was  the  propa- 
gation of  religion  ;  and  of  the  hopes  which  he  had,  that  JVezi'-Englcnid 
might  be  designed  by  heaven,  as  a  refuge  and  shelter  for  the  non-conforvi' 
ists  against  the  storms  that  were  coming  upon  the  nation,  and  a  region, 
where  they  might  practise  the  church- reformation,  which  they  had  been 
bearing  zi-itncss  unto.  And  so  he  concluded  with  a  most  affectionate 
prayer  for  the  King,  the  church,  the  state,  and  peculiarly  for  Leicester, 
the  seat  of  his  former  labours.  And  after  this  he  took  his  journey,  with 
his  family,  for  London;  the  streets  as  he  passed  along  being  fdled  with 
people  of  all  sorts,  who  bid  him  farewel,  with  loud  prayers  and  cries  for 
his  welfare. 

§  12.  When  he  came  to  London,  he  found  three  skips  ready  to  sail  for 
\ew-England,  with  fu^o  more,  that  were  in  a  month's  time,  to  follow  al- 
"er  them  ;  filled  with  godly  and  honest  passengers,  among  whom  there 
were  two  other  non-conformist  ministers.  They  set  sail  from  the  Isle  of 
Wight,  about  the  first  of  May,  1629,  and  when  they  came  to  the  Land's 
End,  Mr.  Higginson  calling  up  his  children,  and  other  passengers  unto 
the  stern  of  the  ship,  to  take  their  last  sight  of  England.  He  said,  Wc 
rail  not  saij  as  the  separatists  tcere  7s:ont  to  say  at  their  leaving  of  England, 
Farewel  Babylon  J  iAvewel  Rome  /  but  t£-e  zvill  say,  farewel  dear  Eng- 
land.' firewel  the  Church  of  God  in  England,  and  all  the  christian 
friends  there  !  We  do  not  go  to  NcAV-England  as  separatists  from  the  Church 
o/"  England  ;  though  tt-e  cannot  but  separate  from  the  corruptions  in  it :  but 
zee  go  to  practise  ike  positive  part  of  church  reformation,  and  propagate  tk( 
gospel  in  America.  And  so  he  concluded  with  a  fervent  prayer  for  the 
King,  and  church,  and  state,  in  England  ;  and  forlhe  presence  and  bless 
ing  of  God  with  t'nemselves,  in  their  present  undertaking  lor  jSi'ezi>-Eng- 
land.  At  length  by  tiie  good  hand  of  God  u])on  them,  they  arrived,  at 
ter  a  comfortable  passage,  unto  Salem  harbour  on  the  twenty-fourth  of 
June  ensuing. 

§  13.  Mr.  Higginson  being  in  this  voyage  associated  with  Mr.  Skcllon, 
a  minister  of  the  like  principles  with  himself,  they  were  no  sooner  got 
on  shore,  but  they  likewise  associated  in  pursuing  their  principles  and 
intentions  of  religion,  which  were  the  end  of  their  coming  hither.  Accor- 
dingly, laying  before  the  chief  of  the  people  their  desires,  and  their  de- 
signs of  settling  a  reformed  congregation  in  the  place,  after  a  frequent 
converse  about  the  methods  of  it,  they  came  unto  a  hearty  concurrence, 
to  take  a  day  in  the  following  August  for  it.  In  order  hereunto  Mr. 
Higgi7ison  drew  up  a  cotifession  of  faith  with  a  scriptural  representation 
■M' the  coz'e7iant  of  grace  applied  unto 'their  present  purpose,  whereof 
(h.'rtv  con-'e3  we?'?  '^sben  for  the  ''"W?/  persons.  Avhi'^h  were  to  begin  the 


Book  III.]  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.  32P 

working  of  gathering  the  church.  The  day  was  kept  as  a/«s< ;  wherein, 
after  the  prayers  and  sermons  of  the  two  ministers,  these  thirty  persons 
did  solemnly  and  severally  profess  their  consent  unto  the  confession  and 
covenant  then  read  unto  them  ;  and  they  proceed  then  to  chuse  Mr. 
Skelton,  Mr.  Higginson  their  teachers,  and  one  Mr.  Houghton,  for  a  ru- 
ling elder.  And  after  this,  many  others  joined  unto  the  church,  thus 
gathered  -,  but  none  were  admitted,  of  whose  good  conversation  inChrist, 
there  was  not  a  satisfactory  testimony.  By  the  same  token,  that  at  this 
first  church  gathering,  there  fell  out  a  remarkable  matter  which  is  now 
to  be  related.  At  a  time  when  the  church  was  to  be  gathered  at  Salem. 
there  was  about  thirty  miles  to  the  southward  of  that  place,  a  plantalion 
of  rude,  lewd,  mad,  Engliah  people,  who  did  propose  to  themselves  a 
.gainful  trade  with  the  Indians,  but  quickly  came  to  nothing.  A  young 
gentleman  belonging  to  that  plantation  being  it  Salem,  on  the  day  wheo 
the  church  was  gathered,  was  at  what  he  saw  and  heard,  so  deeply  affect- 
ed, that  he  stood  up  expressing  with  much  affection,  his  desire  to  be  ad- 
mitted into  their  number,  which  when  they  demurred  about,  he  desired 
that  they  would  at  least  admit  him  to  make  his  profession  before  them. 
When  they  allowed  this,  he  expressed  himself  so  agreeably,  and  with  so 
much  ingenuity  and  simplicity,  that  they  were  extreamly  pleased  with  it ; 
and  the  ministers  told  him,  that  they  highly  approved  of  his  profession, 
but  inasmuch  as  he  was  a  stranger  to  them,  they  could  not  receive  him 
into  their  communion,  until  they  had  a  further  acqiiaintance  with  his  con- 
versation. However,  such  was  the  hold  which  the  grace  of  God  now 
took  of  him,  that  he  became  an  eminent  christian,  and  a  worthy  and  use- 
ful person,  and  not  only  afterwards  joined  unto  the  church  oi  Boston,  but 
also  made  a  great  figure  ia  the  commonzcealth  oi  New- England,  as  the  ma- 
jor-general of  all  the  forces  in  the  colony  ;  it  was  Major-general  Gibbons. 

§  14.  The  church  of  5aZe/ft  now  being  settled,  they  enjoyed  many 
smiles  of  Heaven  upon  them  ;  and  yet  there  were  many  things,  that 
lookt  Vikefroxias:  for,  they  were  exercised  with  many  difhculties,  and 
almost  an  hundred  of  good  people  died  the  first  winter  of  their  being 
here;  among  whom  was  Mr.  Houghton,  an  elder  of  the  church.  Mr, 
Hi^^rinson  also  fell  into  an  hectic-fever,  which  much  disabled  him  for 
the  work  of  his  ministry  ;  and  the  last  sermon  under  the  incurable  growth 
of  this  malady  upon  him,  was  upon  the  arrival  of  many  gentlemen,  and 
some  hundreds  of  passengers  to  Nem-England,  in  the  beginning  of  the 
ensuing  summer.  He  then  preached  on  those  words  of  our  Saviour, 
Matth.  xi.  7,  What  zeent  youo\it  into  the  wilderness  to  see  ?  From  whence, 
he  minded  the  people  of  the  design,  whereupon  this  plantation  was  erect- 
ed, namely,  religion  :  and  of  the  streights,  wants,  and  various  trials. 
which  in  a  Zi;ilderness  they  must  look  to  meet  withal ;  and  of  the  need 
which  there  was  for  them  to  evidence  the  uprightness  of  their  hearts,  in 
the  end  of  their  coming  hither.  After  this,  he  was  confined  unto  his 
bed,  and  visited  by  the  chief  persons  of  the  new-colony,  who  much  be- 
moaned their  loss  of  so  useful  a  person,  but  comforted  him  with  the  con- 
sideration of  his  faithfulness  to  the  Lord  Jesus,  in  his  former  sufferings 
and  services,  and  the  honour  which  the  Lord  had  granted  him,  to  begin 
a  work  o( church-ref oration  in  America.  He  replied,  Iha-je  been  but  an 
unprofitable  servant ;  and  all  my  ozi'n  doings  I  count  but  loss  and  dung  :  all 
my  desire  is  to  xvin  Christ,  and  be  found  in  him,  not  having  my  oa.'ra  right' 
eousness .'  And  he  several  times  declared,  That  though  the  Lord  called  him 
aassay,  he  rvas  persTvaded  God  rcould  raise  up  others,  to  carry  on  the  work 
tlwt  was  begun,  and  thai  there  would  yet  be  many  churches  of  the  Lord  Jesvs 

Vol.  I.  42 


^S30  J'HE  HlSTOK\   OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  III. 

Christ  in  ihis  wilderness.  He  likewise  added,  that  though  he  should  leave 
Jiis  desolate  wife  and  eight  children,  whereof  the  eldest  but  about  fourteen 
years  old,  in  a  low  condition,  yet  he  left  them  with  his  God,  and  he  doubted 
not  but  the  faithful  God  would  graciously  provide  for  them.  So,  in  the 
midst  of  many  prayers,  he  fell  asleep  ;  as  in  the  month  o{£ugiist,  1630, 
and  in  the  forty-thiid  year  of  his  age,  and  his  funeral  was  attended  with 
all  possible  solemnity. 

§  15.  Reader,  prepare  to  behold  and  admire  and  adore  the  faithful- 
ness of  our  God,  in  providing  for  the  children  of  them,  that  faithfully 
have  served  him.  He  moved  the  hearts  of  many  charitable  christians, 
who  yet  were  spending  on  the  stocks,  which  they  brought  out  of  Eng- 
land with  them,  to  provide  as  comfortably  for  the  widow  and  off- spring 
of  this  deceased  minister,  as  if  he  had  left  them  some  thousands  of  pound's. 
And  his  two  sons,  who  had  been  brought  up  at  the  grammar-school  in 
Leicester,  had  a  particular  tast  of  this  liberality,  in  the  provision  which 
was  thus  made  for  their  having  such  a  learned  education,  as  might  fit 
them  for  the  service  of  the  church  in  the  ministry  of  the  gospel. 

One  of  these,  Francis  by  name,  was  for  a  time  a  school-master  at  our 
Cambridge  ;  but  having  attained  as  much  learning  as  JV'etiy-£no-Za?jrf  could 
then  afford,  he  was  desirous  to  visit  some  European  university  ;  and  be- 
ing recoaimended  unto  Roterdam.  some  Dutch  merchants,  out  of  respect 
unto  an  hopeful  scholar  of  JVew- England,  contributed  fourscore  pounds 
in  money  to  assist  his  juvenile  studies  at  Leyden.  Aftewards  having  vi- 
sited some  other  universities  in  those  parts,  he  returned  into  England ; 
where  he  declined  a  settlement  in  some  other,  which  he  thought  more 
opinionative,  and  so  more  contentious  and  undesireable  places,  to  which 
he  was  invited,  and  settled  at  Kerby-Steven  ia  Westmoreland,  hoping  to  do 
tnost  good  among  the  ignorant  people  there.  But  it  pleased  the  God  of 
Heaven  to  permit  the  first  out-breaking  of  that  prodigious  and  compre- 
hensive heresy  Quakerism  in  that  very  place  ;  and  a  multitude  of  people 
being  bewitched  thereinto,  it  was  a  great  affliction  unto  this  worthy  man  ; 
but  it  occasioned  his  writing  the  first  book  that  ever  was  written  against 
that  sink  of  blasphemies,  entituled,  The  Irreligion  of  Northern  Quakers. 
This  learned  person  was  the  author  of  a  Latin  treatise,  De  quinq,  maxi 
mis  Lumiiiibus  :  De  Luce  Incrcata ;  De  Luce  creata  ;  De  Luinine  JVatu- 
rcc,  Grati(K  fy  Glorice  :  and  having  illuminated  the  house  of  God  in  that 
part  of  it,  where  our  Lord  had  set  him  to  shine,  he  went  away  to  the 
light  of  glory,  in  the  fifty-fifth  year  of  his  age. 

The  other  named  John,  has  been  on  some  laudable  accounts  another 
Origen  ;  for  the  father  of  Origeu  would  kiss  the  uncovered  bre.ist  of  that 
excellent  youth,  whilst  he  lay  asleep,  as  being  the  temple  where  the 
spirit  of  God  was  resident,  and  as  Origeii,  after  the  untimely  death  of 
his  father,  had  his  poor  mother  with  six  other  children  to  look  after  ;. 
whereupon  he  taught  first  a  grammar-school,  and  then  betook  himself 
unto  the  study  of  divinity  ;  thus  this  other  Higginson  after  a  pious  child- 
hood, having  been  a  school-master  at  Hartford,  and  a  minister  at  Say- 
brook,  and  afterwards  at  Guilford,  became  at  length  in  the  year  1659,  a 
■pastor,  and  a  rich  and  long  blessing,  succeeding  his  fither  in  his  church 
Qi  Salem.  This  reverend  person  has  been  alway^valued  for  his  useful 
preaching,  and  his  holy  living ;  and  besides  his  constant  labours  in  the 
pulpit,  whereby  his  own  flock  has  been  edified  ;  the  whole  country  has, 
by  the  press,  enjoyed  some  of  his  composures,  and  by  his  hand,  the  com- 
posures of  some  others  also,  passing  the  press,  have  been  accompanied. 
Having  formerly  born  his  testimony  to,  llie  cause  of  God,  and  his  peopls' 


Book  III.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  331 

in  New-England,  in  a  sermon  so  entituled,  which  he  preached  on  the 
greatest  anniversary  solemnity,  which  occurred  in  the  land,  namely,  the 
anniversary  eleclian ;  when  he  thought,  that  the  advances  of  old  age  up- 
on him  directed  him  to  live  in  the  hourly  expectation  oi- death,  he  pub- 
lished a  most  savoury  book,  on  Our  dying  Saviour's  Legacy  of  Peace  to 
his  disciples  in  a  troublesome  world  ;  with  a  Discourse  on  the  Dttfy  of  Chris- 
tians, to  be  witnetses  imto  Christ  ;  imto  which  is  added,  some  Help  to  Self- 
Exa^mination. 

Nevertheless,  this  true  Simeon  is  yet  zcaiiing  for  the  consolation  of  Is- 
rael. This  good  old  man  is  yet  alive  ;  (in  the  year  1696)  arrived  un- 
to the  eightieth  year  of  his  devout  age,  and  about  the  sixtieth  year  of 
his  publick  work,  and  he,  iViaXfrom  a  child  knew  the  holy  scriptures,  does 
at  those  years  wherein  men  use  to  be  twice  children,  continue  preaching 
them  with  such  a  manly,  pertinent,  judicious  vigour,  and  with  so  little 
decay  of  his  intellectual  abilities,  as  is  indeed  a  matter  of  just  admiration. 
But  there  was  a  famous  divine  in  Germany,  who  on  his  death  bed  when 
some  of  his  friends  took  occasion  to  commend  his  past  painful,  faithful, 
and  fruitful  ministry,  cried  out  unto  them  [^Jiifcrte  Ignem  adhuc  enim 
puleus  habeo .']  Oh  !  bring  not  the  sparks  of  your  praises  near  me,  as  long 
as  I  have  any  cha^ left  in  me!  And  I  am  sensible  that  I  shall  receive  the 
like  check  from  tliis  my  reverend  father,  if  I  presume  to  do  him  the^ws- 
tice,  which  a  few  months  hence  will  be  done  him,  in  all  the  churches  ; 
nor  would  I  deserve  at  his  hands,  the  blow  which  Constantine  gave  to 
him,  who  Imperatorem  ausus  est,  in  Os  Beatvm  dicere. 

§  16.  At  the  same  time,  that  Mr.  Francis  Higginson  was  persecutetl 
for  his  n07i- conformity  in  Leicestershire,  there  was  one  Mr.  Samuel  Skcl' 
ton,  who  underwent  the  like  persecution  in  Lincolnshire ;  and  by  means 
hereof  they  became /e//oriii-<raTye//ers  in  their  voyage  to  New-England, 
and  fellow  labourers  in  their  service  here.  All  the  remembrance  that  I 
can  recover  of  this  worthy  man  is,  that  he  survived  his  colleague,  a  good 
and  faithful  servant  of  our  Lord,  well  doing,  until  Aug.  2,  1634,  and  re- 
tired from  an  evil  world,  then  to  partake  with  him  in  the  joy  of  their 
Lord. 

EPITAPHIUM. 

Jacet  sub  hoc  Tumido,  Mortuus, 

Franciscus  Higginsonls  : 

Jaceret  4'  ipsa  Virtus,  si  mori' posset. 

Abi  Viator. 
Et  sis  hvjus  Ordinis  Franc iscanus. 


CHAPTER  II. 

The  Death  of  Mr.  John  Averv. 

The  divine  oracles   have   told  us,  That  the  judgments  of  God  are  a 
\reat  deep  :  and  indeed  it  is  in  the  deep,  that  we  have  seen  some  of  those 
judgments  executed. 


332  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  [Book  HI. 

It  has  been  remarked,  that  there  miscarried  but  one  vessel  of  all  those 
great  fleets  which  brought  passengers  unto  Neia-England  upon  the  pious 
and  holy  designs  of  the  first  settlement ;  which  vessel  also  was  but  a 
pinnace;  nevertheless  richly  laden,  as  having  in  it  Mr.  Avery. 

Mr.  Avery,  a  worthy  minister,  coming  into  New- England,  was  invited 
nnto  Marble-head ;  but  there  being  no  church  there,  and- the  ^s/ier-mera 
being  there  generally  too  remiss  to  form  a  church,  he  went  rather  to  New- 
berry, intending  there  to  settle. 

Nevertheless,  both  the  magistrates  and  the  ministers  of  the  country- 
urging  the  common  good,  that  would  arise  from  his  being  at  Marble-head, 
he  embarked  in  a  pinnace,  with  two  families,  his  own  and  his  cousin 
Mr.  Anthony  Thacher's,  which,  with  some  others  then  aboard,  made  in  all 
twenty-three  souls  ;  designing  in  a  few  hours  to  have  reached  the  port. 

But  on  August  14,  1635,  in  the  night,  there  came  on  as  mighty  a  storm 
as  perhaps  was  ever  known  in  these  parts  of  the  world  ;  a  storm  which 
drove  the  vessel  upon  a  rock,  and  so  tore  it,  that  the  poor  people  sat 
presently  up  lo  the  middle  in  water,  expecting  every  moment  the  waves 
of  death  to  be  rolling  over  them. 

The  vessel  was  quickly  broken  all  to  pieces,  and  almost  the  whole 
company  drowned,  by  being  successively  washed  off  the  rock  ;  only  Mr. 
Thacher,  having  been  a  considerable  while  tossed  hither  and  thither,  by 
the  violent  seas,  was  at  last  very  strangely  cast  alive  upon  the  shore  ; 
where  much  wounded,  he  found  his  wt/c  a  sharer  with  him  in  the  like 
deliverance. 

While  these  distressed  servants  of  God  were  hanging  about  the  rock, 
and  Mr.  Thacher  had  BIr.  Avery  by  the  hand,  resolving  to  die  together, 
and  expecting  by  the  stroke  of  the  next  wave  to  die,  Mr.  Avery  lift  up 
his  eyes  to  heaven,  saying.  We  know  not  what  the  pleasure  of  God  is ;  I 
fear  we  have  been  too  unmindful  of  former  deliverances :  Lord,  I  cannot 
challenge  a  promise  of  the  preservation  of  my  life;  but  thou  hast  promised 
to  deliver  us  from  sin  and  condemnation,  and  to  bring  us  safe  to  heaven, 
through  the  all-siifficient  satisfaction  of  Jesus  Christ ;  this  therefore  J  do 
challenge  of  thee.  Which  he  had  no  sooner  spoken  but  he  was  by  a 
wave  sweeping  him  off,  immediately  wafted  away  to  heaven  indeed  :  be- 
ing well  furnished  with  those  ujiperishable  things:  whereto  refers  the 
advice  of  the  famous  Duke  of  Bararm.  Hujusmodi  comparandce  sunt  opes, 
quce  7iobiscum  possu7it  simtd  evatare  in  Naufrogio. 

The  next  island  was  therefore  called  Thacherh  Woe,  and  that  rock 
Avcry^s  fall. 

Who  can  without  shedding  tears,  almost  enough  to  make  a  sensible  ad- 
dition unto  the  lake  Lemnn,  call  to  mind  the  fate  of  the  incomparable 
Hottinger,  upon  that  lake,  in  the  year  1667  ?  That  incomparably  learn- 
ed and  godly  man,  being  by  the  States-General  of  the  United  Provinces, 
after  much  importunity  prevailed  withal,  to  come  unto  Leyden,  the  boat 
wherein  he  was.  with  his  wife  and  three  children,  and  a  kinsman,  and 
another  person  of  quality,  unhappily  overset,  by  striking  on  an  unseen 
rock,  a  little  way  off  the  shoar.  He,  with  the  two  gentlemen,  got  safe 
out  of  the  water  ;  but  seeing  his  wife,  and  three  children,  in  extream  dan- 
ger of  drowning,  they  went  into  the  water  again  to  save  (hem,  and  there 
he,  with  one  of  the  gentlemen,  (and  his  three  children)  were  drowned 
themselves.  But  eight  days  before  this  lamentable  accident,  he  found 
this  verse  written  on  the  Doctor's  ckair,  at  his  ascending  it  for  the  pub- 
Jiok  exercises  ;  whereof  the  writer  could  never  be  found  : 


Book  HI.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  333 

Carmina  jam  Moriens,  Canit  Exequialia  Cygnns. 

Reader,  from  Hottinger,  now  return  to  Avery.  Compare  the  manner 
of  their  death  ;  and  never  forget  the  memorable  srean-song,  which  Avery 
not  eight  days,  but  scarce  eight  seconds  of  a  minute,  before  his  expira- 
tion, sang  in  the  ears  of  heaven. 

What  was  applied  once  to  Hottinger,  shall  now  be  borrowed  for  Avery, 


aM  an 


EPITAPHIUM. 

Virtutem  quis  non  post  Te  secle.tur  eundc, 
Virtutum  qnando  gloria  tanta  manet. 

And  add, 

Tutum  tenet  Anchora  portum, 


Nunc  hilaris  Veritas  ridet,  Tumidasque  procellas. 


CHAPTER  HI. 

A'atiis  ad  Exemplar.     The  Life  of  Mr.  Jonathan  Burr. 
Exemplo  monstrantc  Viam. 

0  1.  When  the  interests  of  David  were  carried  into  arcilderness,  the 
respects  and  regards  by  his  Jonathan,  had  thereunto  were  such,  that  he 
at  last  uttered  this  exclamation  thereupon,  Thy  love  to  me  tt as  wonderful ! 
The  interests  of  our  Jesus,  the  true  David,  being  lodged  very  much  in 
an  American  wilderness,  there  was  a  Jonathan,  whose  love  thereunto  was 
indeed  so  monderfid,  that  it  carried  him  through  the  many  waters  of  the 
Atlaniick  ocean,  to  be  serviceable  thereunto;  and  this  was  Mr.  Jonathan 
Burr. 

§  2.  He  was  born  at  Redgrave,  in  Suffolk,  about  the  year  1604  ;  de- 
scended of  godly  parents,  who  gratified  the  inclinations  of  this  their 
son,  with  a  learned  education.  But  although  literature  did  much  adorn 
his  childhood,  religion  did  so  much  more  ;  for  he  bad  from  a  child  known 
the  holy  scriptures,  which  made  him  wise  unto  salvation.  It  is  noted,  that  the 
rod  of  Aaron  was  made  of  an  alniond-tree  ;  of  which  'twill  be  no  Pliny- 
ism  to  observe  fthough  Pliny  observe  it,)  that  it  flowers  the  first  of  all 
trees,  even  in  January,  in  the  more  southern  countries,  and  bears  in 
March;  which  has  been  sometimes  employed  as  an  intimation,  how 
quickly  those  that  are  designed  for  the  ministry,  should  blossom  towards 
heaven,  and  be  young  Jeremiahs,  and  Johns,  and  Timothies.  Thus  did 
eur  Jonathan.  Even  in  his  very  childhood,  so  sfvdiovs  he  was,  as  to 
leave  his  fwd  for  his  book,  but  withal  so  pious,  that  he  could  neither 
aiorning  nor  evening  dare  to  go  without  prayers  to  God  for  his  blessing. 
And  as  it  was  his  endeavour,  whilst  a  school-boy,  to  be  every  day  in  the 
fear  of  the  Lord,  so  he  would  on  the  Lord's  day  discover  a  singular  meas- 
ure of  that  fear ;  not  only  by  abstaining  from  the  liberties  which  others 
•f  his  age  then  u«e  to  take,  to  pass  the  time  av:av.  but  also  by  devoting 


334  THE  HISTORV   OF  InEVV -ENGLAND.         [Book  III. 

the  time  to  the  exercises  of  devofion.  His  father,  observing  this  disposi- 
tion of  the  child,  hoped,  as  well  he  might,  that  whatever  was  expended 
in  fitting  him  for  service,  would  be  well  repaid,  in  the  service  which  might 
be  done  by  him  for  the  church  of  God  ;  and  therefore  after  due  prepara- 
tions for  it,  he  sent  him  unto  the  university. 

§  3.  After  he  had  spent  three  or  four  years  in  academical  studies,  the 
death  of  his  father  fetched  him  sooner  than  he  would  have  gone,  into 
the  country  ;  where,  though  he  kept  r  school,  yet  he  pursued  the  design 
of  accomplishing  himself  with  every  part  of  learning,  that  when  those 
of  his  years  were  to  take  their  degrees  of  Mastership,  he  was  one  of  the 
moderators,  which  place  he  discharged  with  great  acceptation.  But  he 
afterwards  would  say,  that  the  awful  and  humbling  providence  of  God,  in 
the  death  of  his  father,  which  hindred  him  from  those  employments  and 
preferments  in  the  university,  for  which  he  had  a  particular  fondness,  had 
an  effect  upon  him,  for  which  he  had  reason  to  admire  the  wisdom  of 
heaven  ;  inasmuch  as  it  reduced  him  to  that  modest,  gracious,  careful 
frame,  which  made  him  the  fitter  for  the  work  of  turning  many  to  right- 
eousn^iss. 

§  4.  Having  for  a  while  attended  that  work  at  Horninger,  near  Bury  in 
Suffolk,  he  afterwards  undertook  the  charge  of  Reckingshal,  in  the  same 
county,  wherein  he  did  most  exemplarily  express  the  spirit  of  a  minister 
of  the  Neiv  Testament.  He  would  therein  be  sometimes  ready  to  envy 
the  more  easie  condition  of  the  husbandmen ;  but  in  submission  and 
obedience  unto  the  call  of  God,  he  now  set  his  hand  unto  the  plough  of 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  :  and  therefore  in  the  form  of  a  solemn  covenant, 
he  obliged  himself  unto  the  most  conscientious  discharge  of  his  minis- 
terial duties  ;  in  which  discharge  he  would  always  beg  of  God,  that  what- 
ever exlwrtation  he  gave  unto  others,  might  first  be  shaped  in  his  own 
experience:  and  yet  sometimes  he  would  complain  unto  his  friends  :  Alas^ 
I  preach  not  ivhat  I  am,  hut  what  I  ought  to  he. 

§  5.  This  gracious  man,  was  indeed  a  very  humble  man,  and  his  hu- 
mility carried  him  even  into  a  dejection  of  spirit  ;  especially  when  by 
importunities  he  had  been  prevailed  upon  to  preach  abroad.  Once  par- 
ticularly, there  was  a  person  of  quality,  for  whose  conversion  many 
prayers  had  been  put  up  to  God,  by  those  who  hoped  that  God  might 
have  much  honour  from  a  man  of  honour  brought  unto  himself.  Mr. 
fiwrr  preaching  at  a  place,  far  from  his  own  congregation,  had  a  most 
happy  success  in  the  conversion  of  this  gentleman,  who  not  only  ac- 
knowledged this  change,  with  much  thankfulness,  both  to  God,  and  the 
instrument;  but  also  approved  himself  a  changed  man,  in  the  whole 
frame  of  his  after-conversation.  And  yet  coming  home,  from  the  preach- 
ing of  that  sermon,  Mr.  Burr  had  a  particular  measure  of  bis  lowly  and 
modest  reflections  thereupon  ;  adding,  I  shall  conclude,  it  is  of  God,  if  . 
any  good  be  done  by  any  thing  preached  by  such  an  unworthy  instrument. 

§  6.   Hence  on  the  Lord's  day,  after  he  came  home  from  his  publick 
work,   it  was  his  manner  presently  to  retire,  and   spend  some  time  in  ' 
praying  to  God,  for  the  pardon  of  the  sins,  which  accompanied  him  in 
his  w^ork,  and  in  praising  of  God,  for  enabling  him  to  go,  in  any  meas- 
ure, through  it  ;  with  petitions  for  the  good  success  of  his  labours. 

He  then  would  come  down  to  his  family-worship,  wh<^rein  he  spent 
some  hours  instructing  of  the  family,  and  performing  of  other  duties  :  and 
when  his  wife  desired  him  to  abate  of  his  excessive  pains,  his  answer 
would  be,  ^Tis  better  to  he  worn  out  with  work,  than  to  be  eaten  out  with 
rust.     It  was  indeed  his  joy,  to  be  spending  his  life  unto  the  uttermost  for 


Cook  III.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  335 

God,  and  for  his  people  ;  yea,  he  would  say,  though  he  should  have  no 
temporal  rervards.  Accordingly,  when  any  that  had  been  benelited  by 
his  ministry,  sent  him  any  tokens  of  their  gratitude,  he  would  (like  Luther) 
hegof  God,  That  he  might  not  have  his  portion  in  such  things  :  and  he  de- 
sired of  his  grateful  friends,  that  if  they  had  gotten  any  good  of  him, 
they  mould  give  unto  God  alone  the  glory  of  it.  Moreover,  if  he  had  under- 
stood, that  any  had  gained  in  the  concern  of  their  souls,  by  his  labours, 
he  would  mention  it,  in  some  of  his  privater  devotions,  with  this  expres- 
sion. Lord,  of  thine  own  have  I  given,  take  then  the  glory  unto  thy  self:  as 
for  me,  let  my  portion  be  in  thy  self,  and  not  in  the  things  of  this  zvorld. 
But  when  he  was  debarred  of  his  liberty  to  preach,  he  was  even  like 
a  fish  out  of  the  ■uvater  ;  and  his  very  body  languished  through  a  sympathy, 
with  the  resentments  of  his  mind  ;  saying,  That  his  preaching  was  his  life  ; 
and  if  he  were  laid  aside  from  that,  he  should  quickly  be  dead. 

§  7.  It  was  not  on  the  Lord's  day  only  but  every  day,  that  this  good 
man  was  usually,  in  the  fear  of  the  Lord  all  the  day  long.  He  might  say 
with  the  psalmist,  When  I  awake,  lam  still  with  God  :  for  at  his  first  awak- 
ing, he  would  bless  God  for  the  mercies  of  the  night,  and  then  pray, 
that  he  might  so  number  his  days,  as  to  apply  his  heart  to  wisdom  :  and  if 
he  awaked  in  the  night,  it  would  commonly  be  with  some  thanksgivings 
unto  heaven.  Rising  in  the  morning,  he  would  repair  to  his  beloved 
study,  where  he  began  the  day  with  secret  prayer  before  the  Lord  :  after 
this  he  would  read  a  chapter  in  the  Old  Testament,  spending  some  time  in 
serious  and  solemn,  and  lieart  searching  meditations  thereupon  :  he  would 
then  come  down  into  his  family  ;  where,  with  his  prayers,  he  would  then 
read  and  expound,  and  opply  the  same  chapter  unto  his  own  folks,  and 
such  of  the  neighbours  as  would  come  in,  to  enjoy  his  meditations,  at 
the  usual  season  of  them.  Retiring  then  to  his  study  again,  he  would 
continue  there,  till  called  unto  his  dinner ;  and  if  none  came  to  speak 
with  him  after  dinner,  he  would,  after  some  diversion  for  a  while  with 
his  children,  return  to  his  study,  where  he  would  then  have  a  time  to  pray 
with  his  wife;  but  if  at  any  time  he  were  invited  unto  a  dinner  abroad,  he 
would  have  a  time  for  that  service  in  the  forenoon,  before  his  going  out. 

As  the  evening  drew  on,  after  the  like  manner,  he  would  read  a  chapter 
in  theA'ets;  Testament,  making  his /az/uV!/  partakers  of  his  reflections,  with 
hi.s  prayer  upon  it.  And  before  his  going  to  bed,  he  usually  walked  up 
and  down  the  room,  for  half  an  hour,  or  more,  pondering  upon  something, 
which  his  wife  desiring  to  know.  What  it  was  ?  He  replied,  Seeing  thou 
art  so  near  me,  if  it  may  do  thee  good,  Vll  tell  thee  :  First,  he  said,  he  call- 
ed himself  unto  an  account,  how  he  had  spent  the  day  ?  and  what  sinful 
commissions,  or  omissions,  he  had  been  overtaken  with  ;  for  which,  he 
then,  begged  pardon  of  God.  Secondly,  he  reckoned  up  the  particular 
mercies  he  had  received  in  the  day,  rendring  of  praises  to  heaven  for  those 
mercies.  Lastly,  he  made  his  petitions  to  God,  that  he  might  be  prepar- 
ed for  sudden  death:  unto  which  third  article  in  his  thoughts,  that  which 
gave  more  special  occasion  was,  the  sudden  death  of  his  brother,  an  em- 
inent and  excellent  christian,  whom,  he  said,  he  could  never  forget. 

§  8.  When  he  travelled  abroad,  he  thought  long  to  be  at  home  again, 
tJ»roughhis  dissatisfaction  at  his  not  having  elsewhere,  so  convenient  sea- 
sons for  his  communion  with  God.  And  when  he  took  any  journey? 
•^with  his  friends,  it  was  his  manner  to  enquire,  What  good  hud  been 
done,  or  gained  therein?  and  what  good  examples  had  been  seen?  and  what 
qood  instructions  had  been  heard  ?  and  that  there  might  be  no  loss  of  time 
'n  the  journeys,  he  would  be  full  of  profitable  discourse,   especially   by 


336  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  ill. 

way  of  occasional  reflection,  upon  things  that  then  occurred  unto  observa- 
tion. What  he  was  in  a  journey,  the  same  he  was  at  the  table  ;  even 
like  the  fire,  (what  was  once  writ  of  Athcnodorus)  'E^ccrrav  tt^vt*  rec 
vecpaKi'fAsvx.  So  that  they  who  would  bear  no  part  in  a  gracious  com- 
munication,  would  be  dumb,  where-ever  he  came  ;  and  some  ofthe  rough- 
est and  rudest  hearers,  would  have  tears  fetched  from  their  eyes,  at  the 
soul-melting  expressions  that  passed  from  his  mouth.  Moreover,  at  a 
feast  he  would  eat  more  sparingly  than  at  another  time,  giving  us  his  rea- 
son for  his  temperance,  the  advice  of  the  wise  man  :  Put  a  knife  to  thy 
throat:  and  he  would  say,  Where  there  are  many  varieties,  there  are  many 
temptations. 

§  9.  It  was  his  wont,  before  the  Lord's  Supper,  to  keep  a  day  of  so- 
lemn fasting  and  prayer  alone,  with  his  zcife,  as  well  to  prepare  them- 
selves for  that  sacred  ordinance  ;  as  to  obtain  the  manifold  blessings  of 
heaven  upou  his  family  and  neighbourhood.  Such  was  his  piety.  And 
as  for  his  charity,  he  seldom  visited  the  poor,  but  with  spirituals,  he 
communicated  also  temporals  unto  them  :  for  which,  when  some  of  his 
friends  intimated,  that  he  might  err,  in  reserving  no  more  for  himself,  he 
would  answer,  /  often  think  of  those  words,  he  that  soweth  sparingly,  shall 
reap  sparingly.  It  was  also  remarkable,  to  see  how  much  his  own  per- 
sonal joys,  and  griefs,  were  swallowed  up  in  the  simpathy  which  he  had, 
with  the  condition  of  the  whole  church  abroad  :  when  he  heard  it  was 
'jsell  with  the  church,  he  would  say,  Blessed  be  God,  that  it  goes  well  with 
them,  whatever  becomes  of  me !  But  if  ill,  none  of  his  own  private  pros- 
perity kept  him  from  feeling  it,  as  a  true  member  of  that  mystical  body. 
Finally,  all  the  graces  which  thus  rendred  him  amiable  to  those  that 
were  about  him,  were  attended  with  such  Mosaic  meekness,  as  made  him 
yet  further  amiable  :  he  would  be  zealous,  when  he  saw  dishonour  cast 
on  the  name  of  God,  but  patient  under  injury  otfered  unto  himself  If 
he  were  informed,  that  any  thought  meanly  of  him,  he  would  not  be 
moved  at  it,  but  say,  I  think  as  meanly  of  my  self,  and  therefore  may  well 
be  content,  that  others  think  meanly  of  me :  and  when  evil  hath  been  char- 
ged on  him,  he  has  replied.  If  men  see  so  much,  what  does  God  see?  Dis- 
graceful and  unworthy  speeches  bestowed  upon  him,  he  would  call,  his 
gaiiis ;  but  it  Avas  his  trouble  to  find  himself  applauded.  His  friends 
might  indeed  have  said  of  him,  as  Luther  of  Melancthon,  .Mini  plane  vi- 
detur  saltern  in  hoc  errare,  quod  Christum  ipse  fingat  longius  abesse  a  Corde 
svo,  qudm  sit  reveru,  certe  nimis  JVullus  in  hoc  est  noster  Jonathan. 

§  10.  This  bright  star  must  move  westward.  He,  with  many  fellow- 
sufferers  for  the  testimony  of  Jesus,  being  silenced  in  England ;  and  fore- 
seeing a  dismal  storm  a  coming  upon  the  nation,  till  the  overpassing 
whereof  he  saw  many  praying  saints  directed  unto  America,  for  cham- 
bers of  safety ;  and  willing  to  forego  all  worldly  advantages,  for  the  en- 
joyment of  gospel  ordinances,  administred  without  the  mixtures  of  humane 
inventioyis ;  he  removed  into  New-England,  having  his  three  children 
with  him,  and  his  wife  big  with  a  fourth,  in  his  remove  ;  where  arriving, 
it  refreshed  him  not  a  little,  to  see  the  escaped  people  of  God,  with 
harps  in  their  hands,  there  singing  the  song  of  Aloses.  He  came  into 
New-England,  at  a  time,  when  there  was  not  so  much  want  of  lights,  as 
of  golden  candlesticks,  wherein  to  place  the  lights ;  but  he  was  not  long 
there,  before  he  was  invited  by  the  church  of  Dorchester,  to  be  an  as- 
sistant unto  the  well-known  Mr.  Richard  Mather. 

§  11.  The  evil  one,  disturbed  at  the  happiness  o£  Dorchester,  very 
strongly  endeavoured  a  misunderstanding  between  Mr.  Mather  and  Mr.' 


Book  III.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  337 

Burr ;  and  the  misunderstanding  did  proceed  so  iTar,  as  to  produce  a  ^ar- 
oxism. 

It  was  judged  by  some  of  the  brethren  in  the  church,  that  Mr.  Burr 
had  expressed  himself  erroneously  in  certain  points,  then  much  agitated 
throughout  the  country  ;  and  Mr.  Mather,  upon  their  desire,  examining 
the  propositions  which  this  good  man  had  written,  thought  he  could  not 
altogether  clear  them  from  exceptions.  Hereupon  grew  such  aliena- 
tions, that  they  could  not  be  well  re-united,  without  calling  in  the  help 
of  neighbouring  churches  in  a  council ;  which  council,  directing  both  Mr. 
Mather  and  Mr.  Burr,  to  acknowledge  wh^tinisuudfrstandings  were  then 
discovered  in  this  business,  tiiose  two  good  men  set  apart  a  day  for  the 
reconciliation  ;  and  with  such  exemplary  expressions  of  humility  and  of- 
fcrJiou,  I'ectified  all  that  had  been  out  of  joint,  that  God  was  exceedingly 
glorified,  and  the  peace  of  the  chxirch  effectually  restored  and  maintained. 

§  12.  This  true  Barnabas  was  not  only  to  give  the  churches  of  Kew" 
England  a  consolatory  vi-iii,  in  his  passage  iinto  glory,  that  he  might  leave 
them  an  example  of  that  love,  patitnce,  holiness,  and  fruitfulncss,  which 
would  make  them  an  happy  people.  Though  he  had  not  persecution  to 
try  him  in  this  wilderncjss,  yet  he  was  not  without  his  trials  :  for,  as  'tis 
well  observed  in  the  discourse,  De  Duplici  Martyrio,  which  goes  under 
the  name  of  Cyprian  ;  Si  dcest  Tyrannus.  si  Tiirtor,  si  Spoliator,  nan  deerit 
concupiscentia.  Martyr ii,  Maferiam,  quotidianam  nobis  exhibcns.  The 
next  year  after  he  came  to  New-England,  he  was  taken  sick  of  the  small- 
pox ;  out  of  wliich  he  nevertheless  recovered,  and  came  forth  as  gold 
that  had  been  tryed  in  the  fire.  He  then  renewed  and  applied  the  covenant 
of  grace,  by  the  suitable  recognitions  of  the  following zns/r«men^ 

'  I  Jonathan  Burr,  being  brought  in  the  arms  of  Almighty  God  over 
'  the  vast  ocean,  with  my  family  and  friends,  and  graciously  provided  for 
'  in  a  wilderness  ;  and  being  sensible  of  my  own  nnprofilableness  and 
'  self-seeking ;  yet  of  infinite  mercy,  being  called  unto  the  tremendous 
'  work  oi  feeding  souls,  and  being  of  late  with  my  family  delivered  out 
'  of  a  great  affliction  of  the  small-pox ;  and  having  found  the  fruit  of  that 
'  affliction  ;  God  tempering,  ordering,  mitigating  the  evil  thereof,  so  as  I 
'  have  been  graciously  and  speedily  delivered  ;  I  do  promise  and  vdzc  to 
'  Him,  that  hath  done  all  things  for  me  ;  First,  That  I  will  aim  only  at  his 
'  glory,  and  the  good  of  souls,  and  not  my  self  and  vain  glory  :  and  that, 
'  Secondly,  I  will  walk  huinbly,  with  lower  thoughts  (f  my  self,  considering 
'  what  a  poor  creature  I  am  ;  a  puff"  of  breath,  sustained  only  by  the 
'power  of  His  grace;  and  therefore.  Thirdly,  I  will  be  more  rvatchful 
■  over  my  heart,  to  keep  it  in  a  due  frame  of  holiness  and  obedience,  with- 
'  out  running  out  so  far  to  the  creature  ;  for  I  have  seen,  that  he  is  mine 
'  only  help  in  time  of  need  ;  Fourthly,  that  I  will  put  more  weight  upon 
'  that  ^r;n  promise,  and  sure  truth,  that  God  is  a  God  hearing  prayer : 
*  Fifthly,  that  I  will  set  up  God,  more  in  my  family,  more  in  my  self ,  wife, 
'  children  and  servants  ;  conversing  with  them  in  a  more  serious  and  con- 
'  stant  manner  ;  for  this,  God  aimed  at,  in  sending  his  hand  into  my  family 
'  at  this  time. 

Memento  Mori. 

'  In  Meipso  JVihil ;  in  Christo  Omne.'' 

Nor  was  his  heavenly  conversation  afterwards  disagreeable  to  these  grate- 
ful resolutions  of  his  devout  soul.     By  the  same  token,  that  the  famous 
Mr.  Thomas  Hooker,  being  one  of  his  auditors,  when  he  preached  in  a 
Vol.  I.  4.3 


338  THE  HISTORV  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  [Dook  111, 

great  audience  at  Charlestozvn,  had  this  expression  about  him.  Surely, 
this  man  wont  he  long  out  of  heaven,  for  he  preaches  as  if  he  were  there  al- 
ready. And  the  most  experienced  christians  in  the  country,  found  still 
in  his  ministry,  as  well  as  in  his  whole  behaviour,  the  breathing  of  such  a 
spirit,  as  was  very  greatly  to  their  satisf  iction.  They  could  not  but  call 
him,  as  Dionysius  was  once  called,  ITeTEJvav  t»5  \vp»jS,  the  bird  of  heaven. 
Had  it  not  been  old  Adam^s  world,  ?o  innocent,  so  excellent,  so  heavenly 
a  person,  could  not  have  met  with  such  exercises  as  he  and  others  like 
him,  then  sometimes  did,  even  from  their  truest  brethren. 

§  13.  Having  just  been  preaching  about  the  redemption  of  time,  he  fell 
into  a  sickness  often  days  continuance  ;  during  which  time,  he  express- 
ed a  wonderful  patience,  and  submis^ion,  upon  all  occasions.  His  wife 
perceiving  his  rcillingnc.ss  to  die,  asked  him,  whether  he  were  desirous  to 
leave  her  and  his  children:^  Whereto  his  answer  was,  Do  not  mistake  me, 
I  am  not  desirous  of  that;  but  I  bless  God,  that  now  my  will  is  the  Lord^s 
will :  if  he  will  have  me  to  live  yet  with  my  dear  wife  and  children,  I  am  wil- 
ling. Iwill  say  to  you  my  dear  wife  and  children,  as  the  apostle  says,  It  is 
belter  for  you,  that  I  abide  zcith  you;  but  it  is  better  for  me  to  be  dissolved 
and  to  be  with  Christ.  And  perceiving  his  wife's  disconsolation,  he  ask- 
ed her,  if  she  could  not  be  willing  to  part  withhim;  whereupon,  when  she 
intimated  how  hard  it  was,  he  exhorted  her  to  acquiesce  in  that  God, 
who  would  be  better  tlian  ten  husbands  :  adding,  our  parting  is  but  for  a 
time,  I  am  sure  we  shall  one  day  meet  aguiii.  Being  discouraged  by  find- 
ing himself  unable  to  put  on  his  clothes,  one  of  his  friends  told  him,  his 
work  was  now  to  lie  still :  at  which  he  complained,  /  lie  sluggiiig  a  bed, 
xi'hen  others  are  at  work  !  But  being  minded  of  Go(/'s  will,  that  it  should 
be  so,  that  quieted  him.  Observing  how  diligently  his  wife  tended  him, 
he  said  Tinto  her,  DonH  spend  so  much  time  with  me,  but  go  thy  way  and 
spend  some  time  i/i  prayer  ;  thou  knowest  not  what  thou  mayst  obtain  from 
God ;  I  fear  lest  thou  look  too  much  upon  this  ajjlictiiin.  A  day  or  two  be- 
fore his  death,  he  blessed  his  children  ;  and  the  night  before  he  died, 
he  was  overheard  sometimes  to  say,  Iwill  wait  until  my  change  come; 
and  Why  art  ihou  so  loath  to  die  ?  A  few  hours  before  his  death,  it  was 
observed,  that  he  had  a  sore  conflict  with  the  angel  of  death,  who  was 
now  shooting  his  last  arrows  at  him  ;  and  when  one  of  the  standers-by 
said.  The  sting  of  death  is  taken  azvay  ;  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  has  overcome 
death  for  you ;  this  is  one  of  Satati's  last  assaults  ;  his  work  is  now  almost 
at  an  end  ;  though  he  be  a  subtil  enemy,  and  would  if  it  were  possible,  de- 
ceive the  very  elect ;  he  presently  laid  hold  on  that  last  expression,  if  it 
Zfere  possible  ;  said  he.  Blessed  be  God  there  is  no  possibility  !  After  this, 
he  requested  the  company  might  withdraw,  that  so  he  might  have  an  op- 
portunity to  pray  for  a  while  by  himself;  but  seeing  the  company  loth  to 
leave  the  room,  he  prayed  in  Latin  as  long  as  he  had  strength  to  do  it. 
When  he  was  to  appearance  just  expiring,  he  called  for  his  wife  ;  and  sted- 
lastly  fixing  his  eyes  upon  her,  he  said.  Cast  thy  care  upon  God,Jorhe  careth 
for  thee.  About  half  an  hour  after  this,  when  death  had  been  for  some 
while  diawinti  the  curtains  about  him,  his  last  words  were  those  unto 
liis  wife,  livid  fust,  holdfast!  So  he  finished  his  pilgrimage,  on  August 
9,  164L 

§  14.  Unto  that  vertuous  gentlewoman  his  wife,  he  expressed  himself 
with  great  confidence,  That  God  would  certainly  provide  well  for  her  ; 
and  that  gentlewoman,  shortly  after  being  honourably  and  comfortably 
married  unto  another  gentleman  of  good  estate,  namely,  Richard  Dum- 
mer,  Esq.  once  a  magistrate  of  the  colony,  lived  with   him  near  forty 


Book  III.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  339 

years  ;  and  was  more  than  forty  years  after  alive  to  testify  her  experi- 
ence of  the  accomplishment,  which  God  had  given  unto  that  fiith  of  her 
dying  husband  :  who  at  his  death  commended  his  family  to  God,  ip 
strains  not  unlike  those  of  the  dying  Widerm  ; 

CHRISTE,  tibi  soli  mea  pignora   Viva  relinquo, 

(Quorum  post  Mortem  Tu  Pater  esto  meam. 
Qui  eunctis  Vitic  miseritm  me  jiigiter  Atmis 

Pavisti,  Largam  dans  Mihi  semper  opem  ; 
Txi  quoq;  Pasce  meos  defcnde,  tuere,  doceq; 

Et  tandem  ad  Cali  gaudia  transfer.       Amen. 

EPITAPHIUM. 

Mortuns  hie  Jacet,  qui  in  Omnium  Cordihus  Vivit. 

Omnes  Virtutes,  qucE  Vivunt  post  Fiinera, 

In  Unius  Bur,ri  Funere  invenerunt  Sepnlchrum. 

To  make  up  his  epitaph,  1  will  borrow  a  line  or  two  from  the  tomb- 
stone of  Folkmarus. 

Hie  Jacet  Exutis  ninmtm  cito  Burrius  Annis, 

Adjiiga  Siiggestus,  Magne  Mathere,  Ttd 
Si  magis  Annosam  licuisset  condere  Vitam, 

Ac  Scriptis  Animum  notijicare  Libris, 
Tot  Verbis  tion  esset  opus  hoc  Scalper e  Saxum, 

Sitfficerent  Quatuor^  Burrius  hie  situs  est. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

The  Life  of  Mr.  George  Philips. 

Vita  Ministri  est  Censura  «S*  Cynosura. 

§  1.  Not  only  the  common  sign-posts  of  every  town,  but  also  some 
famous  orders  of  knighthood  in  the  most  famous  nations  of  Europe,  have 
entertained  us  with  traditions  of  a  certain  champion,  by  the  name  of  St. 
George  dignijied  and  distinguished.  Now  whilst  many  do  with  Calvin, 
reckon  this  notable  St.  George,  with  his  brother  St.  Kit,  among  the 
Larva:  and  fables  of  the  romantic  7no7iks  ;  others  from  the  honourable 
mention  of  him  in  so  many  liturgies,  do  think  there  might  be  such  a  man  ; 
but  then,  he  must  be  no  other,  neither  better  nor  worse,  in  the  most 
probable  opinion  of  Rainolds,  than  George  the  Arrian  bishop  oi  Alexan- 
dria, the  antagonist  and  adversary  of  Athanasius ;  of  this  memorable 
trooper,  the  Arrians  feigned  miracles,  and  with  certain  disguises,  impo- 
sed the  fame  of  him  upon  the  orthodox.  But  the  churches  of  JVew-Eng- 
land  being  wholly  unconcerned  with  any  such  a  St.  George,  and  wishing 
that  they  had  been  less  concerned  with  many  quakers,  whose  chief  apos- 
tles have  been  so  many  of  them  called  Georges,  but  in  effect  so  many 
dragons,  there  was  one  George  who  was  indeed  among  the   first   saint 


340  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  HI. 

of  Neva-England !  and  that  excellent  man  of  our  land  was  Mr.  George 
Philips. 

§  2.  He  was  boni  at  Baymttnd,  in  the  county  of  Norfolk;  descended 
of  honest  parents,  who  were  encouraged  by  his  great  proticiency  at  the 
grammar-school,  to  send  him  unto  the  university  ;  where  his  good  hi' 
vention,  strong  memory,  and  ^o\\Ajud-^ment,  with  the  blessing  oi  God  up- 
on all,  attained  a  degree  of  learning  that  may  be  called  eminent.  The 
diligent  reading  of  the  fathers,  vvhile  he  was  yet  himself  among  young 
men,  was  one  of  the  things  that  gave  a  special  ornament  unto  that  skill 
in  theology,  whereto  he  attained  ;  but  that  which  yet  further  fitted  him 
to  become  a  divine,  was  his  being  made  partaker  nf  the  divine  nature,  by 
the  sanctitication  of  all  his  abilities  for  the  service  of  God,  in  a  true  re- 
generation. 

§  3.  Devoting  himself  to  the  work  of  the  ministry,  his  employment  be- 
fel  him  at  Boxford  in  Essex ;  whereof  he  found  much  acceptance  with 
good  men  ;  as  being  a  man  mi<^hty  in  the  scriptures.  But  his  acquaint- 
ance with  the  writings  and  persons  of  some  old  non-conformists  had  in- 
stilled into  him  such  principles  about  church-government,  as  were  like  to 
make  him  unacceptable  unto  some,  who  then  drove  the  world  before 
them.  Some  of  these  principles  he  had  intimated  in  his  publick  preach- 
ing ;  whereupon  soma  of  his  unsatisfied  hearers  repaired  unto  old  Mr. 
Rogers  of  Dedhum,  with  some  intimations  of  their  dissatisfaction.  But 
Mr.  Rogers,  although  he  had  not  much  studied  the  controversy,  yet  had 
so  high  a  respect  fjr  Mr.  Philips,  that  he  said,  he  believed  Air.  Philips 
would  preach  nothing  without  some  good  evidence  for  it  from  the  word  of 
God,  and  therefore  they  shoidd  be  willing  to  regard  whatever  Mr.  Philips 
might,  from  that  word,  make  evident  unto  them.  And  as  for  Mr.  Philips, 
the  more  he  was  put  upon  the  study  and  searching  of  the  truth  in  the 
matter  controverted,  the  more  he  was  confirmed  in  his  own  opinion  of  it. 

§  4.  When  the  spirit  nf  persecution  did  at  length  with  the  extreamest 
violence,  urge  a  conformity  to  ways  and  parts  of  divine  worship,  consci- 
entiously scrupled  by  such  persons  as  our  Mr.  Philips.  He,  with  many 
more  of  his  neighbours,  entertained  thoughts  of  transporting  themselves 
and  their  families  into  the  desarts  of  America,  lo  prosecute  and  propa- 
gate the  glorious  designs  of  the  gospel,  and  spread  the  light  of  it  in  those 
goings  down  of  the  sun,  and  being  resolved  accordingly  to  accompany  the 
excellent  Mr.  Winthrop  in  that  undertaking,  he  with  many  other  devout 
christians,  embarqued  for  JVcay-iUrto-Zflju/,  where  they  arrived  in  the  year 
1630,  through  the  good  hand  of  God  upon  them.  Here,  quickly  after 
his  landing,  he  lost  the  desire  of  his  eyes,  in  the  death  of  his  desirable  con- 
sort, v/ho,  though  an  only  child,  had  cheerfully  left  hev  parents,  to  serve 
the  Lord  Jesus  Chrirt,  with  her  husband,  in  a  terrible  wilderness.  At 
Halem  she  died,  entering  into  the  everlasting  peace  ;  and  was  ver}'  so- 
lemnly interred  near  the  Right  Honourable  the  lady  Arabella  ;  the  sister 
of  the  Earl  of  Lincoln,  v^ho  also  took  Nezc-England  in  her  way  to 
heaven. 

§  5.  Mr.  Philips,  with  several  gentlemen,  and  other  christians  having 
chosen  a  place  upon  C//a7-/ps-River,  for  a  town  which  they  called  Water- 
Town,  they  resolved  that  they  would  combine  into  a  church  fellowship 
there,  as  lYie'irfrst  work ;  and  build  tlie  ho^lse  of  God.  before  they  could 
build  many  houses  for  themselves  :  thus  they  sought,  first,  the  kingdom  of 
God!  And  indeed,  Mr.  P/(.i7/;)s  being  belter  acquainted  with  the  true 
church-discipliric,  tlian  most  of  the  ministers  that  came  with  him  into  the 
country,  their  proceedings  about  the  gathering  and  ordering  of  their 


Book  in.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  ^41 

church,  were  methodical  enough,  though  not  made  in  all  things  a  pattern 
for  all  the  rest.  Upon  a  day  set  apart  for  solemn  fusiing  and  prayer, 
the  very  next  month  after  they  came  ashore,  they  entred  into  this  holy 
covenant. 

July  30,  1630. 

'  We  whose  names  are  hereto  subscribed,  having  through  God's  mer- 
'  cy,  escaped  out  of  pollutions  of  the  world,  and  been  taken  into  the  so- 
'  ciety  of  his  people,  with  all  thankfulness  do  hereby  both  with  heaU  and 
'  hatid  acknowledge,  that  his  gracious  goodness,  and  fatherly  care,  towards 
'  us  :  and  for  further  and  more  full  declaration  thereof,  to  the  present 
'  and  future  ages,  have  undertaken  (for  the  promoting  of  hi*  glory  and 
'  the  church's  good,  and  the  honour  of  our  blessed  Jesiis,  in  our  more 
'  full  and  free  subjecting  of  our  selves  and  ours,  under  his  gracious  oov- 
'  ernimnt,  in  the  practice  of,  and  obedience  unto  all  his  holy  ordinances 
'  and  orders,  which  he  hath  pleased  to  prescribe  and  impose  upon  us)  a 
'  long  and  hazardous  voyage  from  east  to  ivest,  from  Old  Englaiid  in  Eu- 
'  rope,  to  Nexio- England  in  America  ;  that  we  may  walk  before  him,  and 
'  serve  him  icithout  fear  in  holiness  and  righteousness,  all  the  days  of  our 
'  lives :  and  being  safely  arrived  here,  and  thus  far  onwards  peaceably 
'  preserved  by  his  special  providence,  that  we  may  bring  forth  our  inten- 
'  tions  into  actions,  and  perfect  our  residutions,  in  the  beginnings  of  some 
'just  and  meet  executions;  we  have  separated  the  da?/ above  written 
'  from  all  other  services,  and  dedicated  it  wholly  to  the  Lord  in  divine 
'  employments,  for  a  day  of  afflicting  our  souls,  and  humbling  our  selves 
'  before  the  Lord,  to  seek  him,  and  at  his  hands,  a  way  to  walk  in,  by 
'■fasting  and  prayer,  that  we  might  knoiv  ivhat  ivas  good  in  his  sight :  and 
'  the  Lord  was  intreated  of  us. 

'  For  in  the  end  of  that  day,  after  the  finishing  of  our  publick  duties. 
'  we  do  all,  before  we  depart,  solemnly  and  with  all  our  hearts,  personal- 
'  ly,  man  by  man  for  our  selves  and  ours  (charging  fhem  before  Christ 
'  and  his  elect  angels,  even  them  that  are  not  here  with  us  this  day,  or 
•  are  yet  unborn,  that  they  keep  the  promise  unblameably  and  faithfully 
'  unto  the  coming  of  our  Lord  Jesus)  promise,  and  enter  into  a  sure  cove- 
'  nant  with  the  Lord  our  God,  and  before  him  with  one  another,  by  oath 
'  and  serious  piratestation  mmie,  to  renounce  all  idolatry  and  siqjerstiiion, 
'  icill'ioorship,  all  humane  traditions  and  inventions  whatsoever,  in  the 
'  worship  of  God  ;  and  forsaking  all  evil  ways,  do  give  our  selves  wholly 
'  unto  the  Lord  .Jesus,  to  do  him  faithful  service,  observing  and  keeping 
'  all  his  statues,  commands,  and  ordinances,  in  all  matters  concerning  our 
^reformation;  his  worship,  administrations,  ministry,  and  government; 
'  and  in  the  carriage  of  our  selves  among  our  selves,  and  one  towards 
'  andther,  as  he  hath  prescribed  in  his  holy  word.  Further  swearing  to 
'  cleave  unto  thai  alone,  and  the  true  sense  and  meaning  thereof  to  the 
'  utmost  of  our  power,  as  unto  the  most  clear  light  and  infallible  rule, 
'  and  all-sufficient  canon,  in  all  things  that  concern  us  in  thi«  our  way.  In 
'  witness  of  all,  we  do  exanimo,  and  in  the  presence  of  God,  hereto  set 
'  our  names  or  marks,  in  the  day  and  year  above  written. 

About  forty  men,  whereof  the  first  was  that  excellent  Knight  Sir 
Richard  Saltonstal,  then  subscribed  this  instrument,  in  order  unto  their 
coalescence  into  a  church- estate ;  which  I  have  the  more  particularly  re- 
cited, because  it  was  one  of  the  first  ecclesiastical  transactions  of  this 
.nature  managed  in  the  colony.     But  in  after  time,  they  that  joined  unto 


342  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  III. 

the  c/mrc/t,  subscribed  a  form  of  the  covenant,  somewhat  altered,  with  a 
confession  of  faith  annexed  unto  it. 

§  6.  A  church  of  believers  being  thus  gathered  at  Wateriown,  this 
reverend  man  continued  for  divers  years  among  them,  fiiithfully  discharg- 
ing the  duties  of  his  ministry,  to  the  flock,  whereof  he  was  made  the  over- 
seer ;  and  as  a  faithful  steward  giving  to  every  one  their  meat  in  due  season. 
Herein  he  demonstrated  liimself  to  be  a  real  divine  :  but  not  in  any  thing 
more,  than  in  his  most  intimate  acquaintance  with  the  divine  oracles  of 
the  scripture  :  being  fully  of  Jerom's  perswasion,  Jima  Scientiam  Scrip- 
tiirarum,  4"  Vitia  Carnis  non  amabis.  He  had  so  thoroughly  perused  and 
pondered  them,  that  he  was  able  on  the  sudden  to  turn  unto  any  text, 
without  the  help  of  Concordances ;  and  they  were  so  much  his  delight, 
that  as  it  has  been  by  some  of  his  family  affirmed,  he  read  over  the  whole 
Bible  six  times  every  year :  nevertheless  he  did  use  to  say,  That  every 
time  he  read  the  Bible,  he  observed  or  collected  something,  which  he  never 
did  before.  There  was  a  famous  prince  of  Transylvania,  who  found  the 
time  to  read  over  thr!  Bible  no  less  than  twenty-seven  times.  There 
was  a  famous  King  of  Arragon,  who  read  over  the  Bible  fourteen  times, 
with  Lyra''s  Commentaries.  A  religious  person,  Avho  was  a  close  prison- 
er, in  a  dark  dungeon,  having  a  candle  brought  him,  for  the  few  minutes 
in  the  day  when  his  poor  meals  were  to  be  eaten,  chose  then  to  read  a 
little  of  bis  Bible,  and  eat  his  necessary  food,  when  the  candle  was  gone. 
Yea,  the  Emperour  Theodosius  wrote  out  the  J^ew  Testament  with  his 
own  hand  ;  and  Bonaventure  did  as  much  by  the  Old;  and  some  have, 
like  Zuijiglius  and  Beza,  lodged  vast  paragraphs  of  it  in  the  memories. 
Among  such  memorable  students  in  the  scriptures,  our  Philips  deserves 
to  have  some  remembrance  :  who  was  fully  of  the  opinion  expressed  bj' 
Luther,  If  the  letters  of  Princes  are  to  be  read  three  times  over,  surely  then 
God^s  letters  (as  Gregory  calls  the  scriptures)  are  to  be  read  seven  times 
thrice,  yea,  seventy  times  seven,  and  if  it  could  be  a  thousand  times  over ; 
and  he  might  say  with  Ridley,  giving  an  account  of  how  much  of  the  Bi- 
ble he  had  learnt  by  heart,  Though  in  time  a  great  part  of  the  study  de- 
parted from  me,  yet  the  sweet  smell  thereof  I  trust  I  shall  carry  with  me  to 
heaven.  Indeed  being  well  skilled  in  the  original  tongues,  he  could  see 
further  into  the  scriptures  than  most  other  men;  and  thereby  being 
made  wise  unto  salvation,  he  also  became  a  man  of  God,  thoroughly  fir - 
nished  unto  all  good  works. 

§  7.  Hence  also,  he  became  an  able  disputant;  and  ready  upon  all 
occasions,  to  maintain  what  he  delivered  from  the  word  of  God  ;  for 
which  cause  his  hearers  counted  him,  the  irrefragable  Doctor  ;  though 
he  were  so  humble  and  modest,  as  to  be  very  averse  unto  disputation, 
until  driven  thereto  by  extream  necessity.  One  of  his  hearers  after 
some  conference  with  him  about  infant-baptism,  and  several  points  of 
church- discipline,  obtained  a  copy  of  the  arguments  in  writing  for  his  fur- 
ther satisfaction.  This  copy  the  man  sends  over  to  England,  which 
»n  Anabaptist  there  published  with  a  pretended  confvtatian ;  whereby^ 
the  truth  lost  nothing,  for  Mr.  Philips  hereupon  published  a  judicious 
treatise,  cntituled,  A  Vindication  of  Infant-Baptism,  whereto  there  is 
added  another.  Of  (he  Church.  This  book  was  honourably  received  and 
mentioned,  by  the  eminent  assembly  of  London  ministers  ;  and  a  ]>reface 
full  of  honour  Tvas  thereto  prefixed  by  the  famous  Mr.  Thomas  Shepard  ; 
notwithstanding  the  difference  between  him  and  Mr.  Philips,  upon  one 
or  two  points,  whereabout  those  two  learned  neighbours  managed  a  ron- 
froversy  with  so  much  reason,  and  yet  candor  and  kindness,  that  if  all 


Book  III.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NE<V-ENGLAND.  343 

theological  controversies,  had  been  so  handled,  we  need  not  so  much  wish, 
Liberari  ab  Implacabilibus  Theologorum  Odiis. 

§  8.  About  fourteen  years  continued  he  in  his  ministry  at  Wateriown ; 
in  which  time  his  ministry  was  blessed,  lor  tlie  conversion  of  many  unto 
God,  and  for  the  edification  and  confirmation  oi  n\\\ny  that  were  convert- 
ed. He  was,  indeed,  a  good  man,  and  full  of  faitk,  and  of  the  Holy 
Ghost :  and  for  that  cause  he  was  not  only  in  publick  but  in  private  also, 
very  full  of  holy  discourse  on  all  occasions  ;  especially  on  the  Lord's 
day  at  noon,  the  time  intervening  between  the  two  exercises,  he  would 
spend  in  conferring  with  such  of  his  good  people,  as  resorted  unto  his 
house,  at  such  a  rate,  as  marvellously  ministered  grace  unto  the  hearers  ; 
not  wanting  any  lime  then,  as  it  seems,  ibr  any  further  preparations,  than 
what  he  had  still  aforehand  made,  for  the  publick  sermons  of  the  af- 
ternoon. 

§  9.  He  laboured  under  many  bodily  infirmities  :  but  was  especially 
liable  unto  the  cholick ;  the  extremity  of  one  fit  whereof,  was  the  wind 
which  carried  him  afore  it,  into  the  haven  of  eternal  rest,  on  July  1,  in 
the  year  1644,  much  desired  and  lamented  by  his  church  at  Wotertown  ; 
who  testified  their  affection  to  their  deceased  pastor,  by  a  special  care  to 
promote  and  perfect  the  education  of  his  eldest  son,  whereof  all  the 
country,  but  especially  the  town  of  Rowly,  have  since  reaped  the  benefit. 

EPITAPHIUM. 

Htc  Jacei  Georgius  Philippi. 
Vir  hicomparabilis ,  nisi  S.amuelem  gemiissct- 


CHAPTER  V. 

Pastor  Evangelicus.     The  Ljfe  of  Mr.  Thomas  Shepard. 
■JVec  Mirer  is. 


Animamtam  Subito  in  Ccelum  avolasse,  nam  vicevi 
Alarum  sibi  supplemnt  Preces  suic  ^  suspiria. 

§  1.  It  was  the  gracious  and  savoury  speech  uttered  by  one  of  ihe 
greatest  personages  in  England,  and  perhaps  in  all  Europe,  unto  a  grave 
minister  :  /  have  (said  he)  passed  through  many  places  of  honour  and 
trust,  both  in  church  and  state,  more  than  any  of  my  order  in  England,  fur 
seventy  years  before.  But  were  I  assured  that  by  my  preaching,  I  had  con- 
verted but  one  soul  unto  God,  I  should  herein  talce  more  comfort,  than  in  all 
the  honours  and  offices  that  have  ever  been  beslmved  upon  me.  Let  my  rea- 
der now  go  with  me,  and  I  will  show  him  one  of  the  happiest  men,  that 
ever  we  saw  ;  as  great  a  converter  of  souls,  as  has  ordinarily  been  known 
ID  our  days. 

§  2.  Amongst  those  famous,  whereof  there  were  diverse,  ministers  of 
New-England,  which  were  born  in  or  near  the  first  lustre  of  King  James" 
reign,  one  of  the  least  inconsiderable  was  our  Mr.  Thomas  Shepard: 
whose  father  Mr.  William  Shepard,  called  him  Thomas,  because  his  birth 
was  JVov.  6,  Anno  1605,  as  near  as  could  be  guessed,  at  the  very  hour. 
when  the  blow  should  have  been  given  in  the  pxrrrnh\e  gini-poxn-der  trca 


,H4  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND,         [Book  HI 

son;  avillciny,  concerning  which  he  said,  This  child  nj  his  rjovM  hardly 
be  able  to  believe,  that  ever  svch  a  zeickedness  could  be  atlcmpted  by  the  sons 
of  men.  His  father  had  six  daughters  and  three  sons,  whereof  this  Thom- 
as born  in  Torccester,  near  Northavipton,  was  the  youngest ;  and  as  be 
lived  a  prudent,  so  he  died  a  pious  m;in,  Avhile  his  youngest  son  was  but  a 
youth.  Our  Thomas  had  in  his  chihlhood,  h^boured  under  the  discour- 
agements, first  of  a  bitter  step-mother,  and  then  of  a  cruel  school-master, 
till  God  stirred  up  the  heart  of  his  elder  brotlier,  to  become  ix  father  unto 
him,  who,  for  the  use  of  his  portion,  brought  him  up. 

§  3.  Bending  his  mind  now  to  study,  he  became  fit  for  the  university, 
at  fifteen  years  o^  age  ;  where  he  was  placed  under  the  tuition  of  Mr. 
Cockrcl,  a  Northamptonshire  man.  fellow  oi Immanuel  Culledge. 

But  when  he   had  been  upwards   of  two  years  in  that  colledge,    thi.'; 
young  man,  who  had  been  heretofore  under  more  ineffectual  operations 
of  the  divine  word  upon  him,   was   now  more  effectually  called  unto   a 
saving  acquaintance  with  him,  that  is  our  true  Immanuel.     The  ministry 
of  Mr.  Chaderton  and  Mr.  Dickinson,  struck  his  heart  with  powerful  con- 
victions of  his  miseries  in  his  unregeticracy ;  and  while  he  shook  off 
those  convictions,  it  pleased  God  that  a  devout  scholar  walking  with  him, 
fell  into  discourses  about  the  miseries  of  an  unregenerate  man,  whereby 
the  arroxes  of  God  were  struck  deeper  into  him.     At  another  time,  fall- 
ing into  a.  pious  company,  where  they  conferred  about,  the  rcrath  of  God, 
and  the  extremity  and  eternity  of  it,  this  added  unto  his   awakenings  ;  and 
though  profane  company  afterwards  caused  him   to  loose  much  of  the 
sense,  which  he  had  of  these  things,  yet  when  Dr.  Preston  came  thither, 
his  first  sermon  on  that  [Be  renerced  in  the  spirit  of  your  mind]  so  rcneru'ed 
the  former  impressions,  which  had  been  upon  him,  that  he  soon  approv- 
ed himself  a  person  truly  renezccd  in  his  on-n  spirit,  and  converted  unto 
God.     From  this  lime,  which  was  in  the  year  1624,  he  set  himself  espe- 
cially on  the  work  of  daily  r/(ef/2tofi'o?i,  which  he  attended  every  evening 
before  supper  ;  meditating  on,  the  evil  of  sin,   the  terror  of  God's  rvrath, 
the  datj  of  death  and  judgment,  the  beauty  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  the 
deceitful ness  ofhisoxivn  heart,  until  he  found  the  transforming  influence  of 
those  things  upon  his  own  soul ;  a  course  which  afterwards,   he   would 
mightily  commend  unto  others  that  consulted  him  ;  and  be  rested  not  un- 
til coming  to  see,  that  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  alone,  there  was  laid  up 
the  full  supply  of  all  spiritual  wants,  he  found  the  grace  of  God  enabling 
him  to  accept  of  that  precious  Lord,   and  rejoice  in  that  xvisdom,  and 
righteousness,  and  sanctification,  and  redemption,  which  He  is  made  unto 
us  :   whence  afterwards,  drawing  up  a  catalogue  of  the  divine  favours  un- 
to him,  he  had  therein  these  passages  among  the  rest,  which  are  from 
thence  now  transcribed.      The  Lord  is  the  God  that  sent,  I  think,  the  best 
ministers  in  the  zcorld  to  call  me  ;   Dr.  Preston  ajid  Mr.  Goodwin.      The 
zcords  of  the  firs',  oJ  the  first  sermon  he  made,  ivhen  he  came  info  the  col- 
lege, as  master  of  it ;  and  divers  that  he  preached  at  that  time,  did  open  my 
heart,  and  convince  mc  of  my  unbelief  and  my  total  empfiness  of  all,  and 
enmity  agai?ist  all  good.     And  the  Lord  made  me  honour  him  highly,  arid 
love  him  dearly,  though  many  godly  men  spake  against  him.     And  he  is  the 
God  that  in  these  ordinances  convinced  me  of  my  guilt  and  filth  of  sin,  espe- 
cially self  seeking,  and  love  of  honour  of  men  in  all  I  did  ;  and  humbled  me 
under  both,  so  as  to  make  me  set  an  higher  price  upon  Christ,  and  grace, 
and  loath  m.y  self  the  more,  and  so  I  vms  eased  of  a  u-nrld  of  discourage- 
ment.    He  also  showed  me  the  worth  of  Christ,  and  made  my  soul  satisfied 
"i'ith  him.  and  cleave  to  him,  heravse  God  had  made  him  righfcov.svcss  :  07id 


iiooK  III.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  345 

hence  also  revealed  his  free  justification,  and  gave  me  support  and  rest  up- 
on and  in  his  promises  made  to  them  that  receive  him  as  Lord  and  Kiijg : 
which  I  found  my  heart  long  unzvilling  to.  And  this  was  the  ground,  or 
rather  occasion  of  many  horrid  temptations  of  Atheism,  Judaism,  Ftimilism, 
Popery,  Despair,  as  having  sinned  the  unpardonable  sin  ;  yet  the  Lord,  at 
last,  made  me  yield  up  my  self  to  his  condemning  m-ill,  as  good ;  zjhich  gave 
■me  great  peace  and  quieiness  of  heart,  through  i'lC  blood  and  pity  of  Christ, 
i  have  met  rsitk  all  kinds  of  temptations,  btit  offer  my  conversion.  I  xvas 
never  tempted  to  Arminianism,  my  ou:n  experience  so  sensibly  confuting  the 
freedom  of  will. 

§  4.  One  Dr.  Wilson,  hnvin:;  ;i  purpose,  with  a  most  noble  and  pions 
charity,  to  maintain  a  lecturo,  the  ministers  ot"  Essex,   in   one  of  their 
monthly /b.v^s,  propounded  unto  Mr.  Shepard,  the  service  of  tiiis  lecture 
to  be  attended  in  the  great  town  ofCoggeshal.     But  the  people  of  Earl'' s 
Coin,  on  that  very  day,  when  the  mini^^ters  were  together  in  Tarling  at 
prayer,  for  the  direction  of  heaven  in  this  matter,  so  affectionately  ad- 
dressed thera,  for  the  benetit  of  this  lecture,  that  it  was  granted  unto 
them,  for  the  three  years  ensuing.     Mr.  Shepard,  having  proceeded  .Mas- 
ter of  Arts  at  Cambridge,  accepted  now  an  invitation  to  EarVs  Coin  ;  and 
at  the  end  of  three  years  the  inhabitants  were   so  loath  to  let   him   go, 
that  they  gathered  among  themselves  a  convenient  salary  to  support  him 
still  amongst  )heni  :   thougii  his  lecture  were  gone.     At  EarVsColn  then 
he    tarried,    and  prevailed   for  the  lecture  to  be  settled  the  next  three 
years  in  Toxcccster,   the  place  of  his  nativity  ;  and  for  Mr.  Stone  to   be 
employed  in  the  labour  of  it  :  which  was  to  him  an  extreame  satisfaction. 
§  5.  Although  3Ir.  Shepard  were  but  a  young  man,  yet  there  was  that 
majesty  and  energy  in  his  preaching,  and  that  holiness  in   bis  life,    which 
was  not  ordinary.     And  God  made  him  a  rich  blessing,  not  only  to  Coin, 
but  unto  all  the  towns  round  about;  wherein  there  were  many  convert- 
ed unto  God,  and  s;//!'//-;/ were  so  alTected  unto  this  instrument  of  their 
conversion,  that  they  afterwards  went  a  thousand  leagues  to  enjoy  his 
ministr\'.      But  when  Dr.  Laud  becomes  Bishop  of  London,  Mr.  Shepard 
must  no  longer  be  preacher  at  Coin  :  he  was  quickly  silenced,  for  none 
but  that  tliult,  which  was  then  known  by  the  name  of  Puritanism :  and 
being  silenced,   he  withdrew  to  the  kind  fimily   of  the  HarlacJdndcits, 
where  applying  himself  more  exactly  to  the  study  of  the  ceremonies  ia 
tl>te  worship  of  God  then  imposed,  the  more  he  studied  them,   the  less 
hi  liked  them.     Among  other  things  that  signalized   him,   after   his   ac- 
quaintance with  Mr.  Harlackinden,   I   find   one   memorable  passage  re- 
ported by  Mr.  Woodcock,  with  sufficient  evidence,  in  Mr.  Baxter''s  book 
about,   the  xcnruls  of  spirits.     In  the  chamber  of  a  toumb  house,  where 
two  of  Mr.  Harlackinden'' s  men  did  use  to  lie,  there  was  always,  at  two 
a  clock  in  the  morning,  the  sound  of  a  great  bell  tolling.     Mr.  Harlack- 
inden would  once  lie  there,  between  his  two  servants,  to  satistie  himself 
about  it.     At  the  usual  time  came  the  usual  sound,  n-hich  threw  the  gen- 
tleman into  no  little  consternation.      But  Mr.  Shepard,  with  some  chris- 
tians., having  spent  a  night  in  prayer  at  this  place,  the  noise  never  gave 
any  disturbance  after. 

Once  and  again  after  this,  finding  the  resolution  of  the  bishop  to  ruinc 
him,  if  he  did  not  leave  the  country,  he  seasonably  received  letters  oi 
Mr.  Ezekicl  Rogers,  minister  of  Rozvhj,  in  Yo7-kshire,  encournging  him  to 
visit  those  parts,  and  accept  employment  in  the  house  of  Sir  Richard 
Darly,  of  Buttercramhe,  in  that  county.  Driven  to  follow  this  counsel, 
his  journey  proved  as  troublesome  in  all  the  Tinnier  ■circumstances  of  it, 
Voi,.   J.  14 


346  TPIE  HISTORY  OF  XEW-ENULANO.  fBoo..  li I. 

as  a  traveller  coiiltl  have  wished  lor  ;  and  after  he  had  sv.atn  for  his  life, 
by  missine;  his  way  ever  some  overflown  bridges,  he  made  it  Uite  on  Sat- 
nr day-night,  before  he  came  to  York;  btit  there  having  refreshed  him- 
self, he  went  on  to  Butlcrcrambe  that  night,  which  was  about  seven  miles 
further,  where  wet.  and  cold,  and  late,  he  that  night  arrived. 

§  6.  It  added  unto  his  discour;!gements,  when  on  the  first  night  of  his 
arrival,  he  found  groi^i  profanities  prevailing  both  in  the  family,  and  in 
the  neighbourhood  ;  hut  God  quickly  made  him  instrumental  to  a  blessed 
change  in  both.  The  projanest  persons  thereabouts  were  soon  iovched 
with  the  elFicacy  of  his  minisiriu  and  his  conference ;  and  prayer  w'xih  fast- 
ing, as  well  as  other  exercises  nf  devotion,  succeeded  in  the  room  of  their 
former  zi'ildnesscs.  Both  Sir  Richard,  and  all  his  sons,  as  well  as  many 
others  there,  had  cause  to  bless  God,  that  ever  they  saw  the  face  of  this 
holy  man  :  and  as  a  testimony  of  their  afiection  for  him,  they  encouraged 
his  marriage  with  the  knight's  near  kinswoman,  who  \ipon  this  account 
also  enlarged  her  portion,  about  the  year  16312.  But  Bishop  JVeal  here, 
would  not  allow  him  any  liberty  for  his  ministry,  without  a  subscription y 
which  his  better  informed  conscience  could  not  make  ;  and  this  occa- 
sioned his  removal  upon  a  call,  unto  a  town  of  .Yorthvmberland ,  called 
Heddon  ;  where  his  labours  were  prospered  unto  the  souls  of  many  peo- 
ple. One  of  the  houses  which  he  then  hired,  was  haunted  with  a  devil^ 
as  was  commonly  conceived  upon  the  departure  of  a  noted  Kitch,  who 
had  been  the  former  inhabitant ;  and  the  house  was  troubled  with 
strange  noises,  till  the  earnest  prayers  of  this  man  of  God  procured  a 
<leliverance  tVoni  so  extream  a  trouble.  But  thither  also  the  zeal  of  the 
bishop  reached  him,  and  forbad  his  preaching  there  any  more  ;  no,  nor 
durst  the  more  ingenuous  Dr.  Morton,  the  bishop  o{  Durham,  afford  him 
an}'  countenance  or  connivance,  inasmuch  as  the  primate  of /Jng/anc?  had 
looked  with  so  hard  an  eye  upon  him. 

§  7.  While  he  was  thus  denyed  the  liberty  of  preachmg  the  truths  of 
the  gospel,  as  much  as  in  the  remotest  corners  of  the  land,  the  removal 
of  Mr.  Cotton,  Mr.  Hooker,  Mr.  Stone,  and  Mr.  U'ehl  into  .Xtxc-England, 
had  awakened  many  pious  people,  all  England  over,  to  think  of  the  like 
removal;  and  several  of  his  friends  already  gat  into  j\'eic- En  gland,  as 
well  as  others,  that  were  now  going  thither,  invited  him  to  accompany 
them  in  the  condition  of  that  plantation.  Wherefore  he  considered  with 
himself,  thut  he  could  not  propose  to  himself  the  peaceable  exercise  of 
his  ministry  in  any  part  of  Eiigland  ;  that  his  most  intimate  friends  had 
many  ways  expressed  their  desires  of  his  going  with  them  into  another 
country  ;  that  man}'  eminent  ministers,  and  excellent  christians,  had  al- 
ready transplanted  themselves  ;  that  he  could  not  with  a  safe  conscience 
comply  with  the  ceremonies,  and  mixt  communion  at  home  ;  that  it  was 
his  duty  to  seek  the  enjoyment  of  divine  ordinances  in  a  further  measure, 
than  was  there  attainable  ;  and  that  it  would  be  :.  sad  thing  for  him,  in 
case  of  mortality,  to  leave  his  zi'ife  and  .so*?,  in  the  midst  of  the  northern 
barbarities  ;  which  considerations  now  disposed  him  for  Kexa:- England, 
So  liavmg  preached  his  farczL-el  sermon  at  jYeza-castle,  he  came  from 
thence  in  a  disguise  to  Ipszvich,  and  from  thence  to  Earl's  Coin  :  longing 
to  be  in  a  country,  wliere  he  might  not  lose  any  more  precious  time, 
through  the  inconveniences  of  vnsettlement. 

§  8.  Mr.  Shcpard,  and  Mr.  JVorlon  coming  now  together  unto  Yar- 
mouth, to  take  shipping  for  j\''ezv- England,  they  were  much  way-laid  by 
pursevants,  employed  for  the  trepanning  and  entrapping  of  them  ;  and 
ihese  pursevants  had  proceeded  so  far,   as  by  a  sum  of  money  to  obtain 


Book  III.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  347 

H  promise  from  a  boy,  belonging  to  the  house,  where  they  scented  IMr. 
SL'parcVs  quarters,  thai  be  would  open  the  door  tor  them,  to  take  him  lil 
a  certain  hour  of  the  iiiji;ht.  But  behold  the  watchful  providence  of  (jod, 
over  his  faithful  servants  !  The  gracious  and  serious  words  of  Mr. 
Shepard,  in  the  hearing  of  this  unlucky  boy,  struck  him  with  horror  to 
think,  that  he  should  be  so  wicked,  as  to  betray  such  an  holy  man. 
Whereupon  the  convinced  boy,  did  with  tears  discover  the  whole  plot, 
unto  his  godly  master,  who  forthwith  conveyed  Mr.  Shepard,  out  of  the 
way,  and  confounded  tlie  setters  that  v.oiild  have  catched  him. 

§  9.  It  was  the  latter  end  of  the  3'ear  1634,  :z'lien  sailing  Zi-as  now  dan- 
gerous, that  Mr.  Shepard  shipped  himself,  in  a  ship  of  about  four  hundred 
tun  ;  commanded  by  a  very  able  seaman,  but  under  a  perpetual  entail  and 
series  of  disasters.,  after  some  injustice  had  been  used  about  her.  They 
set  sail  from  Harzi'ich.  upon  the  edge  of  the  winter  ;  but  after  several 
deliverances  from  several  distresses,  within  a  few  hours  of  their  first  set- 
ting out,  the  winds  drove  them  again  back  into  Yarmouth  road  ;  where 
there  arose  one  of  the  most  fearful  storms  that  ever  was  known.  They 
thought  they  had  lost  all  their  anchors,  and  with  their  anchors  all  their 
hopes  ;  and  though  thousands  from  Yarmonik  walls  did  pity  them,  yet  none 
could  relieve  them  :  however,  the  compassions  of  an  eminent  officer, 
then  amongst  the  spectators,  were  a  little  distinguished,  when  he  scofF- 
ingly  said  ;  As  far  a  poor  collier  there  in  the  road,  he  pitied  him  viry  much  ; 
but  asjor  the  Puritans  in  the  other  ship,  he  was  not  concerned,  their  faith 
would  save  them.  In  this  extremity,  Mr.  Shepard,  with  all  the  mariners 
in  one  part  of  the  ship,  and  Mr.  JVorton,  with  two  hundred  passengers  in 
the  other,  poured  out  their  most  fervent  prayers  unto  Almighty  God  ; 
whereupon  the  wind  immediately  so  abated,  that  the  ship  stayed  ;  and 
they  found,  though  the  upper  part  of  the  vessel  all  broken,  yet  their  last 
anchor  unbroken,  and  themselves  delivered  from  so  great  a  death. 

§  10.  The  next  day,  which  was  the  Lord''s  day,  he  went  ashore  to  Yar~ 
mouth,  where  one  of  his^rsiworAs,  was  to  bury  his  first-born  son  ;  though 
he  durst  not  himself  be  present  at  the  burial,  because  his  danger  from  the 
horrid  mancatchers  ashoie,  had  less  of  mercy,  and  more  of  horror  in  it,  than 
what  he  escaped  from  the  merciless  and  horrible  waves  of  the  sea.  Mr. 
Bridge  of  Xorzrich,  now  kindly  invited  him  thither  ;  whither,  when  he 
came,  the  worthy  Madam  Corbet  freely  offered  him  a  great  liouse  of  hers, 
then  standing  empty  at  Bastrn'ick;  and  there  he  spent  all  the  winter,  in 
the  company,  and  with  the  assistance  (>(  Mr.  Harlackinden,  a  friend  that 
loved  him  at  all  times.  In  the  spring  he  went  up  to  London  ;  where  by 
a  removal  from  the  lodgings,  which  he  took  at  his  first  arrival  there,  he 
again  very  narrowly  escaped  those,  to  zchom  such  a  shepherd  teas  an  abom- 
ination. 

The  perils  wherein  he  was  continually, /rflm/iis  own  country-men,  com- 
pelled him  once  more  to  encounter  the  perils  at  sea ;  so  that  in  Jidy  fol- 
lowing, he  sailed  from  Gravesend,  in  a  bottom  too  decayed  and  feeble 
indeed,  for  such  a  voyage  ;  but  yet  well  accommodated  with  the  society 
of  Mr.  Wilson,  Mr.  Jones,  and  other  christians,  which  more  significantly 
made  good  the  name  of  the  ship.  The  Defence.  In  their  first  storm,  the 
vessel  sprang  a  leak,  which  let  in  the  water  faster,  than  both  pumps  were 
able  to  turn  it  out  ;  a  leak  eighteen  inches  long,  and  an  inch  wide  :  but 
it  was,  though  with  much  difficulty  found  and  stopped,  just  as  they  were 
upon  diverting  into  Ireland  for  their  safety.  Being  thus  again  delivered, 
they  got  into  New-England,  and  on  Oct.  3,  they  were  set  ashore  at  Bos- 


348  THE  HiyrORV  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  ill. 

ton;  from  whence,  within  a  day  or  two,  his   friends  at  Camh-'idge  gladly 
fetched  hiai. 

§  11.  Mr.  Hooker,  with  hi's  congregatioa  at  Cam6rK?o-e,  now  remov- 
ing to  Hartford,  upon  Connecticut  river,  many  comfortable  dwellings, 
aud  considerable  demesnes,  were  hereby  somewhat  prepared  for  sale  to 
the  good  people,  which  Mr.  Shepard  brought  over  with  him,  who  were 
loth  to  lose  any  more  of  their  short  lives,  by  more  tedious  removals. 
Accordingly,-  taking  up  their  station  at  Cambridge,  Mr.  Shepard,  with 
several  of  his  good  people,  did  on  the  tii'st  of  the  ensuing  Februarij,  in 
a  vast  ass^embly,  wherein  were  present  the  magistrates  of  the  colony, 
with  the  iiunislers  and  inessengers  of  the  neighbouring  churches,  keep 
a  day  of  prayer ;  in  the  close  of  which  day,  they  made  a  confession  of 
their  faitk,  with  a  declaration  of  what  regeneraling  impressions  the 
grace  oi'  God  had  made  upon  them  ;  and  then  they  entred  into  their 
cove/ian;,  whereby  they  became  a  church;  to  which  Mr.  Cotton,  in  the 
name  of  the  rest,  gave  the  right  hand  of  felloxcship.  However,  the  or- 
diiiation  of  Mr.  Shepard,  unto  the  pastoral  charge  of  this  church,  was 
deferred,  until  another  day  wherein  there  was  more  time  to  go  through 
the  other  solemnities,  proper  to  such  a  great  occasion. 

§  12.  Within  a  year  after  the  gathering  of  the  church  at  Camlridgc, 
and  the  ordaining  of  Mr.  Shepard  in  that  church  ;  the  country  was 
miserably  distracted  by  a  storm  of  Antinornian  and  Familistical  opiiriona 
then  raised.  The  mother  opinion  of  all  the  rest  was.  That  a  christian 
should  not  fetch  any  evidence  of  his  good  state  before  God,  from  the  sight 
of  any  inherent  qualijicution  in  him ;  or  from  any  conditional  promise 
m.ade  unto  such  a  qualification.  From  the  womb  of  this  fruitful  opinion, 
and  from  the  countenance  hereby  given  to  immediate  and  unwarranted 
revelations,  'tis  not  easie  to  relate,  how  many  monstcts,  worse  than 
African,  arose  in  these  regions  of  America  :  but  a  synod  assembled  at 
Cambridge,  whereof  Mr.  Shepard  was  no  small  part,  most  happily 
crushed  them  all.  The  vigiianc}'  of  3Ir.  Shepard  was  blessed,  not 
only  for  the  preservation  of  his  own  congregation  from  the  rot  of 
these  opinions,  but  also  for  the  deliverance  of  all  the  flocks,  which 
our  Lord  had  in  the  wilderness.  And  it  was  with  a  respect  unto  this 
vigilancy,  and  the  enlightning  and  powerful  ministry  of  Mr.  Shepard, 
that  when  the  foundation  of  a  colledge  was  to  be  laid,  Cambridge  rather 
than  any  other  place,  was  pitched  upon  to  be  the  seat  of  that  happy 
seminary  :  out  of  which  there  proceeded  many  notable  preachers,  who 
were  made  such,  very  much  by  their  sitting  under  Mr.  Shepard' 
ministry. 

§  13.  It  has  been  a  question  of  some  curiosity,  what  might  be  tin 
distemper  of  Hezekiah,  whereof  he  recovered  so  remarkably,  and  nii 
raculously  ?  Now  when  I  consider  the  chattering,  whereto  the  sick 
prince  was  brought  by  his  disease,  and  the  cataplasm  which  he  used  of 
thinfi;s  discu.^sive  and  emollient,  i  incline,  with  Bariholinus,  to  think, 
that  his  distemper  might  be  a  m'dignant  quiasie,  whereof  usually 
the  sick  are  either  killed,  or  (like  Hezekiah)  cured  on  the  third 
day.  Such  a  distemper  arrested  our  holy  Shepard,  when  in  the 
course  of  nature,  and  in  the  wish  of  good  men,,  he  might  have  yet 
lived  with  us,  for  much  more  than  fifteen  years;  yea,  twice  fifteen 
more,  would  scarce  have  carried  him  further  than  the  common  age  u* 
man.  Returning  home  from  a  council  at  Romly,  he  fell  into  a  quin^ic, 
with  a  symptomatical  fever,  which  suddenly  stopped  a  silver  trumpet, 
from  whence  the  people  of  God  had  often  he^ird  the  joyful  sound.     Amonp; 


Cook  111.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  349 

other  passages  uttered  by  him,  when  he  lay  a  dying,  he  addressed  those 
that  were  about  him,  with  these  words  :  Oh  love  the  Lord  Jesus  very 
dearly  ;  that  little  part  that  I  have  jm  him,  is  no  small  comfort  to  me  noxa. 
He  died,  August  25,  1649,  when  he  was  forty-three  years,  and  nine 
months  old  ;  and  left  behind  him  of  three  v.-ives,  which   he  successively 

married,  three  sons,  who  have  since  been  the  shepherds  of  three  several 

hurches  in  this  country. 
§   14.   'Tis  a  good  saying,  Ao?i  Annis  sed  Factis  vivunt  mortales.     Ac- 
cordingly, we  will  over-again  measure  the  short  life  of  Mr.  Shepard,  bv 
the  great  Tcork  which  he  did  in  it :  in  all  of  which,  the  motto  of  Weber 
was  the  design  of  our  Shepard,  Av.tori  Fitce  Viveadum  deo. 

Now  besides  the  other  frequent  and  constant  labours  of  his  ministry, 
which  left  their  impressions  on  the  souls  of  multitudes,  where-ever  he 
came,  the  press  has  preserved  some  of  his  labours  for  the  surviving, 
generation  :  and  the  published  composures  of  this  laborious  person,  are 
of  two  sorts;  namely,  the  more  doctrinal,  and  the  more  practical; 
though  indeed  he  was  of  such  a  spirit,  as  always  to  gain  the  point,  of 
mixing  both  in  the  sam.e  discourses. 

§  15.  Among  his  composures  of  the  more  doctrinal  sort,  the  bell  seems 
to  be  born  by  his  elaborate  and  judicious  treatise,  entituled.  Theses  Subba- 
ticoi ;  wherein  he  hath  handled  the  morality  of  the  sabbath  with  a  degree 
of  reason,  reading,  and  religion,  which  is  truly  extraordinary.  It  was 
his  observation,  If  any  state  zvould  reduce  the  people  under  it,  unto  all  son 
of  superstition  and  impiety,  let  them  erect  a  dancing  sabbath  ;  and  if  the  God 
of  this  world  u-ould  have  all  professors  enjoy  a  total  immunity  from  the  laTS 
of  God,  and  all  manner  of  licentiousness  allowed  them  wi'hout  check  of  con- 
science, let  him  then  make  an  every-day  sabbath.  And  it  was  an  extreme 
grief  unto  liis  devout  soul,  to  see  the  extreme  ignorance  and  profantness, 
wherewith  many  in  the  English  nation  decried  the  sacred  observation  of 
the  Lord's  day  as  a  novelty  no  older  than  Perkins,  and  as  the  str.it:!gem  of 
a  few  old  disciplinarian  Puritans.  Wherefore  as  the  most  comprehensive 
service  to  be  done  for  the  true  power  of  godliness,  wliich  he  saw  wouW 
rise  and  fall  with  the  sabbath,  he  did  in  these  learned  theses  maintain  ihf 
morality,  and  advise  the  sanctiftcation  of  that  sacred  rest.  Having  thus  man- 
ifested his  concern  for  the/o«r?/i  commandment,  he  manifested  a  concern 
for  the  second  also  ;  by  a  discourse,  wherein  besides  a  more  lull  opening 
of  sundry  particulars  concerning  liturgies,  the  power  of  the  keys,  the  mat- 
ter of  the  visible  church,  there  is  more  largely  handled  the  controversie 
concerning  the  Catholick  visible  church  ;  tending  to  clear  up  the  old  way 
of  Christ,  in  the  churches  of  JVew-England.  That  which  inspired  him. 
with  Mr.  John  Allin  of  Dedhan,  to  write  this  discourse,  was  especially 
a  two  fold  consideration,  expressed  among  other  thing*,  in  the  fair  porch 
of  this  book,  about  the  temple  of  God.  One  thing  that  moved  him,  wa^ 
his  desire  of  reformation :  whereof  he  says,  IVe  freely  confess,  that  wf 
think  the  reformation  of  the  church  doth  not  only  consist  in  purging  out  cor 
rupt  worship,  and  setting  up  the  true,  but  also  in  purging  the  churches  from 
such  profaneness  and  sinfulness,  as  is  scandalous  to  the  gospel,  and  make<~ 
the  Lord  weary  of  his  own  ordinances. 

About  the  way  of  attaining  which  reformation,  he  adds,  ^Tis  true: 
where  there  is  no  church-relation,  but  a  people  are  ready  to  begin  a  Rrti- 
constituting  of  churches,  reformation  is  to  be  sought  in  the  first  const ii ution  : 

this  is  our  case But  ivliere  corrupted  churches  (such  as  wc  conceive 

ihe  congregation  of  England  rrcneralUj  to  be)  are  to  be  reformed ;  there  ttv 
"^nceive.  that  such  congregations  shoidd  he  called  bv  fif>'e  '>nuii<ite'-<;  n-j^n  '■■.■- 


350  THE  HISTORY   OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         fBooK  \U. 

penfancc  for  former  evils,  and  confcssirig  and  he-wailing  their  sins,  renezc  a 
solemn  covenant  -xith  God,  to  r<forin  themselves,  and  to  submit  unto  the  dis- 
cipline of  Lhrist.  By  zvhich  means  such  as  refuse  so  to  do,  exclude  them- 
selves, and  others,  by  the  severity  of  discipline  shoidd  be  purged  out.  if  falling 
into  sin  they -remain  impenitent  in  the  same. 

Another  thing  that  moved  him,  ^vas  his  regard  for  Kezo-England, 
whereof  his  words  there  must  never  be  forgotten  ;  and  the  reason  of  my 
transci-ibing  them,  is,  because  the  Church  History  of  my  country  is  briefly 
comprised  in  them,  saith  lie,  '  The  Lord  knozjs  how  many  longings  and 
pantings  of  heart  have  been  in  many  after  the  Lord  Jesus,  to  see  his  go- 
ings in  the  sanctuary ,  as  the  one  thing  their  souls  desired  and  requested  of 
him,  and  that  they  might  dxsell  in  his  house  for  ever  :  the  fruit  of  which 
prayers,  and  desires,  this  liberty  o{  jYeu-  England,  hath  been  taken  to 
be,  and  thankfully  received  of  God.  Yea,  how  many  serious  consulta- 
tions with  one  another,  and  with  the  faithful  ministers,  and  other  emi- 
nent servants  of  Christ,  have  been  taken  about  this  work,  is  not  unknown 
to  some  ;  and  surely  all  the  persons,  v/hose  hearts  the  Lord  stirred  up 
in  this  business,  were  not  7-ash,  weak  spirited,  inconsiderate  of  what  they 
left  behind,  or  of  what  it  was  to  go  into  a  wilderness.  But  if  we  were 
able  to  recount  the  singular  workings  of  divine  providence,  for  the 
bringing  on  this  work,  to  what  it  is  come  unto,  it  would  stop  the  mouths 
of  all  ;  whatever  many  may  say  or  think,  we  believe  after  times  will 
admire  and  adore  the  Lord  herein,  when  all  his  holy  ends,  and  the  ways  he 
has  used  to  bring  them  about,  shall  appear.  Look  from  one  end  of  the 
heaven  unto  another,  whether  the  Lord  hath  assayed  to  do  such  a  work 
as  this,  in  any  nation  !  to  carry  out  a  people  of  his  own,  from  so  ^flour- 
ishing a  state,  to  a  wilderness  su  fur  dis'ant,  for  such  ends,  and  for  such  a 
work;  yea,  and  in  few  years  hath  done  for  them,  as  he  hath  here  done, 
for  his  poor  despised  people.  When  we  look  back  and  consider,  what 
a  strange  poise  of  spirit,  he  hath  laid  upon  many  of  our  hearts,  we 
cannot  but  wonder  at  our  selves,  that  so  many,  and  some  so  w'cak  and 
tender,  with  such  cheerfulness  and  constant  resolutions,  against  so  many 
perswasions  of  friends,  and  discouragements  from  the  ill  report  of  thib 
country,  the  straits,  wants,  and  trials  of  God's  people  in  it,  yet  should 
leave  our  accommodations,  and  comforts,  fn-sake  our  dearest  relations, 
parents,  brethren,  sisters,  christian  friends  and  acquaintances ;  over- 
look all  the  dangers  and  difficulties  of  the  vast  seas,  the  thoughts  where- 
of was  a  terror  to  many  ;  and  nil  this,  to  go  into  a  zcilderness,  where  we 
could  forecast  nothing  but  care  and  temptations,  only  in  hopes  of  enjoying 
Christ  in  his  ordinances,  in  the  fellowship  of  his  people.  Was  this  from 
a  stupid  sencclesnes.:,  or  desperate  carelessness,  what  became  of  us,  or 
ours  ?  or  want  of  natural  uff'ections  to  our  dear  countrv-,  or  nearest  re- 
lations ?  No  surely,  with  what  bowels  of  compassions  to  our  dear 
country ;  with  what  heart-breaking  atlections  to  our  dear  relations,  and 
christian  friends,  many  of  us  at  least,  came  away,  the  Lord  is  witness. 
What  shall  we  say  of  the  singular  providence  of  God,  bringing  so  many 
ship-load^-  of  his  people  through  so  many  dangers,  as  upon  eagles^  w-ings, 
with  so  much  safety  from  year  to  year  ?  the  fatherly  care  of  our  God^ 
in  feeding  and  cloaibing  so  many  in  a  wilderness,  giving  such  heaHhfnl- 
ness,  and  great  increase  of  posterity  ?  What  shall  we  say  of  the  work 
it  self  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ?  and  the  form  of  a  commonwealth 
erected  in  a  wilderness,  and  in  so  few  years  brought  to  that  state,  that 
scarce  the  like  can  be  seen  in  any  of  our  English  colonies,  in  the  richest 
places  of  this  America,  after  manv  more  years'  standing?     That  lh»'' 


Book  III.]  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.  Sol 

'  Lord  hiith  ciinietl  the  spirits  of  so  many  of  his  people,  througli  all 
'  their  toilsome  hibours,  w;ints,  difFifuUies,  losses,  with  such  a  measure 
'  of  cheeriiilncss  and  contentment.  But  above  all,  we  must  acknowledge 
'  the  siii-njJar  pity  and  mercies  of  our  God,  thai  hath  done  all  this,  and 
'  much  more,  for  a  people  so  nnxsoithy,  so  jinfui,  that  by  innrmnrings  o^ 
'  many,  itnfaithfulness  in  jiromises^  oppressions,  and  other  evils,  which  arc 
'  found  among  us,  have  so  dishonoured  his  Majesty,  exposed  his  work 
'  here  to  much  scandal  and  obloquy,  for  which  we  have  cause  for  ever  to 
'  be  ashamed,  that  the  Lord  should  yet  own  us,  and  rather  correct  us  in 
'  mercy,  than  cast  us  oft'  in  displeasure,  and  scatter  us  in  this  wilderness  ; 
'  which  gives  us  cause  to  say,  '  Who  is  a  God  like  our  God,  that  pardons 
'  i7iiquilies,  and  passes  by  the  transgressions  of  the  remnant  of  his  heritage  : 
*  even  because  lie  delighleth  in  nieroj  .'' 

Having  almost  written  the  life  of  Mr.  Shepard ;  yea,  of  many  other 
his  fellow  exiUs,  in  transcribing  this  passage,  1  may  now  go  on  to  add, 
that  there  has  been  directed  now  unto  the  whole  Eriglish  world,  a  most 
excellent  letter  of  Mr.  Shepard,  about,  the  church-membership  of  children, 
and  their  right  to  baptism.  This  letter,  like  that  of  the  glorious  martyr 
Philpot,  written  at  the  like  time,  for  the  like  end,  recited  in  Foxc's  Acts 
and  Monuments,  was  written  by  him,  not  three  months  before  his  going  to 
that  Lord,  whose  charge  had  been.  For  little  children  to  be  considered  as- 
belonging  to  the  kingdom  of  heaven :  and  it  was  written  to  one  that  was 
then  wavering  about  the  point  of  infant-baptism,  but  hereby  recovered 
and  established.  The  son  of  this  reverend  person  published  this  letter, 
with  hopes,  that  it  might  have  a  better  effect,  than  the  fmious  letter  of 
Elijah  had  upon  Jehoram,  which  many  think  written  before  his  transla- 
tion, and  concealed  until  a  fit  season,  afterwards,  appeared,  for  the  pre- 
senting of  it.  But  I  shall  conclude  the  catalogue  of  his  doctrinal  tracts, 
with  the  menlioa  of  another  letter  of  his,  printed  at  London  in  the  year 
1645,  under  the  title  of  Kezt.'- En  gland's  Lanuntations ,  for  Old  E7igland\ 
Errors. 

§  IG,  But  composures  of  a  more  practical  sort,  were  those  to  the  wri- 
ting whereof  he  had  a  more  lively  disposition  of  mind.  And  among 
these,  to  pass  by  the  sermon  of  his,  printed  undsr  the  title  of,  Wine  for 
Gospel  Wantons,  or  Cautions  against  Spiritual  Drunhenness.  In  which 
sermon,  about  as  long  as  fifty  years  ago.  he  uttered  his  complaint  of  thi.s 
tenour,  Do  not  zse  see  <yreat  vnsetledness  in  the  covenant  of  God,  riaalking 
■until  Gud  at  pcradvcntures,  and  hanckey'ings  after  the  zchorcdoms  of  the 
world,  at  this  day  ?  and  divisions  and  distractions?  nothing  done  m-ithont 
division  and  contention ?  certainly  something  is  amiss?  Anil  to  pass  by  a 
treatise  of  his,  printed  under  the  title  of.  Subjection  to  Christ,  in  all  hii- 
Ordinances  and  Jlppointments,  the  best  means  to  preserve  our  liberty.  There 
are  especially  three  of  his  books,  which  have  been  more  considered. 
The  tirst  and  least  of  those  books,  is  called.  The  Sincere  Convert:  which 
the  author  wordd  commonly  call,  his  ragged  child ;  and  once,  even  after 
its  fourth  edition,  wrote  unto  Mr.  Giles  Firniin,  thus  concerning  it  :  That 
which  is  called.  The  Sincere  Convert  :  /  have  not  the  book  :  I  once  sazv  it. 
It  was  a  collection  of  such  notes  in  a  dark  to-i:n  in  England,  which  one  pro- 
curing of  me,  published  them  without  my  will,  or  my  privity.  I  scarce 
know  what  it  contains,  nor  do  I  like  to  see  it ;  considering  the  many  'E<px>if^cclcc 
typographica,  most  absurd ;  and  the  confession  of  him  that  published  it,  that 
it  comes  out  miich  altered  from  what  rvas  frst  written.  The  many  injudi- 
cious readers,  which  that  useful  hoi'k  has  found,  among  devout  and  serious 
people,  and  the  vvoful  horrors  which  have   thereby  been  raised  in  many 


352  THE  liiSTOKV  OF  NEW-ENGLAi\D.         [Book  Ijj 

godly  souls,  oblige  me   to  add  the  censure  of  Mr.  Giles  Firmin,  whose 
words  in  his  Real  Christian  are  :  '  In  short,  as  to  that  hook,  for  the  gene- 
'  ral  part  of  it,  the  book  is  very  solid,  quick,  and  searching,  it  cuts  very 
'  sharply.     It  is  not  a  book  for  an  iinsouvd  heart  to  delight  in  :  I  mean,  in 
'  those  places  where  he  agrees,  both  with  the  scriptures,  and  with  other 
'■  able  divines,  and  of  these  makes  use  ;  but  for  the  other  passages  which 
'  do  not  agree  with  either  (as  there  are  some  things  in  it)  1  will  let  them 
'  go,  as  being  none  of  Mr.  Shepard''s,  and  not  trouble  my  self  with  them  ; 
'  and  wish  no  christian  that  is  tender  and  sincere,  to  trouble  himself  with 
'  them.      This  I  put  in,  because  I  hear  that  book  hath  caused  much  trou- 
'  ble  in  gracious  christians  :   had  it  been  to  christians  in  name  only,  unsound 
'  believers,  hypocrites,  i  should  not  have  troubled  my  self  about   it,  for  1 
'  know  it  is  not  for  their  tooth.'     But  this  book   was  followed  with  a  se- 
cond and   larger,  called.    The  Sou7id  Believer;  which  in  a  more  distinct, 
correct,  and  most  judicious  treatise  of  evangelical  conversion,  discovers 
the  work  of  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  in  reconciling  of  a  sinner 
unto  God.     And,  as  in  the  preface  to  that  book,  he  gives  that  reason  for 
his  writing  it,  '  I  considered  my  weak  body,  and  my  short  time  of  sojourn - 
'■  ing  here,  and  that  I  shall  not  speak  long  to  children,  friends  or  God's 
'  precious  people  ;  /  am  sure  not  to  manii  in  England,  to  whom  I  owe  al- 
'  most  my  whole  self,  and  whom  I  shall  see  in  this  world   no  more  ;  I  have 
'  been  therefore  willing  to  take   the  season,  that  I  might  leave  some  part  of 
'  God's  precious  truth  on  record,  that  it  might  speak  (Oh  !  that  it  might  be 
'  to  the  heart)  among  whom  I  cannot,  and  when  I   shall  not  be  :'  so  the 
next  book  of  his  occurring  to  our  notice,  is  a  posthumous  one.     And  thai 
IS  a  volume  in  folio,  opening  and  applying  the  parable  of  the  ten  virgins  ,* 
and  handling  the  dangers  incident  unto  the  most  nourishing  churches  or 
christians  ;   which  book  is  from  the  author's  notes,  a  transcript  of  ser- 
mons preached  at  his  lecture,  i'rom  June  1626,  to  May  1640.      Whereof 
the  venerable  names  of  Greenhil,  Calamy,  Jackson,  Ash,  Taylor,  have  sub- 
scribed the  testimony.  That  though  a  vein  of  serious,  solid  and  hearty  piety 
run  through  cdl  this  author's  zvorks,  yet  he  hath  reserved  the  best  wine  till  the 
fast.     These  were  the  works  of  that  man,  whose  death  in   the  Lord,  ha? 
now  carried  him  to  a  rest  from  his  labours. 

§  17.  As  he  was  a  very  studious  person,  and  a  very  lively  preaclicr  : 
and  one  who  therefore  took  great  pains  in  his  preparations,  for  his  pub- 
lick  labours,  which  preparations  he  would  usually  linish  on  Saturday,  by 
two  a  clock  in  the  afternoon  ;  with  respect  whercunto  he  once  used 
these  words,  God  will  curse  that  man''s  labours,  that  lumbers  up  and  down 
in  the  zcorld  all  the  7Peck,  and  then  upon  Saturday  in  the  afternoon  goes  to  his 
study  ;  when  as  God  knows,  that  time  were  little  enough  to  pray  in  and  weep 
in,  and  get  his  heart  into  a  fit  frame  for  the  deities  of  the  approaching  Sab- 
hath.  So  the  character  of  his  daily  conversation  was  a  trembling  walk. 
with  God.  Now  to  take  true  measures  of  his  conversation,  one  of  the 
best  glasses  that  can  be  used,  is  the  diary,  wherein  he  did  himself  keep 
the  remembrances  of  many  remarkables  that  passed  betwixt  his  God  and 
himself;  who  were  indeed  a  sufficient  theatre  to  one  another.  It  would 
give  some  inequality  to  this  part  of  our  church-history ,  if  all  the  holy  me- 
'inoirslch  in  the  private  writings  of  this  walker  with  God,  should  here  be 
transcribed  :  but  I  will  single  out  from  thence  a  few  passages,  which 
might  be  more  agreeably  and  profitably  exposed  unto  the  world. 

§  10.  We  will  begin  with  what  Ins  eminent  successor  Mr.  Mitchel  en- 
tred  in  his  own  diary,  as  reported  by  Mr.  Shepard  unto  himself;  whicli 
runs  in  these  Latin  terms.  OJiw  Cantabrigiro,  Ego  Horrorc  4'  Tenr.hris  op- 


Book  III.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  35$ 

pletus.  An  ad  Mensam  Domini  accederem,  moxime  Duhitavi ;  Tandem 
autem  accessi  utcuncj;,  Cuinvcro  Panis  »5'  Vinmn  jam  essent  Communican- 
da,  mihi  Exeundem  putavi ;  tantd  confusione  fui  oppressus !  Sed  Deus  vie 
ibi  retinnit,  ac  tandem  hue  me  adcgit,  ut,  Licet,  egu  nihil  posnm  in  accipi" 
endo  Christo  ;  ad  ilium  tnmen  respicercm,  ut  iUe  me  prehenderet  4-  ud  me 
veniret.  Statim,  tam  perspicue,  sensi  Christum  ilhicescenfem  Animo,  quam 
solem  Orientem  sentire  possum.  Hue  tantopere  me  evexit.  4"  de  vita  Fidet 
hac  usq;  Erndivit,  ut  non  possum  non  mag?iipendere.  Mr.  MitchcL  had 
this  of  Mr.  Shepard,  Aug    13,  1646. 

§  19.  How  experimentally  acquainted  he  himself  was  with  ihe  practice 
and  import  of  the  doctrine  wherein  he  chiefly  insisted,  in  his  preaching 
unto  others.,  will  be  illustrated  from  this  most  edifying  record  in  his  diary. 

'  .ipril  10.  I  had  many  thoughts  which  came  in,  to  press  me  to  give 
'  up  my  self  to  Christ  Jesus,  which  was  the  dearest  thing  I  had :  and  I 
'  saw,  that  if  when  I  gave  my  self  to  Christ,  he  would  give  himself  to  mc 
'  again,  it  would  be  a  zijonderful  change  ;  to  have  the  bottomless  Foun- 
'  tain  of  all  good,  thus  communicated  unto  me  I  Thus,  t-Si-o  or  three  days, 
'  I  was  exercised  about  this  ;  and  at  last,  (which  was  the  day  wherein  I 

*  fell  sick  on  the  sabbath)  in  my  study  I  was  put  to  a  double  question  :. 

*  First,  Whether  Christ  would  take  me,  if  1  gave  my  self  to  him  ?    Then, 

*  Whether  I  might  take  him  again  upon  it  ?  And  so  I  resolved  to  seek 
'  an  answer  to  both,  from  God  in  meditation.  So  on  the  Saturday,  April 
'  11,  I  gave  myself  to  the  Lord  Jesus,  thus.  First,  1  acknowledged  all  I 
'  was,  or  had,  was  his  own  ;  as  David  spake  of  their  offerings,  I  acknow- 
'  ledged  him  the  oxaner  of  all.  Secondly,  I  resigned  not  only  my  ^oorfs  and 
'  estate,  but  my  child,  n-ife.  church  and  self  unto  the  Lord  ;  Jut  of  love,  as 
'  being  the  best  and  dearest  things,  which  I  have.     Thirdly,  I  prized  it 

*  as  the  greatest  mercy,  if  the  Lord  will  take  theni  ;  and  so  I  desired  the 
'  Lord  to  do  it.     Fourthly,  1  desired  him  to  take  all  for  a  threefold  end  ; 

*  to  do  with  me  what  he  would  ;  to  love  me  ;  to  honour  himself  by  me, 
'  and  all  mine.  Fifthly,  Because  there  is  a  secret  reservation,  that  the 
'  Lord  shall  do  all  for  the  soul  that  giveth  up  it  self  to  the  Lord  ; 
'but  'tis  that    God  may   please   7ny  will   and  love  ?ne,  and  if  he  doth 

*  not,   then    the    heart    dieth  ;    hence    I    gave    up    my  will   also,    into 

*  the  Lord's  hands,  to  do  with  it  what  he  please.  Sixthly,  My  many 
'  whorish  lusts  I  also  resigned,  but  that  he  would  take  them  all  away. 
'  And  Seventhly,  that  he  would  keep  me  also  from  all  sin  and  evil. 
'  Thus,  I  gave  ray  self  unto  the  Lord  ;  but  then  I  questioned.  Will  the 
'  Lord  take  me  ?  In  answer  whereto.  First,  I  saw  that  the  Lord  desired  and 
'  commanded  me  iogive  him  my  heart.  Secondly,  I  saw,  that  this  was 
'pleasing  to  him,  and  the  contrary  displeasing.  Thirdly,  I  saw,  that  it 
'  wasjit  for  him  to  take  me,  and  to  do  what  he  will  with  me.  But  then 
'  I  questioned.  Will  the  Lord  receive,  and  do  me  good  everlastingly  j*  Be- 
'  cause  I  gave  up  my  friends  and  the  whole  clmrch  to  the  Lord  also,  as  I 
'  did  my  self;  and  will  the  Lord  take  all  them  ?  For  answer,  here  I  saw 
'  the  great  privilege  of  it,  and  the  wisdom  of  God  in  committing  some 
'  men's  souls  to  the  care  of  one  godly  man  of  a  publick  spirit,  because 

*  he,  like  Moses,  commends  them,  gives  them,  returns  them  all  to  the 
'  Lord  again  ;  and  so  a  world  of  good  is  communicated  for  his  sake.  The 
'third  question  was,  But  might  I  take  the  Lovd  ?  and  my  answer  was,  If 
'  the  Lord  did  apprehend  and  take  me  to  himself,  then  I  might  take  him, 
'  for  I  had  no  other  to  lay  hold  on. 

Vol.   \.  4.3 


^34  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  III. 

§  20.    Of  what  thoughts  and  wh^t  frames  he  sometimes  had  in  his  prej'- 
arations,  Tor  the  Loi-d's  table,  we  will  recite  but  one  expressive   medii;< 
tion. 

'■July  10,  1641.  On   the  evening  of  this  day,  before  the  sacrament,   i 
'saw  it  my  duty  to  se(juester  my  self  from  all  other  things,  for  the  Lord 

'  the  next  day And  now  I  saw  my  blessedness  did  not  lie  in  receiving 

»  ofgood  and  comfort  from  God,  but  in  holding  forth  theglory  ofGod,  and 
'  his  virtues.  For  'tis,  1  saw  an  amazing  glorious  object,  to  see  God  in  the 
'creature!  God  speiik,  God  act,  the  Deity  not  being  the  creature,  and 
'  turned  into  it  ;  l>i!t  tilling  of  it,  shining  through  it  ;  to  be  covered  with 
'  God  as  with  a  cloud,  or  as  a  glass  lanthorn  to  have  his  beams  penetrate 
'  through  it.  JVothing  is  good  but  God,  and  I  am  no  further  good  than  as  I 
'  hold  forth  God.  The  devil  overcame  Eve  to  damn  her  self,  by  telling 
'  her,  that  she  should  be  like  God.  Oh  !  that  is  a  glorious  thing  !  and 
'  should  not  1  he  holy,  and  be  like  him  ?  Moreover,  I  lound  my  heart  drawn 
'  more  sweetly  to  close  with  God,  thus  as  my  end,  and  to  place  my  happi- 
'  ness  therein.  Also,  I  saw  it  was  my  misery,  to  hold  forth  sin  and  Sata7i 
'  and  self  in  my  course.  And  I  saw  one  of  these  two  things  must  be  done. 
'  Now  because  my  soul  wanted  pleasure,  1  purposed  then  to  hold  forth 
'  God,  and  did  hope  it  should  be  my  pleasure  so  to  do,  as  it  would  be  m}' 
'  pain  to  do  otherwise. 

§  21.  How  u-atchful  he  was  in  thG  discharge  of  his  ministry,  let 
this  his  meditation  intimate. 

'  August  15.  I  saw,  on  the  sabbath,  four  evils  which  attend  me  in  my 
'  ministry.  First,  Either  the  devil  treads  me  down  by  discouragement  and. 
'  skaine  ;  from  the  sense  of  the  meanness  of  what  I  h-ave  provided  in 
'  private  meditations,  and  unto  this  I  saw  also  an  answer;  to  wit,  that 
'  every  thing  sanctified  to  do  good,  its  glory  is  not  to  be  seen  in  it  self, 
'  but  in  the  Lord's  sanctifying  of  it  :  or,  from   an  apprehension   of  thP 

•  uns.ivouriness  of  peoples''  spirits,  or  their  unreadiness  to  hear  in  hot  or 
'  cold  times.  Secondly,  or  carelesncss  possesses  me  ;  arising,  because  J 
'  have  done  well,  and  been  enlarged,  and  have  been  respected  formerly, 
'  hence  it  is  no  such  matter,  though  1  be  not  always  alike  ;  besides,  I 
'  have  a  natural  dulness  and  cloudiness  of  spirit,  which  does  naturally 
'  prevail.  Thirdly.  Infirmities  and  weakness,  as  want  of  light,  want  oflife, 
'  vvant  of  a  spirit  of  power  to  deliver  what  I  am  affected  with  for  Christ  : 
'  and  hence  1  saw  many  souls  not  set  forward  nor  God  felt  in  my  min- 
'  istry.     Fourthly,  Want  of  success,  when  I  have    done  my  best.     I  saw 

■  these,  and  that  I  was  to  be  humbled  for  these.     1  saw  also  many  other 

•  sins,  and  how  the  Lord  might  be  angry.  And  this  day,  in  musing  thus, 
'  I  saw,  that  when  I  saw  God  angry,  1  thought  to  pacify  him  by  abstain- 
'  ivg  from  ail  sin,  for  the  time  to  come.  But  then  1  remembred,  First, 
'  that  my  righteousness  could  not  satistie,  and  that  this  was  resting  on  my 
'  own  righteousness.  Secondly,  I  saw  I  could  not  do  it.  Thirdly,  1  saw 
'  righteousness  ready  made,  and  already  finished,  lit  only  for  that  pur- 
'  pose.  And  I  saw  that  God's  afflicting  me  for  sin,  was  not  that  I  should 
'  go  and  satisfy  by  reforming,  but  only  be  humbled  for,  and  separated 
'  from  sin.  being  reconciled  and  made  righteous  by  faith  in  Christ,  which 
'  I  saw  a  little  of  thist  night.  This  day  also  1  found  my  heart  unto- 
f  ward,  sad  and  heavy,  by  musing  on  the  many  evils  to  come  ;  but  1  saw, 
'  if  I  carried  four  things  in  my  mind  always,  I  should  be  comforted.  First  ^ 
'  that  in  my  self,   I  am  a  dying  condemned  wretch,  but  by  Christ  recoa- 

■  ciled  and  alive.  Secondly,  In  my  self  and  in  all  creatures  tinding  »«- 
■^  snfjlcicnchj,  and  no  rest  but  God  all-sufficient,  and  enough  to  me.     Third- 


Hook  III.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  3F>o 

'  ly,  Feeble  and  unable  to  do  any  thing  my  self;  but  in  Cbrist  able  to 
'  do  all  things.     Fnnrthhj,  Although    1  enjoyed    all  these  but  in   part,  in 

■  this  world,  yet  I  should  have  them  all  jierfectly  shortly  in  heaven  ; 
'  where  God  will  show  himself'  fully  reconciled,  sufficient  and  efficient, 

■  and  abolish  all  sins,  and  live  in  me  perfectly. 

§  22.  How  sensible  he  was  of  the  least  failings  in  himself,  and  how 
desirous  to  mend  those  failings,  maybe  gathered  from  the  ensuing  brief 
meditations. 

'  December  1.  A  small  thing  troubled  me.  Hence  I  saw  that  though 
'  the  Lord  had   made  me  that  night  attain  that  part  of  humiliation,  that  I 

•  deserved  nothing  but  misery,  yet  I  fell  short  in  this  other  part  ; 
'  namely,  to  submit  unto  God  in  any  crossing  providence,  or  command- 
'  ment  ;  but  1  had  a  spirit  soon  touched  and  provoked.  I  saw  also,  that 
'  the  Lord  let  sin  and  Satan  prevail  there,  that  1  might  see  my  sin  and 
'  be  more  humbled  by  it,  and  so  get  strength  against  it. 

Again. 
'  March     19.   I  said,  as  pride  was  my  sin,  so  shame  should  be  my  pun- 

•  ishment.  And  many  fears  I  had  of  EWs  punishment,  for  not  reproving 
-  sin,  when  I  saw  it,  and  that  sharply  ;  and  here  1  considered,  that  the 
'  Lord  may.  and  doth  sometimes  make  one  good  man  a  terrour  and  drerd- 

■  ful  example  of  outward  mi'^eries,  that  all  others  may  fear  that  be 
"  godly,  lest  his  commands  should  be  slighted,  as  he  did  Eli. 

Once  more. 
'  October  10.  When  I     saw    the  gifts  and  honour  attending  them  in 

■  anot.hi'r,  I  began  to  affect  such  an  excellency  ;  and  I  saw  hereby  that 
'  usually  in  my  ministry,  I  did  affect  an  exce//e?iCi/,  and  hence  set  upon 

•  the    work  :  whereas   the  Lord  hereupon   humbled  me  for  this,  by  let- 

•  ting  me  see  this  was,  a  diabolical  pride  ;  and  so  the  Lord  made  me 
'  thankful  fir  seeing  it  and  put  me  in  mind  to  watch  against  it. 

§  'io.  Of  how  humble  and  of  how  publick  a  spirit  he  was,  we  will 
inform  our  selves,  especilly  from  (u-o  meditations,  which  he  wrote  on  such 
days  of  prayer,  as  he  was  used  unto. 

The  first  was  this. 
•  jYov.  3.  On  a  fast  day  at  night,  in  preparation  for  the  duty,  the  Lord 

•  made  me  sensible  of  these  sins  in  the  churches.  1.  Ignorance  of  them- 
'  selves  ;  because  of  secret  evils.  2,  Of  God;  because  most  men  were 
'  full  of  dark  and  doubtful  consciences.  3.  Not  caring  for  Christ,  dearly, 
'only.  4.  Neglect  of  duffcs  ;  because  ofour  place  of  security.  5.  Stand- 
'  ing  against  all  7neans,  because  we  grow  not  better.  6.  Earthlincss ; 
'  because  we  long  not  to  be  with  Christ.  And  1  sav/  sin,  as  my  greatest 
'  evil,  because  I  saw  my  sg//"  was  not  better  than  God.  I  was  vile,  but  he 
'  was  good  only,  whom  my  sin  did  cross  ;  and  1  saw  what  cause  I  had 
'  to  loath  my  self,  and  not  to  seek  honour  unto  my  self.  Will  any  desire 
'  his  dunghill  to  be  commended  ?  will  he  grieve,  if  it  be  not  ?  if  he 
'judge  so  indeed  of  it.  So  my  heart  began  to  fall  off  from  it ;  and  the 
'  Lord  also  gave  me  some  glimpse  of  my  self,  and  a  good  day  and  time  it 
'  was  to  me. 

'  On  the  end  of  the/as^,  \  first  went  unto  God,  I  rested  upon  him  as  suffi- 
'  cient  ;  secondly,  waited  on  him  as  efficient  ;  and  said,  Noxv  Lord,  do  for 
'  thy  churches  and  help  in  mercy  !  In  the  beginning  of  the  day,  I  began  to 
'  consider,  whether  all   the  country  did  not  fare  the  m-orse for  my  sins?  I 


356  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  [Book  Hi. 

*■  saw  it  was  so,  and  this  was  an  humbling  thought  to  me  ;  and  I  thought, 

*  if  every  one  in  particular,  thought  so  and  was  humbled,  it  would  do  well. 

*  I  consider  also,  that  if  repentance  turn  away  judgments,  then,  if  the  ques- 
'  tion  be,  Who  they  are  that  bring  judgments  ?  the  answer  would  be.  They 
"  that  think  their  sins  so  small  as  that  God  is  not  angry  with  them  at  all. 

TJie  second  was  this. 

April  4.     Preparing  for  a  fast. 

'  May  not  I  be  the  cause  of  the  church'' s  sorrows,  which  are  renewed 
'  upon  us  ?  for,  what  have  the  sheep  done  ? 

'  I.  My  heart  has  been  long  lying  out  from  the  Lord.  The  Lord /irsi 
'  sent  a  terrible  siorm^  at  sea,  to  awaken  me  ;  and  the  deliverance  from  it 
'  was  so  sweet,  that  I  could  not  but  think  my  life  after  that,  should  be 
'  only  heavenly,  as  being  pulled  from  an  apparent  death  to  live  n  new  life. 
'  Then,  immediately  upon  this  my  child  was  taken  away  from  me  ;  my 
"Jirst-born,  which  made  me  remember,  how  bitter  it  was  to  cross  the 
'  Lord's  love.  Thirdly,  I  set  my  face  to  New- tin  gland,  where  consider- 
'  ing  the  liberties  of  God's  house,  I  resolved  and  thought  it  tit  to  be  wholly 
'  for  the  Lord,  in  all  manner  of  holiness,  at  bed,  at  board,  every  where. 
«  Fourthly,  Then  the  Lord  took  my  dear  zmfe  from  me.  and  this  made  me 
'  resolve  to  delight  no  more  in  creatures,  but  in  the  Lord,  and  to  seek 
'  him.     Fifthly,  The  Lord  then  threatncd  bli7idness  to  my  child  ;  and  this 

*  made  God's  will  afflictiug  sweet  to  me,  but  much  more  commanding 
'  anA  promising :  and  then  I  could  do  his  will,  and  leave  those  things  to 
'  himself.  But  oh  !  how  is  my  gold  become  dim  ?  and  how  little  have  I 
'  answered  the  Lord !  considering  my  ship  resolutions .  I  have  wanted 
'  remembrance,  heart  and  strength  or  will  to  do  any  of  these  things. 
'  And  therefore,  I  have  not  cause  to  blame  the  Lord  ;  for  he  has  per- 
'  swaded  my  heart  to  this  ;  but  my  own  concupiscence  and  vile  nature, 

*  which  Lord  !  that  I  might  mourn  for  !  that  thou  mayst  restore  comforts 
'  to  me  !  Jlpostacy  from  God  is  grievous,  though  it  be  in  a  little  degree  ; 
'  to  serve  Satan  without  promise  !  to  forsake  the  Lord  against  promise  ! 
'  What  evil  have  I  found  in  the  Lord  ?  This  brings  more  disgrace  upon 
'  the  Lord,  than  if  there  had  never  been  any  coming  to  him. 

'  H.  The  people  committed  to  me  :  they  are  not  pitied  so  much  nor 
"■  prayed  for,  nor  visited,  as  ought  to  have  been  ;  nor  have  1  shewed  so 

*  much  love  unto  them. 

'  HL  The  family,  1  have  not  edified  nor  instructed,  nor  taken  all  occa- 
'  sions  of  speech  with  them. 

'  IV.  Tha  gospel,  I  have  preached,  has  not  been  seen  in  its  glory  ;  not 
'  believed,  not  affecting. 

*  V.  Not  seeking  to  Christ  for  supply  ;  so  that  all  hath  been  dead 
'  works,  and  fruit  of  pride,  walking  daily  without  Christ,  and  without  ap- 
'  proving  myself  unto  him.  And  hence,  though  I  do  his  work,  I  don't 
'mind  him  in  it;  ///s^  command,  His  presence,  nor  yet  endeavour  to 
'  grow  somewhat  every  day. 

'  My  not  lamenting  the  falls  of  professors,  and  the  condition  of  the 
'  country,  vvho  are  not  indeed  the  gl'^ry  of  God  in  the  world,  nor  the  holy 
'people.     Is  it  not  hence,  that  many /?27/a?s  in  the  church  have  fallen,  as 

*  if  the  Lord  would  not  betrust  such  prcciuus  vessels  to  ?/i?/ care  ?  and 
'  hath  not  the  sorrow  lain  upon  me  ?  and  hence  universal  mortality  ? 
'When  Hezekiah^s  heart  was  lifted  up,  then  zi'rath  cume  not  only  ©n  him, 
<  but  on  all  the  rest : 


Book  III.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEVV-ENGLAND.  357 

'  And  I  have  now  had  a  long  sickness,  as  if  the  Lord  would  delight  no 
*•  more  in  me  to  use  me.  Oh  !  my  God,  zclio  shall  be  like  to  thee  in  pardon- 
'  ing  and  subduing  mine  iniquities. 

Behold,  reader,  the  language  of  an  holy  soul  ! 

But  I  will  now  take  my  leare  of  Mr.  Shepurd's  memory,  with  one  dis- 
tick,  in  the  funeral  elegy,  which  Mr.  Peter  Bidkly  made  on  him  :  a  com- 
prehensive. 

EPITAPH. 

.Yolniilis,  Ojfficiiq^;  fuit  Concordia  Dulcis  ; 
Officio  Pastor  Nomine  Pastor  erat. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


Prudentius.      The  Life  of  Mr.  Peter  Prudden,  and  several  other  Di- 
vines, famous  in  the  colony  o{  JVew-Haven. 

That  greatest  of  peace-makers,  the  Son  of  God,  has  assured  us.  Bless- 
ed arc  the  peace-makers,  J  or  tJiey  shall  he  called  the  children  of  God.  I  am 
sure  then,  'tis  a  blessed  child  of  God,  whose  name  is  now  before  us  ; 
[Prudden  shall  we  call  him  ?  or.  Prudent,)  who  besides  his  other  excel- 
lent qualities,  was  noted  for  a  singular  faculty  to  sweeten,  compose  and 
qualify  exasperated  spirits,  and  stop  or  heal  all  contentions.  Whence  it 
was  that  his  town  of  Alilford  enjoyed  peace  ivith  truth  all  his  days,  not- 
withstanding some  dispositions  to  variance,  which  afterwards  broke  forth 
among  them. 

God  had  marvellously  blessed  his  ministry  in  England,  unto  many 
about  Herefordshire,  and  near  Wales;  from  whence  when  he  came  into 
New-England,  there  came  therefore  many  considerable  persons  with 
him. 

At  their  arrival  in  this  country,  they  were  so  mindful  of  their  business 
here,  that  they  gathered  churches,  before  they  had  erected  houses,  for 
the  churches  to  meet  in.  There  were  then  two  famous  c/i«rc/tcs  gath- 
ered at  New-Haven  ;  gathered  in  two  days,  one  following  upon  the  oth- 
er ;  Mr.  Davenporfs  and  Mr.  Prudden'' s :  and  this  with  one  singular 
circumstance,  that  a  mighty  barn  was  the  place,  wherein  the  duties  of 
that  solemnity  were  attended.  Our  glorious  Lord  Jesus  Christ  himself 
being  born  in  a  stable,  and  laid  in  one  of  those  moveable  and  four-squar- 
ed little  vessels  wherein  they  brought  meat  unto  the  cattel.  it  was  the 
more  allowable,  that  a  church,  which  is  the  mystical  body  of  that  Lord, 
should  thus  be  born  in  a  barn.  And  in  this  translation,  1  behold  our  Lord, 
^ith  his  fan  in  his  hand,  purging  his  floor,  and  gathering  her  wheat  into  the 
garner. 

That  holj'  man,  Mr.  Philip  Henry,  being  reproached  by  his  persecu- 
tors, that  his  meeting-place  had  been  a  barn,  pleasantly  answered,  J\o 
new  thing,  to  turn  a  threshing -floor  into  a  temple.  So  did  our  christian? 
at  New-Haven. 

The  next  year  Mr.  Prudden,  with  his  church,  removed  unto  Milford ; 
where  he  lived  many  years  an  example  of  piety,  gravity,  and  boiling  zeal, 
against  the  growing  evils  of  the  times. 


358  THE  HISTORY   OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Boor  III. 

And  though  he  had  a  numerous  family,  yet  such  was  his  discretion,  that 
without  much  dislraction,  he  provided  comfortably  for  them,  notwith- 
standing the  dithcult  circumstances,  wherewith  an  ivfant-jplantation  was 
encumbred. 

He  continued  an  able  and  faithful  servant  of  the  churches,  until  about 
the  Jifty- sixth  year  of  his  own  age,  and  the  ffiy-sixth  of  the  present  age  ; 
when  his  death  was  felt  by  the  colony  as  {he  fall  of  a  pillar,  which  made 
the  whole  fabrick  to  shake. 

Like  that  of  Piccart,  now  let  our  Prudden  lie  under  this 

EPITAPH. 

Dogmate  non  tantum  fuit  Auditoribus  Idem 
Exempto  in  Vita;  jam  quoque  morte  pratit. 

But  our  pen  having  flown  as  far  off  as  the  colony  o{  Js'c-jo- Haven,  it  may 
not  return,  without  some  remarks  and  memoirs,  of  three  other  worthy 
divines,  that  were  sometimes  famous  in  that  colony.  The  reader  must 
excuse  my  ignorance  of  the  first  circumstances,  if  he  find  them  to  be  horn 
men  in  our  history. 

Mr.  Blackman, 

Mr.  PiERsoN, 

Mr.  Dlxton. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

The  Life  of  Mr.  Adam  Blackman. 

Among  those  believers  who  first  enjoyed  the  name  o(  christians,  there 
were  several  famous  teachers,  whereof  one  (^Acts  xiii.  1.)  had  the  name  of 
Jsfiger.  And  in  the  primitive  churches  oi  Neix-- En  gland  also,  there  was 
among  our  famous  teachers,  a  good  man,  who  wore  the  same  sir-name, 
this  was  our  Mr.  Blackman,  concerning  whom,  none  but  a  Romanist 
would  have  used  that  rule  : 

Hie  JS'iger  est,  hunc  (u  Romane,  caveto. 

For  he  was  highly  esteemed  in  the  protestant  country,  where  he  spent 
the  latter  days  of  his  life. 

He  was  a  usefiil  preacher  of  the  gospel,  first  in  Leicestershire,  then  in 
Derbyshire :  but  coming  to  J\~ew-E7igland,  from  the  storm  that  began  to 
look  black  up-on  him,  he  was  attended  with  a  desirable  company  of  the 
faithful,  who  said  unto  hina,  Entreat  us  not  lo  leave  you,  or  to  return  from 
following  after  you  :  for  "jchither  you  go,  ti-e  7s:ill  go  ;  and  your  God  shall 
be  our  God. 

New-England  having  received  this  holy  man,  who  notwithstanding  his 
name,  was  for  his  holiness,  A  Nazarite  purer  than  s>iow,  whiter  than 
milk.  It  was  first  at  Guilford,  and  afterwards  at  Stratford,  that  he  em- 
ployed his  talents  ;  and  if  a  famous  modern  author  be  known  by  the  name 
oi' Adamus  Adamandus,  onr  Adam  Blackman,  was  by  the  affections  of  his 
people  so  likewise  called. 


UooK  III.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEVV-ENGLAND.  359 

It  was  hi?  opinion,  that  as  for  our  bodies,  thus  for  our  spirits  aho,  Ci- 
bus  simplex  est  Opiimxis  :  and  accordingly  he  studied  pAain  preaching, 
which  was  entertained  by  his  people  with  n  profitable  hearing.  And  as 
Luf/ier  would  say,  he  is  the  ablest  preacher,  (^ui  pueriliter,  Triviuliter, 
Populurifer,  simplici-'sime  ducet :  so  our  Hooker,  for  the  sake  of  the  sa- 
cred and  solid  simplicity,  in  the  discourses  of  this  worthy  man,  would 
say,  ///  might  have  my  choice,  I  wotdd  choose  to  live  and  die  under  Mr. 
Black  man's  ministry. 

There  wae  a  great  person  among  the  reformers  in  Germany,  who  had 
almost  the  same  name  with  our  Blackmail ;  that  was  Mclanrthon,  and  in- 
deed this  good  person  was  a  Melancthon,  among  the  reformers  of  JVew- 
Haven ;  in  this  happier  than  he,  that  his  lot  was  cast  among  a  pious  peo- 
ple, who  did  not  administer  so  frequent  occasions  as  the  Germans  did  for 
the  complaint,  That  old  Adam  Tn-as  too  hard  for  his  young  name-sake. 

For  a  close,  I  may  apply  to  him  the  ingenious  epitaph  oi Beza  upon 
Melanhthon. 

Cui  Niveus  toto  Regnahaf,  peciore  Candor  ; 

Unum  cui  Coshim,  cur  a  laborque  fuit : 
Kum  Rogiius,  qua  sit  dictus  Ratione  Melancthon  ? 
Scilicet  Euxinum,  qtid  Ratione  vacant. 

[For  this  is  a  well  known  sea,  called  Euxine,  or  harborous,  because 
there  are  no  good  harbors  in  it.] 


CHAPTER  VIII. 
The  Life  of  Mr.  Abraham  Pierson. 

It  is  reported  by  Pliny,  and  perhaps  'lis  but  a  Plinyism,  that  there  is 
a  tish  called  Lucerna,  whose  tongue  doth  shine  like  a  torch,  if  it  be  a  fa- 
ble, yet  let  the  tongue  of  a  minister  be  the  moral  of  that  foble  ;  now  such 
an  illuminating  t07igue,  was  that  of  our  Pierson. 

He  was  a  Yorkshire  man,  and  coming  to  jYew- England,  he  became  a 
member  of  the  church  at  Boston  ;  but  afterwards  thus  employed,  to- 
wards the  year  1640.  The  inhabitants  of  Lyn,  straitned  at  home,  look- 
ed out  for  a  new  plantation  ;  so  going  to  Long-Island,  they  agreed  both 
with  the  Lord  Starling^s  agent,  and  with  the  Indian  proprietors,  for  a 
situation  at  the  west-end  of  that  island  :  where  the  Dutch  gave  them  such 
disturbance,  that  they  deserted  their  place  for  another  at  the  east-end  of 
it.  Proceeding  in  their  plantation,  by  the  accession  of  near  an  hundred 
families,  they  called  Mr.  Pierson  to  go  thither  with  them  ;  who  with 
seven  or  eight  more  of  their  company,  regularly  incorporated  themselves 
into  a  church  state  before  their  going  ;  the  whole  company  also  entring 
at  the  same  time,  with  the  advice  of  the  government  of  the  Massachuset- 
Bay,  into  a  civil  combination,  for  the  maintaining  government  among 
themselves.  Thus  v?as  there  setled  a  church  at  Southampton,  unAev  the. 
pastoral  charge  of  this  worthy  man  ;  where  he  did  with  a  laudable  dili- 
gence undergo  two  of  the  three  hard  labors,  Docentis  and  Regenlis,  to 
make  it  become  (what  Paradise  was  called,)  an  island  of  the  innocent. 

It  w-is  afterward  found  necessary  for  this  church  to  be  divided.  Up- 
on which  occasion  Mr.  Pierson  referring  his  case  to  council,  his  removal 


^m  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW -ENGLAND.        [Book  ill. 

was  directed  unto  Brainford,  over  upon  the  main,  and  Mr.  Fordham  came 
to  serve,  and  to  feed  that  part  of  the  floek,  which  was  left  at  Southamp- 
ton; but  where-ever  he  came,  he  shone. 

He  left  behind  him  the  character  of  a  pious  and  prudeat  man  ;  and  p 
true  child  of  Abraham,  now  safely  lodged  in  Sum-Mraha. 

EPITAPHIUM. 

Terris  discessit,  suspirans  Gaudia  c(di, 
Piersonus  Patriam  scandit  ad  Astra  suam- 


CHAPTER  IX. 
The  Life  of  Mr.  Richard  Denton. 

The  apostle  describing  the/c/se  mm/s^ers  of  those  primitive  times,  he 
calls  them,  clouds  "without  n-ater,  carried  about  of  -winds.  As  for  the  true 
ministers  of  our  primitive  times,  they  were  indeed  carried  about  of  winds  ; 
though  not  the  winds  of  strange  doctrines ;  yet  the  winds  oi  hard  suffer- 
ingSy  did  carry  them  as  far  as  from  Europe  into  America  ;  the  hurricano^s 
of  persecution,  whereon  doubtless  the  prince  of  the  power  of  the  air  had 
his  influence,  drove  the  heavenly  clouds,  from  one  part  of  that  heaven, 
the  church,  unto  another.  But  they  were  not  clouds  without  water, 
where  they  came  ;  they  came  with  shori:ers  of  blessing,  and  rained  very 
gracious  impressions  upon  the  vineyard  of  the  Lord. 

Among  these  clouds  was  omt  pious  and  learned  Mr.  Richard  Denton,  a 
Yorkshire  man,  who  having  watered  Halifax  in  England,  with  ms  fruit- 
ful ministry,  was  by  a  tempest  then  hurried  into  New-England,  where 
first  at  Weathersfdd,  and  then  at  Stamford,  his  doctrine  dropt  as  the  rain, 
his  speech  distilled  as  the.  dew,  as  the  small  rainupon  the  tender  herb,  and 
as  the  showers  upon  the  grass. 

Though  he  were  a  li/tle  man,  yet  he  had  a  great  soul ;  his  well-accom- 
plished mind,  in  his  lesser  body,  was  an  Iliad  in  a  nut-shell. 

I  think  he  was  blind  of  one  eye  ;  nevertheless  he  was  not  the  least 
among  the  seers  of  our  Israel;  he  saw  a  very  considerable  proportion  of 
those  things  which  eye  hath  not  seen. 

He  was  far  from  cloudy  in  his  conceptions  and  principles  of  divinity  ; 
whereof  he  wrote  a  system,  entituled,  Soliloquia  Sacra  ;  so  accurately, 
considering  the  fourfold  state  of  man,  in  his,  I.  Created  Purity.  II, 
Contracted  Deformity.  III.  Restored  Beauty.  IV.  Ccelestial  Glory. 
That  judicious  persons,  who  have  seen  it,  very  much  lament  the  church- 
es being  so  much  deprived  of  it. 

At  length  he  got  into  heaven  beyond  c/ou(?s,  and  so  beyond  storms; 
waiting  the  return  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  in  the  clouds  of  heaven,  when 
he  will  have  his  reward  among  the  saints. 

EPITAPHIUM. 

Hie  Jacet,  S,'  fruitur  Tranquilla  sede  Richardus 

Dentonus,  cujus  Fama  perennis  erit. 
Ivcola  jam  cadi  velut  Astra  micantia  fiilget^ 
Qui  rrndtis  Fidei  Luminn  clara  dedit. 


Book  III.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND,  2H 

CHAPTER  X. 

The  Life  of  Mr.  Peter  Bulkly. 
Ipse  Aspectus  Boniviri  delectat.     Sen. 

§  1.  It  has  been  a  matter  of  some  reflection,  that  among  the  pretended 
successors  of  Saint  Peter,  there  never  was  any  Pope,  that  would  pretend 
unto  the  name  oi  Peter  ;  but  if  any  of  them  had  been  christened  by  that 
name  at  ihefont,  they  afterwards  changed  it,  when  they  came  unto  the 
chair.  No  doubt,  as  Raphael  Urbine,  the  famous  painter,  being  taxed, 
for  making  the  face  in  the  picture  of  Peter  too  red,  replied,  He  did  it  on 
purpose,  that  he  might  represent  tlie  apostle  bluahing  in  heaven,  to  see 
what  successors  he  had  on  earth:  so  these  infamous  apostates,  might 
blush  to  hear  themselves  called  Peter,  while  they  are  conscious  unto 
themselves,  of  their  being  strangers  to  all  the  vertues  of  that  great  apos- 
tle. But  the  denomination  of  Peter,  might  be  with  an  everlasting  agree- 
ableness  claimed  by  our  eminent  Bulkly,  who,  according  to  the  spirit  and 
counsel  of  Peter,  fed  thejiock  of  God  among  us,  taking  the  oversight  thereof, 
not  by  constraint,  but  willingly  ;  iiot  for  Jillhy  lucre,  hut  of  a  xmllingmind. 

§  2.  He  was  descended  of  an  honourable  family,  in  Bedfordshire ; 
where  for  many  successive  generations,  the  names  of  Edward  and  Peter, 
were  alternatively  worn  by  the  heirs  of  the  family.  His  father  was 
Edward  Bulkly,  D.  D.  a  faithful  minister  of  the  gospel ;  the  same  whom  we 
find  making  a  supplement  unto  the  last  volume  of  our  books  of  martyrs. 
He  was  born  at  Woodhil,  (or  OdeV)  in  Bedford-shire,  January  31st,  1682, 

His  education  was  answerable  unto  his  original ;  it  was  learned,  it  was 
genteel,  and  which  was  the  top  of  all,  it  was  very  pious:  at  length  it  made 
him  a  Batchellor  of  Divinity,  and  Fellow  of  Saint  John''s  Colledge  in 
Cambridge:  the  colledge  whereinto  he  had  been  admitted,  about  the 
sixteenth  year  of  his  age  ;  and  it  was  while  he  was  but  a  junior  batchellor 
that  he  was  chosen  a  fellow. 

§  3.  When  he  came  abroad  in  the  world,  a  good  benefice  befel  him, 
added  unto  the  estate  of  a  gentleman,  left  him  by  his  father  ;  whom 
he  succeeded  in  his  ministry,  at  the  place  of  his  nativity  ;  which  one 
would  imagine  temptations  enough  to  keep  him  out  of  a  wilderness. 

Nevertheless,  the  concern  which  his  renewed  soid  had  for  the  pure 
worship  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  for  the  ^lunting  of  evangelical 
churches  to  exercise  that  worship,  caused  him  to  leave  and  sell  all,  in 
hopes  of  gaining  the  pearl  of  great  price,-  among  those  that  first  peo- 
pled New-England,  upon  those  glorious  ends.  It  was  not  long  that  he 
continued  in  conformity  to  the  ceremonies  of  the  Church  of  England^ 
but  the  good  Bishop  of  Lincoln  connived  at  his  non- conformity  (as  he 
did  at  his  father's,)  and  he  lived  an  unmolested  non-conformist,  until  he 
had  been  three  prentice-ships  of  years  in  his  ministry.  Towards  the 
latter  end  of  this  time,  his  ministry  had  a  notable  success,  in  the  con- 
version of  many  unto  God  ;  and  this  was  one  occasion  of  a  latter  end 
for  this  time.  When  Sir  Nathanael  Brent  was  Arch-Bishop  Laud's  Gen- 
eral, as  Arch-Bishop  Laud  was  another''s,  complaints  were  made  against 
Mr.  Bulkly,  for  his  con-conformity,  and  he  was  therefore  silenced. 

§  4.  To  New-England  he  therefore  came,  in  the  year  1635  ;  and 
there  having  been  for  a  while,  at  Cambridge,  he  carried  a  good  num- 
ber of  planters  with  him,  up  further  into  the  woods,  where  they 
Vol.  I.  4G 


362  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLANa         [Book  In 

gathered  the  ten'Ifth  church,  then  formed  ia  the  colony,  and  called  the 
town  by  the  name  of  Concord. 

Here  he  buried  a  great  estate,  while  he  raised  one  still,  for  almost 
every  person  whom  he  employed  in  the  affairs  of  his  husbandry.  He 
had  many,  and  godly  servants,  whom  after  they  had  lived  with  him  a 
lit  number  of  years,  he  still  dismissed  with  bestowing  farms  upon  them, 
and  so  took  others  after  the  like  manner,  to  succeed  them  in  their  ser- 
vice, nvrd  his  kindness.  Thus  he  cast  his  bread  both  upon  the  waters. 
And  into  the  earth,  not  expecting  the  return  of  this  his  charily  to  a  re- 
ligious plantation,  until  after  many  days. 

§  5.  He  was  a  most  excellent  scAo/ar,  a  very  well-read  person,  and  one, 
who  in  his  advice  to  young  students,  gave  demonstrations,  that  he  knew 
what  would  go  to  make  a  scholar.  But  it  being  essential  unto  a  scholar,  to 
love  a  scholar,  so  did  he  ;  and  in  token  thereof,  endowed  the  library  of 
//a?-rar(i-Colledge,  with  no  small  part  of  his  own. 

And  he  was  therewithal  a  most  exalted  christian;  full  of  thosedevo- 
tions,  which  accompany  a  convtrsalion  in  heaven  ;  especiall}^  so  an  exact 
a  sabbath  keeper,  that  if  at  any  time  he  had  been  asked,  whether  he  had 
sli'ictly  kept  the  sabbath?  he  would  have  replied,  Christianvs  sum,  inter- 
mittere  7ion  possum.  And  conscientious  even  to  a  degree  of  scrupvlosity. 
That  scrupulosity  appeared  particularly  in  his  avoiding  all  noTye/f«es  of  ap- 
parel, and  the  cutting  cf  hair  so  close,  that  of  all  the  famous  name-sakes 
be  had  in  the  world,  he  could  have  least  boru  the  sir-name  of  that  well 
known  author,  Pctrus  Crinitus. 

§  6.  It  was  observed,  that  his  neighbours  hardly  ever  came  into  hi^ 
company,  but  whatever  business  he  had  been  talking  of,  he  would  let  fall 
some  holy,  serious,  divine,  and  useful  sentences  upon  them,  e'er  they 
parted  :  an  example  many  ways  worthy  to  be  imitated,  by  every  one  that 
J6  called,  a  minister  of  the  gospel. 

'  In  his  ministry  he  was  another  Farel,  Quo  JVemo  tonuit  fortius ;  he  was 
very  laborious,  and  because  he  was  through  some  infirmities  of  body, 
not  so  abio  to  visit  his  flock,  Tind  instruct  them  from  house  to  house,  he 
added  unto  his  other  publick  labours  on  the  Lord's  days,  that  of  constant 
catechising  ;  wherein,  after  all  the  unmarried  people  had  answered,  all 
the  people  of  the  whole  assembly  were  edified,  by  his  expositions  and 
applications. 

His  first  sermon  was  on  Rom.  i.  16.  I  am  not  ashamed  of  the  gospel 
of  Christ.  At  Odel  he  preached  on  part  of  the  prophecy  of  Isaiah,  and 
part  of /ona/i,  and  a  great  part  of  the  gospel  of  Matthew,  and  of  Luke  ^ 
the  Epistles  to  the  Philippians,  and  of  Peter  and  of  Jude ;  besides  ma-' 
ny  other  scriptures.  At  Concord  he  preached  over  the  illustrious 
truths,  about  the  person,  the  natures,  the  offices  n£  Christ.  [What  would 
he  have  said,  if  he  had  lived  unto  this  evil  day,  when  'tis  counted  good 
advice  for  a  minister  of  the  gospel,  not  to  preach  much  on  the  person  of 
Christ  ?'\  the  greatest  part  of  the  book  of  Psalms  ;  the  conversion  o{ Zache- 
ns)  PaiiPs  commission,  in  Actsxxvi.  18.  His  death  found  him  handling 
the  commandments  ;  and  John  xvi.  7,  8,  9.  He  expounded  Mr  Perkins 
bis  .six  principles,  whereto  he  added  a  seventh,  and  examined  the  young 
people,  what  they   understood  and  remembered  of  his  exposition. 

Moreover,  by  a  sort  of  winning,  and  yet  pru{\eut  familiarity,  he  drew 
persons  of  all  ages  in  hi ,  congregation  to  come  and  sit  with  him,  when  he 
could  not  go  and  sit  with  them  ;  whereby  he  had  opportunity  to  do  (he 
part  of  a  faithful  pastor,  in  considering  the  state  of  his  flock. 


SooK  III.]        THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  3CS 

Such  was  his  pious  conduct,  that  he  was  had  much  in  reverence  by  his 
people  ;  and  when  at  any  time,  he  was  either  kasty  in  speaking  to  suck 
as  were  about  him,  whereto  he  was  disposed  by  his  bodily  pains,  or  se- 
vere in  preaching  against  some  things,  that  others  thought  were  no  way 
momentous,  whereto  the  great  exactness  of  his  piety  inclined  him  ;  yet 
those  httle  stinginesses  took  not  away  the  interest  which  he  had  in  their 
hearts  ;  they  knoii^ing  him  to  be  a  just  man,  and  an  holy,  observed  him- 

And  the  observance  which  his  own  people  had  for  him,  was  also  paid 
him  from  all  sorts  of  people  throughout  the  land  ;  but  especially  from 
the  ministers  of  the  country,  who  would  still  address  him  as  a  father,  a 
prophet,  a  counsellor,  on  all  occasions 

§  8.  Upon  his  importunate  pressing  a  piece  of  charity,  disagreeable  to 
the  will  of  the  ruling  elder,  there  was  occasioned  an  unhappy  discord  ia 
the  church  of  Concord ;  which  yet  was  at  last  healed,  by  their  calling  in 
the  help  of  a  council,  and  the  ruling  elder  s  abdication.  Of  the  tempta- 
tions which  occurred  on  these  occasions,  Mr.  Bulkly  would  say,  He  there- 
by came,  1.  Toknoiv  more  of  God.  2.  To  knom  more  of  himself.  3.  To 
know  more  of  men.  Peace  being  thus  restored,  the  small  things  in  the  be- 
ginning of  the  church  there,  increased  in  the  hands  of  their  faithful  Bulkly, 
until  he  was  translated  into  the  regions,  which  afford  nothing  but  concord 
■ind  glo7-y  ;  leaving  his  well-fed  flock  in  the  rmlderness,  unto  the  pastoral 
care  of  his  worthy  son  Mr.  Edward  Bulkly. 

§  9.  It  is  remarked,  that  a  man's  n-hole  religion  is  according  to  his  ac- 
quaintance with  the  nezi^  covenant.  If  then,  any  person  would  know  what 
Mr.  Peter  Bulkly  was,  let  him  read  his  judicious  and  savory  treatise  of  the 
gospel  covenant  ;  which  has  passed  through  several  editions,  v^ith  much 
acceptance  among  the  people  of  '  -id.  Quickly  after  his  first  coming  in- 
to this  country,  he  preached  many  sermons  on  Zecb.  ix.  1 1.  The  blood  of 
thy  covenant.  The  importunity  of  his  congregation  prevailed  with  him, 
to  preach  this  doctrine  of  the  covenant  over  again  in  his  lectures,  and  fit 
it  for  the  press.  He  did  accordingly  ;  and  of  that  book  the  well-known 
Mr  S\epard  of  Cambridge,  has  given  this  testimony.  The  chtrch  of  God 
is  bounrt  to  bless  God,  for  the  holy,  judiciotis,  and  learned  labours,  of  this 
aged,  experienced,  and  precious  servant  of  Jesus  Christ,  who  hath  taken 
much  pains  to  discover,  and  that  not  in  words  and  allegories,  but  in  the 
demonstration  and  evidence  of  the  spirit,  the  great  mystery  of  godliness  wrapt 
up  in  the  covenant ;  and  hath  now  fully  opened  many  knotty  questions  con- 
cerning the  same,  which  happily  have  not  been  brought  so  full  to  light  until 
now  ;  wtiich  cannot  but  be  of  singular  and  seasonable  use  to  prevent  apostu; 
sies  from  the  simplicity  of  the  covenant  and  gospel  of  Christ. 

§  10.  Having  offered  this  particular  account  of  a  book,  which  is  to  be 
reckoned  among  i\\e  first-born  oi  New -England,  I  may  not  forbear  doing 
my  country  the  service  of  extracting  from  it  one  paragraph,  which  we 
may  reckon  the  dying  charge  of  a  Moses  to  an  Israel  in  a  wilderness. 

'  And  thou,  New-England,  which  art  exalted  in  priviledges  of  the  gos~ 
'  pel,  above  many  other  people,  know  thou  the  time  of  thy  visitation,  and 

*  consider  the  great  things  the  Lord  hath  done  for  thee.  The  gospel  hath 
*/ree  passage  in  all  places  where  thou  dwellest  ;  Oh  !  that  it  might  be 
'  glorijied  also  by  thee  !     Thou  enjoyest  many  faithful  witnesses,  which 

*  have  testified  unto  thee,  the  gospel  of  the  grace  of  God.  Thou  hast 
'many  bright  stars  shining  in  thy  firmament,  to  give  thee  the  knowledge 
'  of  salvation  from  on  high,  to  guide  thy  feet  in  the  way  of  peace.  Be  not 
'  high-minded,  because  of  thy  priviledges,  hutfear  because  of  thy  danger. 
*jThe  more  thou  hast  committed  unto  thee,  the  more  thou  must  account 


3d4  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.        [Book  HL 

'  for.     JVo  people's  account  rvill  be  heavier  than  thine,  if  then  do  not  walk 

*  worthy  of  the  means  of  thy  salvation.  The  Lord  looks  for  more  from 
'  thee,  than  from  other  people,  more  zeal  for  God,  more  love  to  his  truth, 
'  more  jusf.ice  and  equity  in  thy  ways  :  thou  shouldest  be  a  special  peo- 

*  pie,  an  only  people,  none  like  thee  in  all  the  earth.  Oh  !  be  so,  in 
'  loving  the  gospel,  and  the  ministers  of  it,  having  them  in  singular  love 
'for  their  work's  sake. 

'  Glorifie  thou  the  word  of  the  Lord,  which  has  glorified  thee.  Take 
'heed,  least  for  neglect  of  either,  God  remove  thy  candlestick  out  of  the 
'■  midst  of  thee  ;  lest  being  now,  as  a  city  upon  an  hill,  which  many  seek 

*  unto,  thou  be  left  like  a  beacon  upon  the  top  of  a  mountain,  desolate  and 
■=  forsaken.  If  we  walk  unworthy  of  the  gospel  brought  unto  us,  the 
'  greater  our  mercy  hath  been,  in  the  enjoying  of  it,  the  greater  will  our 
^judgment  be  for  the  contempt.' 

§  11.  His  first  wife  was  the  daughter  of  Mr.  Thomas  Alleyi,oi  Gold- 
ington  :  a  most  vertuous  gentlewoman,  whose  nephew  was  the  Lord 
Mayor  of  London.  Sir  Thomas  Allen.  By  her  he  had  nine  sons,  and  two 
daughters.  After  her  death,  he  lived  eight  years  a  widdower,  and  then 
married  a  vertuous  daughter  of  Sir  Richard  Chitxtood  ;  by  whom  he 
had  three  sons,  and  one  daughter. 

Age  at  length  creeping  on  him,  he  grew  much  afraid  of  out-living  his 
work;  and  bis  fear  he  thus  expressed,  in  a  short  Epigram,  composed 
March  25,  1657. 

,     Pigra  senectutis  jam  venit  inutilis  vetas, 

Kil  aliud  nunc  sum  qvam  fere  pondus  iners. 
Da  tamen,  Alme  Dens,  dum  vivam,  vivere  laxidi 

JEternum  sancti  Nomines  usque  Tui. 
Ne  vivam  i^moriar  potius !)  nil  utile  Agendo  : 

Finiat  opto  magis,  mors  properata  Dies. 
Vel  doceam  in  Sancto  Ccetu  tua  verba  salutis, 

Ccelestive  canani  Cantica  sacra  Choro. 
Seu  vivam,  moriarve,  tuus  sim,  Christe,  quod  uni 

Debita  Vita  mea  est,  debita  morsque  tibi. 

He  was  ill,  as  well  as  old,  when  he  writ  these  verses  ;  but  God 
granted  him  his  desire.  He  recovered,  and  preached  near  two  years 
after  this,  and  then  expired,  Jlfarcfe  0,  1658-9,  in  the  seventy-seventh 
year  of  his  age. 

§  12.  The  Epigram  newly  mentioned,  invites  me  to  remember,  that 
he  had  a  competently  good  stroke  at  Latin  poetry  ;  and  even  in  his  old 
age,  affected  sometimes  to  improve  it.  Many  of  his  composure  are 
yet  in  our  hands.     One  was  written  on  his   birth-day,   June  31st,  1654. 

Ultimus  iste   Dies  Menses,  inihi  primus  habetur  ; 

Q^uo  cctpi  lucem  cernere  primus  erat. 
Septuaginta  duos  Atinos  exindc  peregi. 

Atque  tot  Antiorum  est  Ultiinus  iste  Dies. 
Prceterito  Veteri  jam  nunc  novus  incipit  Annus 

O  ulinam  mihi  sit  mens  nova,  vita  nova. 

Another  of  them  was  written  on  an  Earthquake,  Oct.   29,   1652. 

Ecce  Dei  nutu  pellus  pavefacta  tremiscit. 
Terra  Tremens  mota  est  sedibus  ipsa  suis, 


Book  HI.}  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.  36r, 

Nutant  Fulcra  Orbis,  mundi  compago  soluta  est ; 

Ex  vultii  /rati  coniremit  illc  Dei. 
Contremnit  tellits,  imis  concussa  Cavernis, 

Po7ulenbus  quanquam  sit  gravis  ilia  suis. 
Evomit  ore  putres  magno  cummurmure  ventoi, 

Qmos  in  visceribus  clauserat  ante  suis. 
Ipsa  tremit  Tellus  scelerum  gravitate  virurum. 

Sub  sceleris  nostri  pondere  Terra  tremit. 
0  nos  quam  duri  !  Sunt  ferrea  pectora  nobis 

JVon  eteniin  gemimus  cum  gemit  ornne  solum. 
Quis  te  non  metuit,  metuit  quern  Fabrica  rmindi 

Quemque  tiinent  cctli,  tcrruque  tota  tremit 
JHotibus  a  Tantis  mine  tandem  terra  quiescat, 

Sed  cessent  potius  crimina  nostra  precor. 

The  rest  we  will  bury  with  him,   under  this 

EPITAPH. 

Obiit  jam  qui  jamdudum  obierat  Bulklaeus  , 
•Yec  Patriam  ille  inutavit,  nee  pene  vitam  : 
Ed  ivit,  quo  ire-consueverat,  4*  tibi  jam  erat. 


CHAPTER.  XI. 
The  Life  of  Mr.  Ralph  Partridge. 

When  David  was  driven  from  his  friends  into  the  wilderness,  he  made 
this  pathetical  representation  of  his  condition,  'Tzi-as  as  a-hen  one  doth 
hu7it  a  Partridge  in  the  mountains.  Among  the  many  worthy  persons 
who  were  persecuted  into  an  American  wilderness,  for  their  tidelity  to 
the  ecclesiastical  kingdom  of  our  true  David,  there  was  one  that  bore 
the  name,  as  well  as  the  state,  of  an  Imnted  partridge.  What  befel  him, 
xvas,  as  Bede  saith  of  what  was  done  by  Fcelix,  Juxta  nominis  sui  Sacra- 
mentum. 

This  was  Mr.  Ralph  Partridge,  who  for  no  fault  but  the  delicacy  of  hiir 
good  spirit,  being  distressed  by  the  ecclesiastical  setters,  had  no  defence, 
neither  o(beak,  nor  claza.',  but  -a  flight  over  the  ocean. 

The  place  where  he  took  covert,  was  the  colony  of  Plymouth,  and  thf^ 
town  of  Duxbv.ry  in  ih-dt  colony. 

This  Partridge  had  not  only  the  innocency  of  the  dove,  conspicuous  in 
his  blameless  and  pious  life,  which  made  him  very  acceptable  in  hi? 
conversation  ;  but  also  the  loftiness  of  an  eagle,  in  the  great  soar  of  his  in- 
tellectual abilities.  There  are  some  interpreters,  who  understanding 
church  officers  by  the  living  creatures,  in  the  fourth  chapter  of  the  Apoc- 
alypse, will  have  the  teacher  to  be  intended  bv  the  eagle  there,  for  his 
quick  insight  into  remote  and  hidden  things.  The  church  of  Duxbury 
had  such  an  eagle  in  their  Partridge,  when  they  enjoyed  such  a  teacher. 

By  the  same  token,  ■when  the  Platform  of  Clmrch- Discipline  was  to  be 
composed,  the  Synod  at  Cambridge  appointed  three  persons  to  draw  up 
each  of  them,  a  model  of  church- government,  according  to  the  rcord  of  God, 
unto   the  end,  that  out  of  those,  the  svnod  might  form  what   should  be 


o66  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  [Book  UL 

founi]  most  agreeable;  which  three  persons  were  Mr.  Cotton,  and  Mr. 
Mather,  and  Mr.  Parlridge.  So  that  in  the  opinion  of  that  reverend  as- 
sembly, this  person  did  not  come  i\\v  behind  the  first  three,  for  some  of 
liis  accoraplishnieuts. 

After  he  had  been  Joriy  ijcars  a  faithful  and  painful  preacher  of  the 
gospel,  rarely,  if  ever,  in  all  that  while  interrupted  in  his  work,  by  any 
bodily  sickness,  he  died  in  a  good  old  age  about  the  year  1658. 

There  was  one  singular  instance  of  a  weaned  spirit,  whereby  he  sig- 
nalized himself  unto  the  churches  of  God.  That  was  this  :  there  was  a 
time,  when  most  of  the  ministers  in  the  colony  oi Plymouth,  left  the  co- 
lony, upon  the  discouragement  which  the  want  of  a  competent  mainten- 
ance among  the  needy  and  froward  inhabitants,  gave  unto  them.  Never- 
theless Mr.  Partridge,  was,  notwithstanding  the  paucity  and  the  poverty 
of  his  congregation,  so  afraid  of  being  any  thing  that  looked  like  a  bird 
Tcandring  from  his  nest,  that  he  remained  with  his  poor  people,  till  he 
took  wing  to  become  a  bird  of  paradise,  along  with  the  winged  seraphim 
of  heaven. 

EPITAPHIUM. 

Avolavit ! 


CHAPTER  XH. 

Psaltes.     The  Life  of  Mr.  Henry  Dunstek, 

NoTwiTHSTANDiN^G  the  vcnoration  which  we  pay  to  the  names  arid 
"jsorks  of  those  reverend  men,  whom  we  call  the  fathers,  yet  even  the  Ro- 
man Catholicks  themselves  confess,  that  thosefathers  were  not  infallible. 
Jindradius ,  among  others,  in  his  defence  of  the  council  of  Trent,  has  this 
passage,  There  can.  be  nothing  devised  more  superstitious,  than  to  count  all 
things  delivered  by  the  fathers,  divine  oracles.  And,  indeed,  it  is  plain 
enough,  that  those  excellent  men,  were  not  without  errors  and  frailties, 
of  which^  I  hope,  it  will  not  be  the  part  of  a  chajn  to  take  some  little 
notice.  Thus  Jerom  had  his  erroneous  opinion  of  Peter'' s  being  unjustly 
reprehended  ;  and  was  fearfully  asleep  in  the  other  matters,  wherein  he 
opposed  Vigilantius,  August  in  was  for  admitting  the  tViyan^s  of  christians 
unto  the  Lord's  supper  :  and  alas!  how  much  of  jBa6?//on  is  there  in  his- 
best  book,  De  Civitatc  Dei.  Hilary  denied  the  soul- sorrows  of  our  Lord 
in  his  passion,  if  you  will  believe  the  report  of  BeUarmine.  Clemens  Jllcx- 
avilrinus  affirmed,  that  our  Lord  neither  eat  nor  drank  from  the  necessi- 
ties of  human  life  ;  and  that  he  and  his  apostles  at\er  their  death,  preached 
unto  the  damned  in  hell,  of  whom  there  were  many  converted.  Origen. 
taught  many  things  contrary  unto  the  true  faith,  and  frequently  con-', 
founded  the  scriptures  with  false  expositions.  TertuUian  fell  into  M()?i- 
tanisiH,  and  forbad  all  second  marriages.  How  litile  agreement  was  there 
between  Epiphanius  and  Chrysostom,  Irenaus  and  Victor,  Cornelius  and 
Cyprian?  And  indeed,  that  I  may  draw  near  to  my  present  purpose, 
the  erroneous  opinion  of  rebapiism  in  Cyprian,  is  well  known  to  the 
world. 

Wherefore  it  may  not  be  wondred  at,  if  among  the  firstfathers  of  .^^c•a- 
England,  there  wore  some  things,  not  altogether  so  agreeable  to  the- 


Book  III.]  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  367 

principles,  whereupon  the  country  was  in  the  main  established.  But 
among  those  of  oar  fathers,  who  differed  somewhat  from  his  brethren, 
was  that  learned  and  worthy  man  Mr.  Henry  Dunsier. 

He  was  the  president  of  our  Harvard  College  in  Cambridge,  and  an 
able  man  :  [as  we  may  give  some  account,  when  the  history  of  that  col- 
lege comes  to  be  offered.] 

But  wonderfully  falling  into  the  errors  of  Antipcedobapiism,  the  over- 
seers of  the  college  became  solicitous,  that  the  students  there  might  not 
be  unawares  ensnared  in  the  errors  of  their  presu^cn^  Wherefore  they 
laboured  with  an  extreme  agony,  either  to  rescue  the  good  man  from  his 
oryu  mistake ;  or  to  restrain  him  from  imposing  them  upon  the  hope  of  the 
flock,  of  both  which,  finding  themselves  to  despair,  they  did  as  quietly  as 
they  could,  procure  his  removal,  and  provide  him  a  successor,  in  Mr. 
Charles  Chauncey. 

He  was  a  very  good  Hebrician,  and  for  that  cause,  he  bore  a  great  part 
in  the  metrical  version  of  the  Psahns,  now  used  in  our  churches.  But 
after  some  short  retirement  and  secession  from  all  publick  business,  at 
Scituate  in  the  year  1659,  he  went  thither,  where  he  bears  his  part  in 
everlasting  and  ceelestial  hallelujahs.  It  was  justly  counted  an  instance 
of  an  excellent  spirit,  in  Margaret  Meering  ;  that  though  she  had  been  ex- 
communicated by  the  congregation  of  protestants,  whereof  Mr.  Rough 
was  pastor,  and  she  seemed  to  have  hard  measure  also  in  her  excom- 
munication ;  yet  when  Mr.  Rough  was  imprisoned  for  the  truth,  she  was 
very  serviceable  to  him,  and  at  length  suffered  martyrdom  for  the  truth 
with  him.  Something  that  was  not  altogether  unlike  this  excellent  spirit 
was  instanced  by  our  Dunster.  For,  he  died  in  such  harmony  of  affec- 
tion with  the  good  men,  who  had  been  the  authors  of  his  removal  from 
Cambridge,  that  he,  by  his  will,  ordered  his  body  to  be  carried  unto 
Cambridge  for  its  burial,  and  bequeathed  legacies  to  those  very  persons. 

Now  I  know  not  where,  better  than  here,  to  insert  that  article  of  our 
church -hi  story,  which  concerns  our  metrical  translation  of  the  PsALMr 
now  sung  in  our  churches. 

About  the  year  1639,  the  JVexo- English  reformers,  considering  that 
their  churches  enjoyed  the  other  ordinances  of  heaven  in  their  scriptur- 
al purity,  were  willing  that  the  ordinance  of  The  singing  of  psalms, 
should  be  restored  among  them,  unto  a  share  in  that  pwiiy.  Though 
they  blessed  God  for  the  religious  endeavours  of  them  who  translated 
the  Psalms  into  the  meetre  usually  annexed  at  the  end  of  the  bible,  yet 
they  beheld  in  the  translation  so  many  detractions  from,  additions  to,  and 
variations  of,  not  only  the  text,  but  the  very  sense  of  the  psalmist,  that 
it  was  an  offence  unto  them.  Resolving  then  upon  a  new  translation,  the 
chief  divines  in  the  country,  took  each  of  them  a  portion  to  be  transla- 
ted :  among  whom  were  Mr.  Welds  and  Mr.  Eliot  of  Roxbury,  and  Mr. 
Mather  of  Dorchester.  These,  like  the  rest,  were  of  so  different  a  gen- 
ius for  their  poetry,  that  Mr.  Shepard  of  Cambridge,  on  the  occasion  ad 
dressed  them  to  this  purpose. 

You  Roxb'ry  poets,  keep  clear  of  the  crime, 

Of  missing  to  give  us  very  good  rhime. 
And  you  q/"  Dorchester,  your  verses  lengthen. 
But  zvith  the  texfs  oixjii  words,  you  will  them  strengthen. 

The  Psalms  thus  turned  into  meetre  were  printed  at  Cambridge,  in  the 
y*ar  1640.     But  afterwards,  it  was  thought,  that  a  little  more  of  art  was 


368  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEVV-ENGLAND.         [Book  ill, 

to  be  emplojed  upon  them  :  anil  for  that  cause,  they  were  committed  un- 
to Mr.  Dunster,  who  revised  and  refined  this  translation  ;  and  (with  some 
assistance  from  one  Mr  Richard  Lyon,  who  being  sent  over  by  sir  Henry 
Mildmay,  as  an  attendant  unto  his  son,  then  a  student  in  Harvard  College, 
now  resided  in  Mr.  Dunster'' s  house  :)  he  brought  it  into  the  condition 
wherein  our  churches  ever  since  have  used  it. 

Now,  though  I  heartily  join  with  those  gentlemen,  who  wish  that  the 
p'/etry  hereof  were  mended  ;  yet  I  must  confess,  that  the  Psalms  have 
never  yet  seen  a  translation,  that  I  know  of,  nearer  to  the  Hebrew  ori- 
ginal :  and  1  am  willing  to  receive  the  excuse  which  our  translators 
themselves  do  offer  us,  when  they  say  ;  If  the  verses  are  not  always  so  el- 
egant, as  some  desire  or  expect,  let  them  consider,  that  God^s  altar  needs 
not  our  polishings ;  we  have  respected  rather  a  plain  translation,  than  to 
smooth  our  verses  with  the  sweetness  of  any  paraphrase.  We  have  attend- 
ed conscience  rather  than  elegance,  Jidelity  rather  than  ingenuity  ;  that  so 
■a'e  may  sing  in  Zion  the  Lord's  so7igs  of  praise,  according  unto  his  own  will, 
until  he  bid  us  enter  into  our  master'' s  joy,  to  sing  eternal  hallelujahs. 

Reader,  when  the  reformation  in  France  began,  Clement  Marot,  and 
Theodore  Beza,  turned  the  Psalms  into  French  mectre ;  and  Lewis  Gtiadi- 
meZ  set  melodious  tunes  unto  them.  The  siiiging  hereof  charmed  the 
souls  of  court  and  city,  town  and  country.  The3'  "'cre  sung  in  the  Lo- 
vre  itself,  as  well  as  in  the  protestant  churches  ;  ladies,  nobles,  princes, 
yea,  King  Henry  himself  sang  them.  This  one  thing  mightily  contribu 
ted  unto  the  downfal  of  Popery,  and  the  progress  of  the  gospel.  All 
ranks  of  men  practised  it  ;  a  gentleman  of  the  reformed  religion,  would 
not  eat  a  meal  without  it.  The  popish  clergy  raging  hereat,  the  cardinal 
of  Lor  rain  got  the  profane  and  obscene  odes  of  the  pagan  poets  to  be 
turned  into  French,  and  sang  at  the  court :  and  the  Divine  Psalms  were 
thus  banished  from  that  wicked  court. 

Behold,  the  reformation  pursued  in  the  churches  of  Xew-England,  by 
the  Psalms  in  a  new  m.eetre  :  God  grant  the  reformation  may  never  be  lost, 
while  the  Psalms  are  sung  in  our  churches. 

But  in  this  matter,  Mr.  Dunster  is  to  be  acknowledged.  And  if  unto 
the  christian,  while  singing  of  Psalms  on  earth,  Chrysostom  could  well 
say,  met'  'Ayy£A»y  "'x^m,  fter''  ''AyyeXtav  'v/ttve<5,  Thou  art  in  a  consort  with  an- 
gels !  how  much  more  may  that  now  be  said  of  our  Dunster  '' 

From  the  epitaph  of  Henricus  Rentzius,  we  will  now  furnish  our  Henry 
Dunster,  with  an 

EPITAPH. 

Proeco,  Pater,  Servus  :  Sanui,  Fovi,  Coluiq; 

Sacra,  Scholam,  Chrishmi ;  Voce,  Rigore,  Fide. 
Famam,  Animam,  Corpus  ;   Dispergit,  Recreat,  Abdit , 

Fii'tus,  ChrisU/s^  Humus ;  Laude,  Salvfe,  Sjnu. 


>  ooK  ill.]         Tiit:  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  M% 

CHAPTER  Xlll. 

The  Life  of  Mr.  Ezekiel  Rogers. 

^;  in  Doctore  Ecclesicc,  ad  ayvTrmpirov  ■xlc-']h,  accesserit  (^wee-ii  ^soyrm,  and 
Folita  Eruditip,  ad  Erudiditionem  ^vyecuii  itur^ivTiKv,,  ac  Facnndia  :  vo- 
hie  Talis  Omnihr'S  Absolut  is  Tidchitvr. 

Melc.  Adam,  in  Vita  Hatten. 

^  \.  It  is  among  the  greater  Prophets  of /srae/,  that  we  tint!  aa  Eze- 
kiel; who  had  in  his  very  name,  The  Fortitude  of  God.  And  it  is  not 
among  the  smaller  Prophets  of  A\zc-Engla>id,  that  we  have  also  seen  arf 
Ezekiel ;  one  inspired  with  a  divine  fortitude,  for  the  work  of  a  witness 
prophesying  in  the  sackcloth  of  a  zuilderness.  This  was  our  famous  Eze- 
kiel Rogers,  of  whom  we  have  more  to  say,  than  barely  that  he  was  born 
in  the  year  1590,  and  that  he  died  in  the  year  1660. 

§  2.  His  father  was  Mr.  Richard  Rogers,  of  Weathersfield  in  England, 
the  well  known  author  of  the  book,  that  is  known  by  the  name  of  The 
Seven  Treatises.  Of  that  Richard  we  will  content  our  selves  with  one 
pithy  passage,  mentioned  by  his  grandson,  Mr.  William  Jenkyns,  in  his 
exposition  upon  Jude,  '  That  blessed  saint,  saith  he,  was  another  Enoch 
■  in  his  age  ;  a  man  whose  zccdking  n'ith  God  appeared  by  that  incompara- 

•  ble  directory  of  a  christian  life,   called  The  Seven  Treatises,  woven  out 
of  scripture,  and  his  own  experimental  practice  ;  he  would  sometimes 

•  say.  That  he  should  be  sorry,  if  every  day  -were  not  to  him  as  his  last  day.' 
It  is  his  Ezekiel  Rogers,  whereof  we  are  now  to  give  an  account.  The 
early  cparklings  of  wit,  judgment  and  learning,  in  him,  gave  his  father 
no  little  satisfaction,  and  expectation  of  his  proficiency  ;  and  at  thirteen 
years  of  age,  made  him  capable  of  preferment  in  the  university  ;  where 
he  proceeded  jl/tts^ero/ /l7'?>s  at  the  age  of  twenty.  Removing  thence  to 
be  chaplain  in  a  family,  famous  for  both  religion  and  civility,  namely  the 
family  of  Sir  Francis  Barrington,  at  Hatfield  Broad  Oak  in  Essex,  he  there 
had  opportunity  not  only  to  do  good,  by  his  profitable  preaching,  but  al- 
so to  get  good,  by  his  conversation  with  persons  of  honour,  who  con- 
tinually resorted  thither,  and  he  knew  and  used  his  opportunity  to  the 
utmost. 

§  3.  Both  in  praying  and  preaching,  he  had  a  very  notable  facuit}'  : 
'twas  accompanied  with  strains  oi  oratory,  which  made  his  ministry  very 
w.cceptable.  Hence,  after  five  or  six  years  residence  in  this  Avorshipful 
family,  Sir  Francis  bestowed  upon  him  the  benefice  of  Ron:ly  in  York- 
shire ;  in  hopes,  that  his  more  lively  ministry  might  be  particularly  suc- 
cessful in  ari'Cikening  those  drowsy  corners  of  the  north  :  and  accord - 
mgly  the  church  there,  standing  in  the  centre  of  many  villages,  there  was 
liow  a  great  resort  unto  the  service  therein  performed. 

§  4.  Nevertheless  Mr.  Rogers  had  much  uneasiness  in  his  mind  about 
his  own  experience  of  those  truths  which  he  preached  unto  others  ;  he 
feared,  that  notwithstanding  his  pathetical  expressions,  wherewith  his 
hearers  were  affected,  he  was  himself,  in  his  own  soul,  a  stranger  to  that 
faith,  and  repentence,  and  conversion,  which  he  pressed  upon  them.  This 
consideration  very  much  perplexed  him  ;  and  his  perplexity  was  the 
greater,  because  he  could  not  hear  of  any  experienced  minister  in  those 
parts  of  the  kingdom,  to  whom  he  might  utter  the  trouble  that  was  upon 

Vol.  1.  '  17 


370  THE  HISTORY  UI    KLW-ENGLAND.        Book  HI.] 

him.  At  last,  hoping  that  either  from  his  brother  of  Weaihenj/icld,  or 
his  cosin,  oi  Dedham,  he  might  receive  seme  satisfaction,  he  took  a  jour- 
ney into  Essex  on  purpose  to  be  hy  them  resolved  of  his  doubts.  His  de- 
sign was  to  have  came  at  his  famous  kinsman  before  his  lecture  began  , 
but  missing  of  that,  he  gat  into  the  assembly  before  the  beginning  of 
the  sermon  ;  where  he  Ibund  that  by  the  singular  Providence  of  God,- 
his  doubts  "Caere  as  punctually  and  exactly  resolved,  as  if  the  excellent 
preacher  had  been  acquainted  with  his  doubts  before-hand. 

§  5.  Being  now  satisfied  of  his  own  effectual  locaticii,  he  went  on  in  his 
ministry  with  a  very  signal  blessing  of  Heaven  upon  it,  unto  the  effectual 
vocation  of  many  more  :  his  minislnj  was  mnch  frequented,  and  remarka- 
bly successful.  In  the  exercise  whereof,  he  once  had  opportunity  to 
preach  iu  the  stately  minister  of  York,  on  a  public  occasion,  which  he 
served  and  suited  notably.  Dr.  Malthe~di-s  was  then  the  Arch-Bishop  of 
York,  who  permitted  the  use  of  those  Lectures,  which  Arch-Bishop 
Grindal  had  erected  ;  whereby  the  light  of  the  gospel  was  marvellously 
diffused  unto  many  places  that  sat  in  the  region  and  the  shadoxi)  of  death. 
All  the  pious  ministers  in  such  a  precinct,  had  a  meeting  once  a  month, 
in  som.e  noted  place,  when  and  where  several  of  them  did  use  to  preach 
one  after  another  ;  beginning  and  concluding  the  whole  exercise  with 
prayer.  Mr.  Rogers  bore  his  part  in  these  lectures,  as  long  as  Dr.  Mat- 
thews lived  ;  from  one  of  which,  an  accuser  of  the  brethren,  went  once  un- 
to the  ArchBishop  with  this  accusation,  that  one  of  the  ministers  had  made 
this  petition  in  his  prayer.  May  the  Almighty  shut  Heaven  against  the  Arch- 
Bishop's  grace  :  whereat  the  Arch-Bishop  instead  of  being  offended,  as 
the  pick-thankly  reporter  hoped  he  would  have  been,  fella  laughing 
heartily  and  answered,  Those  good  men  knaiv  well  enough,  that  if  I  were 
gone  to  Heaven,  their  exercises  ztould  soon  be  put  down.  And- it  came  to 
pass  accordingly  ! 

§  6.  In  delivering  the  ~a}'jrd  of  God,  he  would  sometimes  go  beyond 
the  strength,  which  God  had  given  him  ;  for  though  he  had  a  lively  spir- 
it, yet  he  had  a  crazy  body  ;  which  put  him  upon  studying pAv/sjcfc,  where- 
in he  attained  unto  a  skill  considerable.  But  the  worst  was  this,  that 
riding  far  from  home,  some  violent  motion  used  by  him  in  ordering  of 
his  hor?e,  broke  a  vein  within  him  ;  whereupon  he  betook  himself  to 
\n%  chaqjber,  and  there  kept  private,  that  his  friends  might  not  persecute 
him.  With  any  of  their  unseasonable  kindness.  But  in  two  month's  time 
he  obtained  a  cure,  so  that  he  returned  unto  his  family  and  his  employ- 
ment :  God  would  not  suffer  that  mouth  to  be  stopped,  which  had  so  ma- 
ny testimonies  to  bear  still  for  his  truth  and  ways  ! 

§  7i-  i^last,  the  severity  wherewith  s^tbscription  was  then  urged,  ptit 
fi  peric^  tiato  the  twenty  years'  public  ministry  of  our  liseful  Rogers  al- 
though the  man,  who  suspended  him,  shewed  him  so  much  respect,  as 
to  let  him  erjoy  the  profits  of  his  living,  two  years  after  the  suspension, 
and  let  him  also  put  in  another  as  good  as  he  could  get.  He  emplo3'ed 
one  Mr.  Bishop  to  supply  his  place  in  the  ministry,  from  which  n  Bishop 
had  confined  him  ;  nevertheless  this  good  man  also  was  quickly  silenced, 
because  he  would  not  in  publick  read  the  censure  which  was  passed  upon 
.  Mr.  Rogers. 

§  8.  Many  prudent  men  in  those  iimQ^,  foreseeing  the  storms  (hat  were 
likely  in  a  i^yf  years  to  break  upon  the  English  nation,  did  propose  .Veic- 
England  for  their  hiding-place.  And  of  these,  our  Mr.  Rogers  was  one, 
who  had  been  accompanied  by  Sir  William  Constable  and  Sir  Mattheza 
Boyntvn  also  in  his  voyage  hitberj  if  some  singular  providences  had  not 


Book  III.]  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  371 

hindered  tliem.  Hither  did  the  jrood  hand  of  God  bring  liim.  wiih  mn- 
n}'  of  his  Yurkshirc  friends,  in  the  vear  1638.  Sliips  having  been  by  his 
discretion  and  inHuence  brouglst  from  London  unto  //////,  to  take  in  the 
passengers.  Arriving  at  Xccc-England,  he  wa.s  urged  very  much  to  set 
tie  with  his  York'Jiirt:.  f./iks  at  jXerv-Hoven  ;  hut  in  consideration  of  the 
dependancc,  that  several  persons  of  quality  had  on  him  to  chuse  a  meet 
place  for  their  entertainnic-nt  in  this  wilderness,  when  they  should  come 
hither  aft v^r  him,  he  was  advised  rather  to  another  place,  which  he  was 
profered  very  near  his  reverend  kinsman,  Mr.  Nathanael  Rogers  oC  Ips- 
ii:ich.  The  towns  of  Ips-aich  and  A^'xcbunj  were  willing,  on  easy  terms, 
to  part  with  much  of  their  land,  that  they  might  admit  a  third  plantation 
in  the  middle  between  them  ;  which  was  a  great  advantage  to  JMr.  Ezc- 
kiel  Rogers  ;  whd  called  the  town  Ron-li),  and  continued  in  it  about  the 
same  number  of  years,  that  he  had  spent  in  that  Rozcly,  from  whence  ho 
:ame  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic  ocean. 

§  9.  About  five  years  after  his  coming  to  A^e-d^- England,  he  was  cho 
sen  to  preach  at  the  Court  of  Election  at  Boston  ;  wherein  though  the 
occasion  and  the  auditory  were  great,  yet  he  shewed  his  abilities  to  be 
greater  ;  insomuch,  that  he  became  iamous  through  the  whole  country. 
And  what  respect  all  the  churches  abroad  paid  him,  he  much  more  found 
in  his  ozcn  church  at  home  ;  where  he  was  exceedingly  successfVil,  and 
approved  in  his  ministrj',  in  which  the  points  of  regeneration  and  unioix 
with  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  by /az7/i.,  were  those  whereon  he  most  iu> 
oisted. 

In  the  management  of  those  points,  he  had  a  notable  faculty  at  pene- 
trating into  the  souls' of  his  hearers,  and  manifesting  the  very  secrets  of 
their  hearts.  His  prayers  and  sei-mons  would  metke  such  lively  represen- 
tations of  the  thoughts  then  working  in  the  minds  of  his  people,  that  it 
would  amaze  them  to  see  their  own  condition  so  exactly  represented. 
And  his  occasional  discourses  with  his  people  ;  especially  with  the  young 
ones  among  them  ;  and  most  of  all,  with  such  as  had  been,  by  their  de- 
ceased parents,  recommended  unto  his  watchful  care  ;  were  marvellous- 
ly profitable.  He  was  a  Tree  of  Knon-ledge,  but  so  laden  with  fruit,  that 
lie  stoopt  for  the  very  children  to  pick  oft"  the  apples  ready  to  drop  into 
their  mouths.  Sometimes  the}' would  come  to  his  house,  a  dozen  in  an 
evening  ;  and  calling  them  up  into  his  study,  one  by  one,  he  would  ex- 
amine them,  Hoa)  they  walked  with  God?  i/oo)  they  spent  their  time  ? 
]Vhat  good  books  they  read  ?  Whether  they  prayed  without  ceasing  ? 
And  he  would  therewithal  admonish  them  to  take  heed  of  such  tempta- 
:ions  and  corruptions,  as  he  thought  most  endangered  them.  And  if  any 
differences  had  fallen  out  amongst  his  people,  he  would  forthwith  send 
for  them,  to  lay  before  him  the  reason  of  thc'ie  differences  ;  and  such  w'as 
his  interest  in  them,  that  he  usually  healed  and  stopt  all  their  little  con- 
entions,  before  the}'  could  break  ouiinto  any  open  JIame.-,. 

§  10.  After  ten  or  twelve  years  most  prosperous  attendance  on  his 
ministry  in  Roxvly ,  some  unhappy  griefs  befel  him,  which  were  thus  oc- 
casioned. It  was  thought  pity,  that  so  great  an  ability,  as  that  where- 
with Mr.  Rogers  was  talented,  should  be  confined  into  so  small  an  audit- 
ory, as  that  whereto  his  Lord's  day  labours  were  confined  ;  and  he  was 
perswaded  therefore  to  set  up  a  lectv.re,  once  in  a  fortnight,  whereto  the 
inhabitants  of  other  towns  resorted,  with  no  small  satisfaction.  A  most 
excellent  young  man  was,  upon  this  increase  of  hi?  labours,  obtained  for 
his  assistent  :  but  through  the  devices  of  Satan,  there  was  raised  a  jeal- 
ousy in  the  hearts  of  many  among  the  people,  that  their  eld  pastor  was 


372  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  Hi. 

uot  re.ll  and  forward  enough,  in  prosecuting  the  settlement  of  that  os.vjsJ- 
ent ;  and  this  jealousj'  broke  fortli  into  almost  unaccountable  dissatisfac- 
tions between  him  and  them  ;  which  though  they  were  afterwards  cured, 
yet  the  cure  was  in  some  regards  too  palliative. 

§  11.  The  rest  of  this  good  man's  time  in  the  world  was  rvinter  ;  he 
saw  more  nights  than  days,  and  in  vicissitudes  of  affliction,  the  clouds  re- 
turning after  the  rain.  He  buried  his  first  zeife,  and  all  the  children  he 
had  by  that  wife.  He  then  married  a  virgin  daughter  of  the  well-known 
Mr.  John  Wilson,  in  hopes  of  issue  by  her  ;  but  God  also  took  her  away, 
with  the  child  she  had  conceived  by  him. 

After  this,  he  married  once  more  a  person,  in  years  agreeable  to  him  ; 
but  that  very  night  a  tire  burnt  his  dxvelling-housc  to  the  ground,  with  all 
the  goods  that  he  had  under  his  roof  Having  rebuilt  his  house,  he  re- 
ceived a  fall  from  his  horse,  which  gave  to  his  right  arm  such  a  bruise, 
as  made  it  ever  after  useless  unto  him  ;  upon  which  account  he  was  now 
put  upon  learning  to  write  with  his  left  hand. 

PoUebat  mira  Dextcritate  tamen. 


Tiius  having  done  the  will  of  God,  he  was  put  upon  further  trial  of  his 
patience!  But  thei'e  was  this  comfortable  in  his  trial,  that  the  good  spir- 
it of  God  enabled  him  to  bear  his  crosses  chearfully,  and  rejoice  in  his 
tribulations. 

§  12.  The  natural  constitution  of  his  body  was  but  feeble  and  crazy  : 
nevertheles,  by  a  prudent  attendance  to  the  rules  of  health,  his  life  was 
lengthened  out  considerably  :  but  at  last  a  lingring  sickness  ended  hi^ 
days,  Junuarij  23,  1660,  in  the  seventieth  year  of  his  age.  His  hooks 
wherewith  he  had  recruited  his  library,  after  the  fire,  which  consumed 
the  good  library,  that  he  had  brought  out  of  England,  he  bestowed  upon 
Harvard  College. 

His  lands,  the  greatest  part  of  them,  with  his  house,  he  gave  to  the 
town  and  church  o{  Ron-ly. 

§  13.  Because  it  will  give  some  illustration  unto  our  clinrch  history,  as 
well  as  notably  describe  the  excellent  and  exemplary  spirit  of  this  good 
man,  and  it  hath  been  sometimes  -noted.  Optima  Hisioria,  est  Historia 
Epistolaris ;  I  will  here  insert  one  of  his  letters,  written  (with  his  left 
hand)  unto  a  worthy  minister  in  C/;a?-/es?ou.'n,  the  6th  of  the  12th  month, 
1657. 

Dear  Brother, 
'  Though  I  have  now  done  m}'  errand  in  the  other  paper,  yet  mcthinks, 
'  I  am  not  satislied  to  leave  you  so  suddenl3%  so  barely.  Let  us  hear 
"  from  you,  I  pray  you  ;  how  you  do.  Doth  your  winistry  go  on  com- 
'  fortably  ?  find  you  fruit  of  your  labours  ?  are  nem-  converts  brought  in  ? 
'  Do  your  children  and  family  grow  more  godly  ?  1  find  greatest  trouble  and 
^  grief  about  the  rising  generation.  Young  people  are  little  stirred  here  ; 
'  bat  they  strengthen  one  another  in  evil,  by  example,  by  counsel.  Much 
-  ado  I  have  with  my  own  family ;  hard  to  get  a  servaiit  that  is  glad  of 
'  catechising,  or  family -duties :  1  had  a  rare  blessing  of  servants  in  Yorh- 
'  shire  ;  and  those  that  I  brought  over  were  a  blessing  :  but  the  young 
'  brood  doth  much  afllict  me.  Even  the  children  of  the  godly  here,  and 
'  elsewhere,  make  a  woful  proof.  So  that,  /  tremble  to  think,  n'hai  rciU 
'  become  of  this  glorious  work  that  we /tare  begun,  u-hen  the  ancient  shall  be 
'  gathered  unto  their  fathers.     I  fear  o^race  and  blessing  will  die  with  them 


Book  IH.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  373 

'if  the  Lord   do  not  also  show  some  signs  of  displeasure,   even  in   cur 

■  days. We  grow  rn'orhlly  every  where  ;  methinks  I  see  little 

2;odliness,  but  all   in  a  hurry  about  the  zvorld  :  every    one  for   himself, 
little  care  o{ publick  or  common  good. 

'  It  hath  been  God's  way,  not  to  send  sweeping  judgments,  when  thf 
»  chief  magistrates  are  godly  and  grow  more  so.  1  beseech  all  the  Bay- 
'  ministers,  to  call  earnestly  upon  magistrates  (that  are  often  among  them) 

•  tell  them,  that  their  godliness  will  be  our  protection  :  if  they  fail,  I  shall 
fear  some  sweeping  judgment  shortly.  The  clouds  seem  to  be  gather- 
ing. 

'  I  am  hastning  home,  and  grow  very  asthmatical,   and  short-brendicd. 

■  Oh  !  that  I  might  see  some  signs  of  good  to  the  generations  following. 
'  to  send  me  away  rejoicing  !      Thus  1  could   weary  yoii  and  my  self,   and 

■  my  left  hand  ;  but  I  break  offsuddenly.  O,  good  brother,  I  thank  God, 
I  am  near  home  ;  and  you   too   are   not  far.      Oh !  the  xi^eight  of  glory. 

■  that  is  ready  waiting  for  us,  God's  poor  exiles  !    We  shall  sit  next  to  the 

•  martyrs  and  confessors.  O,  the  embraces  wherewith  Christ  will  embrace 
us  !     Cheer  up  your  spirits  in  the  thoughts  thereof;  and  let  us  be  zeal- 

■  ons  for  our  God  and  Christ,   and  make  a  conclusion.     Now   the    Lord 
'  bring  us  well  through  out  poor  pilgrimage. 


Yor'.r  affectionate  brother,^ 


EZ.  ROGERS. 


EPITAPH. 

A  resurrection  to  Immortality, 

is  here  expected, 

for  what  was  mortal, 

of  the  Reverend 

EZEKIEL  ROGERS, 

Put  oft',  January  23,  1660. 

When  preachers  die,  what  rules  the  pulpit  gave 
Oi living,  are  still  preached  from  the  grave. 
The  faith  and  life,  which  your  dead  pastor  taught 
Now  in  one  grave  with  him,  sirs,  bury  not. 

Abi,  Viator. 

■  i  Mortuo  disce  Vivere  ut  Moriturus  ; 
E  Terris  disce  Cogitare  de  Ca:lis, 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

Eulogius.     The  Life  of  Mr.  Nathaxael  Rogers. 

In  JESU  ntea  Vita  meo,  mea  Clausida  Vitw 
Est,  ^'  in  hoc  JESU  Vita  perennis  erit. 

§  1.   It  is  a  reflection,  carrying  in  it  somewhat  of  curiosity  ;  that   as  jq 
the  Old  Tesiamcnt,  God  saw  the  first  sinners  under  a  tree,  so  in  the  Xexx 


374  iHE  HISTORY  Oh'  NEW-ENGLAND.         [booK  111. 

Teslainent,  Christ  saw  one  of  ihefin4  believers  under  a  (ree,  with  a  par- 
ticular observation.  The  sinner  hid  himself  among  the  trees  of  the  gar- 
den, assisted  with  Jig-leaves,  but  it  was  a  false  covert  and  shelter  where- 
to he  trusted  ;  the  Most  High  discovered  him.  The  believer  alsc  hid 
himself  under  n  Jig-iree,  where  nevertheless,  the  shady  leaves  hindred 
not  our  Lord  from  seeing  of  him.  The  sinner  when  he  was  discovered, 
expressed  his  fear,  saying,  Iheardthy  voice  and  Izvas  afraid.  The  believ- 
er seen  by  our  Lord,  expressed  hi^ faith,  saying,  Maaier,  thou  art  the  Son 
of  God.  The  name  of  this  believer  was  Nathanael.  At  the  beginning  of 
the  law  under  the  Old  Testament,  you  have  nature  in  an  Adam  under  a 
tree;  at  the  beginningof  the  gosjje/,  under  the  New  Testament,  you  have 
grace  under  a  tree  in  a  Kathanael .  Truly,  at  the  beginning  oi  New  Eng- 
land nho,  among  ihe  first  believers,  that  formed  a  church  for  our  God  in 
the  country,  there  was  a  flimous  Kathanael ,  who  retired  into  these  Ameri- 
can -woods,  that  he  might  serve  the  King  of  Israel :  this  was  our  JVathan- 
ael  Rogers.  One  of  the  first  English  arch-bishops  assumed  the  name  of 
Dcus  dcdit,  and  the  historian  says,  he  anszvered  (he  name  that  he  assumed. 
Our  Kathanael  was  not  in  the  rank  of  arch-bishops  ;  but  as  was  his 
name,  a  gift  of  god,  so  was  he  .' 

§  2.  Cornelius  Tacitus,  who  is  by  the  great  Budceus  called,  fhe  wicked- 
p.st  of  all  writers^  reports  of  the  Jews,  that  they  adored  an  ass''s  head ; 
because  by  a  direction  from  a  company  of  asses,  errorem  sitimque  depecle- 
rant;  and  this  report,  received  by  him  from  a  vaiMng  Egyptian,  became 
so  received,  that  no  defence  against  it  would  be  allowed.  That  excel- 
lent company  of  divines,  which  led  the  people  of  God,  unto  the  sweet  a'a- 
ters  of  his  institutions,  in  the  wilderness  ol' Kew-England,  whereinto  they 
were  driven,  have  been  esteemed  no  better  than  a  company  of  asses,  by 
the  Ro7nishly  afiected  writers  of  this  age.  But  those  heads,  which  are 
justly  admired  (though  woi  adored)  among  that  people,  had  more  of  «n- 
gels,  than  o( asses  in  them  :  the  Engish  nation  had  few  better  christians 
than  most,  and  it  had  not  many  better  scholars  thnn  some,  who  then  retir- 
ed into  these  ends  of  the  earth.  Now  among  all  those  great  men  who 
submitted  themselves  unto  all  the  littlenesses  of  a  wilderness,  there  is  a 
very  high  rank  to  be  assigned  unto  one,  who  is  now  to  be  described. 

He  was  the  second  son  of  that  fi^mous  man,  Mr.  Jolm  Rogers  of 
Dedham  ;  and  born  while  his  father  was  minister  of  Haveril,  about  the 
3'ear  1598.  He  was  educated  at  the  grammar  school  in  Dedham,  till 
lie  was  near  fourteen  j'ears  old,  and  then  he  was  admitted  into  Emanuel 
College  in  Cambridge.  There  he  became  a  remarkable  and  incompara- 
ble proficient  in  all  academick  learning  ;  but  some  circumstances  of 
his  father  v/oiild  not  permit  him  to  wait  for  prefenncnts,  after  he  was 
become  capable  of  employments  in  other  places.  His  usual  manner  there, 
was  to  be  an  early  and  exact  student  ;  by  which  means  he  was  quickly 
laid  in  with  a  good  stock  of  learning  ;  but  unto  all  his  other  learning, 
there,  was  that  glory  added,  the  fear  of  God,  for  the  crown  of  all  ;  the 
principles  whereof  were  instilled  into  his  young  soul,  with  the  coun- 
sels of  his  pious  mother,  while  he  yet  sat  on  her  knees,  as  well  as  his 
holy  father,  when  he  came  to  riper  years.  From  his  very  childhood 
he  was  exemplary  for  the  success  which  God  gave  unto  the  cares  of  his 
parents,  to  principle  liim  whith  such  things,  as  rendred  him  wise  untc 
salvation. 

§  3.  Having  from  his  youth  been  used  unto  the  most  religious  cxer 
cises,  not  only  social,  but  also  secret,  nevertheless  the  hurries  of  a.voca- 
tion  carried  him  abroad  one  morning  before  he  had  attended  his  u^ual 


Book  III.]         THE  HISTORY  QF  NEW-ENGLAND.  £,75 

devotions  iri  his  retirements  5  but  his  horse  happcniDg  to  stumble  in  a 
plain  road,  it  gave  him  a  bruising,  bloody,  daiigerous/oZ^;  which  awaken- 
-  ed  him  so  to  consider  of  his  o/nis^ion  in  the  morning,  that  for  the  rest  of  his 
life,  he  was  wondroHS  careful  to  omit  nothing  of  his  daily  dudes  :  where- 
in at  length  he  so  abounded,  that  as  Carthusian,  speaks,  Didcissimo  Deo 
iotus  immergi  ciipis,  4"  inviscerari. 

§  4.  Though  he  were  of  a  pleasant  and  cheerful'  behaviour,  yet  he 
was  therewithal  sometimes  inclined  unto  inelanchoUy  ;  which  was  attend- 
ed v/ith^  and  perhaps  productive  of  some  dejections  in  his  own  mind, 
about  his  interest  in  the  favour  of  God.  "vV  hence  even  after  he  had 
been  a  preacher  of  some  standing,  he  had  sometimes  very  sore  despond- 
encies and  objections  in  his  own  soul,  about  the  evidences  of  his  own  re- 
generation ;  he  would  conclude,  that  no  grace  of  God  had  ever  been 
wrought  in  him.  Whereupon  a  minister,  that  was  his  near  friend,  gave 
him  once  that  advice,  To  let  all  go  for  lost,  and  begin  again  upon  a  new 
foundation  ;  but  upon  his  recollecting  himself,  he  found  that  he  could 
not  forego,  he  might  not  renounce  all  his  former  blessed  experience. 
And  so  his  doubts  expired. 

§  5.  The  first  specimen  that  he  gave  of  his  ministerial  abilities,  waF 
as  a  chaplain  in  the  house  of  a  person  of  quality  ;  whence  atler  a  year 
or  two  thus  fledged,  he  adventured  a  flight  unto  a  great  congregation  at 
Backing,  in  Essex,  under  Dr.  Barkham ;  not  without  the  wonder  of 
many,  how  the  son  of  the  most  noted  Puritan  in  England,  should  come 
to  be  employed  under  an  Episcopal  Doctor,  so  gracious  with  Bishop 
La%id  ;  but  this  Dr.  Barkham  was  a  good  preacher  himself,  and  he  was 
also  willing  to  gratifie  his  parishioners,  who  were  many  of  them  reli- 
giously disposed  :  hence,  though  the  Doctor  would  not  spare  a  tenth-part 
of  his  revenues,  which  from  his  divers  livings,  amounted  unto  near  a 
thousand  a  year,  to  one  who  did  above  three  quarters  of  his  work,  yet 
he  was  otherwise  very  courteous  and  civil  to  our  Mr.  Rogers,  whona 
his  parishioners  handsomely  maintained  out  of  their  own  purses,  and 
shewed  what  a  room  he  had  in  their  hearts,  by  their  doing  so. 

§  6.  All  this  while,  Mr.  Rogers  had,  like  his  father,  applied  his  thoughts 
only  to  the  main  points  of  repentance  from  dead  works,  and  faith  towards 
God  ;  and  he  had  never  yet  looked  into  the  controverted  points  ofdiscipline. 
Indeed  the  disposition  of  his  famous  father  towards  those  things,  I  am 
willing  to  relate  on  this  occasion  ;  and  I  will  relate  it  in  his  own  words, 
which  I  will  faithfully  transcribe,  from  a  MS.  of  his  now  in  my  hand?  : 
'  If  ever  I  come  into  trouble,  [he  writes]  for  want  of  conformity,  I  re- 
'  solve  v/ith  my  self,  by  God's  assistance,  to  come  away  with  a  cleai 
'  conscience,  and  yield  to  nothing  in  present,  until  I  have  prayed  and 
'  fasted,  and  conferred  :  and  though  the  liberty  of  my  ministry  be  precious  j 

*  yet  buy  it  not  with  a  guilty  conscience.  I  am  somewhat  troubled  some- 
'  limes  at  my  subscription,  but  I  saw  sundry  men  o{ good  gifts,  and  good 
'  hearts,  as  I  thought,  that  did  so.  And  1  could  not  prove  that  there  was 
'  any  thing  contrary  to  the  word  of  God  ;  though  I  misliked  them  much, 
'•  aod  I  knew  them  unprofitable  btirthens  to  the  chnrchofGod.  But  if  I  be 
'  urged  unto  the  use  of  them,  I  am  rather  resolved  never  to  yield  thereto. 
'  They  are  to  me  very  irksome  things  ;  yet  seeing  I  was  not  able  to 
'  prove  them  flatly  unlawful,  or  contrary  to  God's  word,  I  therfore  thought 

*  better  to  save  my  liberty   with  subscribing,  (seeing  I  did  it  not  against 

*  my  conscience)  than  to  lose  it,  for  not  yielding  so  far.  Yet  this  was 
'some  small  trouble  to  me,  that  I  did  it,  when  I  was  in  no  special  peril 
'  of  any  present  tr»u^le  ;  which  yet  I  thought  I  were  as  good  do  of  mr 


376  THE  HISTOPxY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  III 

'  self,  as  v/hen  I  should  be  urged  to  it.  But  it  may  be,  1  might  not  have 
'  been  urged  of  a  long  time,  or  not  at  all  ;  but  might  have  escaped  by 
'  friends  and  money,  as  before  ;  which  yet  I  feared  :  but  it  was  my  weak- 
'  ness,  as  I  now  conceive  it  ;  which  I  beseech  God  to  pardon  unto  me 
'  Written  1627.  This  I  smarted  for  1631.  If  I  had  read  this,  it  may 
'  be,  I  had  not  done  what  I  did.' 

Reader,  in  this  one  passage  thou  hast  a  large  history,  of  the  thoughts 
and  fears,  and  cares,  with  which  the  Puritans  of  those  times  were  exer 
cised. 

But  Mr.  Hooker,  now  lecturer  at  Chelmsford,  understanding  that  thi^ 
young  preacher  was  the  son  of  a  father,  whom  he  most  highl}'  respected 
he  communicated  unto  him  the  grounds  of  his  own  dissatisfaction,  at  the 
ceremonies  then  imposed.  Quickly  after  this,  the  Doctor  oi Booking  be- 
ing present  at  the  funeral  of  some  eminent  person  there,  he  observed  that 
Mr.  Rogers  forbore  to  put  on  the  surplice,  in  the  exercise  of  his  minis- 
try on  that  occasion  ;  which  inspired  him  with  as  much  disgust  against 
his  curate,  as  his  curate  had  against  the  surplice  it  self.  Whereupon, 
though  the  Doctor  were  so  much  a  gentleman,  as  to  put  no puMick  affront 
upon  Mr.  Rogers,  yet  he  gave  him  his  jjriv ate  advice  to  provide  for  him- 
self, in  some  other  place. 

§  7.  See  the  providence  of  our  Lord  !  about  that  very  time,  Assington. 
in  Suffolk,  being  void  by  the  death  of  the  former  incumbent,  the  patron 
thereof  was  willing  to  bestow  it  upon  the  son  of  his  honoured  friend  in 
Dedham;  whither  he  now  removed,  after  that  Booking  had  for  four  or 
five  years  enjoyed  his  labours.  The  inhabitants  o( Bromly,  near  Colches- 
ter, were  at  the  same  time  extreamly  discontented  at  their  missing  of  him. 
However,  see  again  the  providence  of  our  Lord  ;  the  Bishop  o(  Norzvich 
let  him  live  quietly  five  years  at  Assington,  which  the  Bishop  o{  London 
would  nothavedoneatBro»i/i/.  Thiswas  the  chargenowbetrustedwith  oui 
Rogers;  concerning  whom,  i  find  an  eminent  person  publishing  unto  the 
world,  this  account  :  JMr.  Nathanael  Rogers,  a  man  so  able  and  so  judi 
cious,  in  soid-work,  that  I  would  have  betrustcd  my  soxil  n'ith  him,  as  soon  a.' 
with  any  man  in  the  Chitrch  of  Christ. 

§  8.  Here  his  ministry  was  both  highly  respected,  and  greatly  pros- 
pered, among  persons  of  all  qualities,  not  only  in  the  town  it  self,  but  ir. 
the  neighbourhood.  He  was  a  lively,  curious,  florid  prcac/ter  ,*  and  by 
his  holy  living,  he  so  farther  preached,  as  to  give  much  life  unto  all  his  oth- 
er preaching.  He  had  usually,  every  Lord's  day,  a  greater  number  oi 
hearers  than  could  croud  into  the  church  ;  and  of  these  many  ignorant 
ones  were  instructed,  many  ungodly  ones  were  converted,  and  many  5or- 
rowful  ones  were  comforted.  Though  he  had  not  his  father's  notable 
voice,  yet  he  had  several  ministerial  qualifications,  as  was  judged,  beyond 
his  father  ;  and  he  M'as  one  prepared  unto  every  good  work;  though  he 
was  also  exercised  with  bodily  infirmities,  which  his  labours  brought  up- 
on him.  'Tis  a  thing  I  find  observed  by  Mr.  Firmin,  John  Rogers  was  not 
John  Chrysostom  ;  and  yet  God  honoured  no  man  in  those  parts  of  England, 
with  the  conversion  of  souls  more  than  him.  And  good  Bishop  Brou-nrig 
would  say,  John  Rogers  will  do  more  good  with  his  wild  notes,  than  we 
shall  do  with  our  set  lausick.  But  our  JVathaiiacl  Rogers,  was  a  fisher  of 
men,  who  came  with  a  silken  line,  and  n  golden  hook,  and  God  prospered 
hirn  also.  He  was  -an  Apollo,  who  had  his  harp  and  his  arrows  ;  and  the 
arroxos  his  charming  and  piercing  eloquence,  whi^h  had  'v'^ciii  xui  Eu^og,  . 
in  it  were  arrows  in  the  hand  of  a  mighty  man.  He  not  oidy  knew  how 
to  build  the  temple,  but  also  how  to  carve  it :  and  he  could  say  with 


Book  III.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  377 

Lactantius,  (his  very  names-sake)  Fellem  mibi  dari  Eloquentiam,  reZ  quia 
magis  crednnt  Homines.     Verilati  oriiatai  vel  nt  ipsi  suis  Armis  vincantur. 

§  9.  But  a  course  was  taken  to  extinguish  these  tights,  as  fast  as  any 
notice  could  be  taken  of  them.  It  was  the  resolution  of  the  Hierarchy, 
that  the  n)inistcrs  who  would  not  conform  to  their  impositions,  must  be 
silenced  all  over  the  kingdom.  Our  i\Ir.  Rogers  perceiving  the  approach- 
es of  the  storm  towards  himself,  did  out  of  a  particular  circumspection  in 
his  own  temper,  choose  rather  to  prevent  than  to  receive  the  censures  of 
the  ecclesiastical  courts ;  and  therefore  he  resigned  his  place  to  the  pat- 
ron, that  so  some  godly  and  learned  conformist,  might  be  invested  with 
it  :  nevertheless,  not  being  free  in  his  conscience,  wholly  to  lay  dowa 
the  exercise  of  his  ministry,  he  designed  a  removal  into  Neri:-England  ; 
whereunto  he  was  the  rather  moved,  by  his  respect  unto  Mr.  Hooker, 
for  whom  his  value  was  extraordinary.  Eend-'r,  In  all  this,  there  is  no 
reproach  cast  upon  this  excellent  Rvgers.     KxTir/opix  rotxiTij  (yxa/^iov  'eemv. 

§  10  He  had  married  the  daughter  of  one  >ir.  Crane  o£  Cogeshal,  a 
gentleman  of  a  very  considerable  estate,  who  would  gladly  have  mention- 
ed this  his  worthy  son-in-law,  with  his  family,  if  he  would  have  tarried 
in  England  ;  but  observing  the  strong  inclination  of  his  mind  unto  a  ^Vea- 
English  voyage,  he  durst  not  oppose  it.  Now,  though  Mr.  Rogers  were 
a  person  very  unable  to  bear  the  hardships  of  travel,  yet  the  impression 
which  God  had  made  upon  his  heart,  like  what  he  then  made  upon  the 
hearts  of  many  hundreds  more,  perhaps  as  weakly  and  feeble  as  he,  car- 
ried him  through  the  enterprize  with  an  unwearied  resolution  ;  which 
resolution  was  tried,  indeed,  unto  the  utmost.  For  whereas  the  voyage 
from  Gravesend  unto  Boston,  uses  to  be  dispatched  in  about  nine  or  ten 
weeks,  the  ships  which  came  with  Mr.  Rogers,  were  fully  twenty-four 
weeks  in  the  voyage  ;  and  yet  in  this  tedious  passage,  not  one  person 
did  miscarry.  After  they  had  come  tsvo  thirds  of  their  way,  having 
reached  the  length  of  JVewfound-land,  their  zi-ants  were  so  multiplied, 
and  their  zvinds  were  so  contrary,  that  they  entered  into  a  serious  de- 
{bate,  about  returning  back  to  England  :  but  upon  their  setting  apart  a 
day  for  solemn  fasting  and  prayer,  the  weather  cleared  up  ;  and  in  a  lit- 
tle time  they  arrived  at  their  desired  port  ;  namely,  about  the  middle 
of  jYovember.  in  the  year  1636. 

§  11.  It  was  an  extream  discouragement  unto  him,  at  his  arrival,  to 
find  the  country  thrown  into  an  horrible  combustion,  by  the  Famiiistical 
opinions,  which  had  newly  made  such  a  disturbance,  as  to  engage  all  per- 
sons on  one  side  or  the  other  of  the  controversies,  all  the  country  over. 
But  God  blessed  the  prayers  and  pains  of  his  people,  for  the  speedy  stop- 
ping of  that  gangreen  ;  and  setled  the  country  in  a  comfortable  peace,  by 
a  Synod  convened  at  Cambridge  the  next  year  ;  whereto  our  Mr.  Rogers, 
and  Mr.  Patridge,  who  came  in  the  same  ship  with  him,  contributed  not  a 
little  by  their  judicious  discourses  and  collations. 

§  12.  His  tirst  invitation  was  to  Dorchester ;  but  the  number  of  good 
men  who  came  hither,  desirous  of  a  settlement  under  his  ministry,  could 
not  be  there  accommodated  ;  v/hich  caused  him  to  accept  rather  of  an 
invitation  to  Ipsu-ich,  where  he  was  ordained /Jrtsior  of  the  church,  on 
Feb.  20,  1638.  At  his  ordination  preaching  on  2.  Cor.  li.  16.  Who  i? 
sufficient  for  these  things  :  a  sermon  so  copious,  judicious,  accurate,  and 
elegant,  that  it  struck  the  hearers  with  admiration.  Here  wag  a  renown- 
ed church  consisting  mostly  of  such  illuminated  christians,  that  their  pas- 
tors in  the  exercise  of  their  ministry,  might  (as  Jcrom  said  of  that  brave 
woman  Marcella)  Sentire  se  non  torn  Discipvlos  babere  qvam  Judice;^.     His 

Vol.  I.  48 


37a  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Boos  ii 

colleague  here,  was  tlie  celebiJous  JVortoji  ;  andgloriotis  was'the  church 
of  /yjsui'ii'c/t  now,  in  two  such  extraordinary  persons,  with  their  different 
gifts  ;  but  united  hearts,  carrying  on  the  concerns  of  the  Lord's  king- 
dom in  it.  While  our  humble  Rogers  was  none  of  those,  who  do,  t«? 
T»v  ^a^(>i<p6)v  >ixiicTpo']ifict<;,  \xv]Sv  ^uy.ctvfaTeii  voyj^cif.  Think  (he  bright iiess  of 
their  brethren  to  shacloxv  and  obscnre  themselves.  But  if  JVorton  were  ex- 
cellent, there  are  persons  of  good  judgment,  who  think  them  selves  bound 
in  justice  to  say,  that  Rogers  came  not  short  of  Norton,  in  his  greatest 
excellencies, 

§  13.  While  he  lived  in  Ipsvi-ich,  he  went  over  the  five  last  chapters 
of  the  epistle  to  the  Ephesiaiis,  in  his  ministry  ;  the  twelfth  chapter  to 
the  Hebrezcs  ;  the  fourteenth  chapter  of  i/osea  ;  the  doctrine  of  self -denial 
and  zi-alking  zt:i:h  Gcd  ;  and  the  fifty-third  chapter  of  Isaiah  ;  to  the 
great  satistaction  of  all  his  hearers,  with  many  other  subjects  more  occa- 
sionally handled,  it  was  counted  pity  that  the  public  should  not  enjoy 
some  of  his  discourses,  in  all  which  he  was,  a  rSv  "'efHiMTuv  "etAAce  ra* 
'ccy-piQairm  :  but  his  physician  told  him,  that  if  he  went  upon  transcrib- 
ing imy  of  his  composure,  his  disposition  to  acc^rac^  would  so  deeply 
engage  him  in  it,  as  to  endanger  his  life  :  wherefore  he  left  few  monu- 
ments of  his  ministry,  but  in  the  hearts  of  his  people,  which  were  many. 
But  though  they  were  so  many,  that  he  did  justly  reckon  that  well-in- 
structed, and  well-inclined  people,  his  crozn'n,  yet  in  ihe  paroxism  of  tempt- 
ation among  them,  upon  iMr.  A o/^on's  removal,  the  melancholy  heart  of 
Mr.  Rogers,  thought  for  a  while,  they  were  too  much  a  cranm  of  thorns 
unto  him. 

§  14.  It  belongs  to  his  ciiaracter,  that  he  feared  God  above  many,  and 
zcalkcd  zi;ith  God,  at  a  great  rate  of  holiness  :  though  such  was  his  re-. 
sei-vednes^,  that  none  but  his  intimate  friends  knew  the  imrticularities  of 
his  TwaZ/c,  yet  such  as  were  indeed  intimate  with  him  could  observe,  that 
he  was  much  in  fasting,  and  prayer,  and  meditation,  and  those  duties 
wherein  ihe  pozver  of  godliness  is  most  maintained  :  and  as  the  graces  of 
a  christian,  so  the  gifts  of  a  minister,  in  him,  were  beyond  the  ordinary 
attainments  of  good  men.  Yea,  I  shall  do  a  wrong  unto  his  name,  if  I  do 
not  freely  say,  that  lie  was  one  of  the  greatest  men,  that  ever  set  foot  on 
the  American  strand.  Indeed,  when  the  Apostle  Paul  makes  that  just 
boast,  /  rt-as  not  a  whit  behind  the  very  chiefest  apostles  :  he  does  not 
speak  (as  we  commonly  take  it)  in  respect  of  such  as  were  true  apos- 
tles, but  in  reference  to  those  false  apostles,  who  had  nothing  to  set 
them  out,  but  their  own  lofty  words,  with  an  unjust  slight  of  him.  Where- 
as our  blessed  Rogers,  I  may  without  injury  or  odiinn,  venture  to  com- 
pare  with  the  very  best  of  the  true  ministers,  which  made  the  best  days 
of  Kezv- Ell  gland,  and  say,  he  came  little,  if  at  all  behind  the  very  chiefest 
of  them  all. 

§  15.  He  was  much  troubled  with  spitting  of  blood  ;  wherein  he  would 
comfort  himself  with  the  saying  of  one  Mr.  Price,  upon  such  an  occasion, 
That  though  he  shjiuld  spit  out  his  own  blood,  by  which  las  life  was  to  be 
maintained,  yet  he  should  never,  Expuere  Sanguinem  Christi,  or  lose  the 
benefits  of  Christ's  blood,  by  zchich  he  was  redeemed.  lie  was  also  sub- 
ject unto  the  Flatus  Hypocondriacus,  even  from  his  youth  ;  wherewith 
when  he  was  first  surprized,  he  thought  himself  a  dying  inan  ;  but  a  good 
physician,  and  a  long  experience,  convinced  him,  that  it  was  a  more 
chronical  distemper.  And  while  he  was  under  the  early  discouragements 
of  this  distemper,  I  f'ud  the  famous  Mr.  Cotton,  in  a  letter  dated  March 
^,  1 65 1 ,  thus  encouraging  of  hinj.  : 


Book  III.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAMD.  3-/1. 

'  I  bless  the  Lord  with   you,  who  supportcth  your  feeble  bodij,  to  de 

•  him  service,  and  mean  while  pcrfecteth  the  pozi^cr  of  his  grace  in  yoiu 
xi;eakness.     You  know  who  said  it,  Uinnortified  strength  postcth  hard  to 

•  Hell,  but  sanctijied  uecttoiess  crcepethfaat  to  Heaven.     Let  not  3'our  spirit 

•  faint,  though  your  body  do.  Your  soul  is  precious  in  God's  sight :  your 
'  hairs  are  numbered,  and  the  number  and  measure  of  your  fainting  fts, 
'  and  wearisome  nights,  are  weighed  and  limited  by  his  hand,  who  hath 
'  given  you  his  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  to  take  vpon  him  ijour  infirmities,  and 
'  bear  your  sicknesses.'' 

Nor  was  it  this  distemper  which  at  last  ended  his  days  ;  but  it  was  a 
llood  of  rheum,  occasioned  partly  by  his  disuse  of  tobacco,  whereto  he 
had  formerly  accustomed  himself,  but  now  left  it  off,  because  he  found 
himself  in  danger  of  being  enslaved  unto  it  ;  which  bethought  a  thing  be- 
low a  christian,  and  much  more  a  minister.  He  had  often  been  seized 
with  fits  of  sickness  in  the  course  of  his  life  :  and  his  last  seemed  no 
more  threatening  than  the  former,  till  the  last  morning  of  it.  An  epi- 
demical sort  of  cough  had  arrested  most  of  the  families  in  the  country  ; 
which  proved  most  particulaidy  fatal  to  bodies,  before  laboring  with  rheu- 
matic indispositions.  This  he  felt ;  but  in  the  whole  time  of  his  illness, 
he  was  full  of /leaueH/i/  discourse  and  counsel,  to  those  that  came  to  visit 
bim.  One  of  the  last  things  he  did,  Avas  to  bless  the  three  children  of 
his  only  daughter,  who  had  purchased  his  blessing  by  her  singular  duti- 
fulness  unto  him.  It  is  a  notable  passage  in  the  Tahnvds,  that  the  inhab- 
itants of  Tsippor  expressing  an  cxti'eme  unwillingness  to  have  the  death 
of  K.  Judah  (whom  they  surnamed  The  Holy,)  reported  unto  them,  he 
that  brought  the  report,  thus  expressed  himself,  Holy  men  and  angels 
took  hold  of  the  tables  (f  the  covenant,  and  the  hand  of  (he  angels  prevailed^ 
so  that  they  toiik  axaay  the  tables  !  And  the  people  then  perceived  the 
meaning  of  the  parabolizer  to  be,  that  holy  men  would  fain  have 
detained  K.  Judah  still  in  this  world  ;  but  the  angels  took  him  away. 
Reader,  I  am  as  lothe  to  tell  the  death  of  Rogers  the  Holy ;  and  the  in- 
habitants oi  Ipswich  were  as  lothe  to  hear  it :  but  1  must  say,  the  hand 
of  the  angels  prevailed,  on  July  3,  1655,  in  the  afternoon,  when  he  had 
uttered  those  for  his  last  words,  My  times  arc  in  thy  hajids. 

§  16.  He  was  known  to  keep  a  diary  ;  but  he  kept  it  with  so  much 
reservation,  that  it  is  not  known,  that  ever  any  one  but  himself  r?2cZ  read 
one  word  of  it  :  and  he  determined  that  none  ever  should  ;  for  he  ordei'- 
ed  a  couple  of  his  intimate  friends  to  cast  it  all  into  thehrc,  without  ever 
looking  into  the  contents  of  it. 

Surely,  with  the  loss  of  so  incompairable  a  person,  the  survivors  must 
lament  the  loss  of  those  experiences,  which  might  in  these  rich  papers, 
have  kepthin:!,  after  a  sort,  still  alive  unto  us  !  but  as  tlicy  would  have 
proved  him  an  incarnate  seraphim,  so  the  other  straphim,  who  carried 
him  away  with  them,  were  no  strangers  to  the  methods,  by  which  he  had 
ripened  and  winged  himself,  to  become  one  of  their  society. 

I  cannot  find  any  composures  of  this  worthy  man's  offered  by  the  press 
unto  the  world  ;  except  one,  and  that  is  only  a  letter  which  he  wrote 
from  A'en:- England,  unto  a  member  of  the  honorable  House  of  Commons, 
at  rres/mmster,  in  the  year  1643.  Wherein  observing.  That  Ecclesiain 
ad  Mundi  Normam  Regnoruin  4"  statvum.componere,  est  mere  Dovium  Ta- 
petibus  accommodare  ;  he  pathetically  urged,  that  the  Parliament  would 
confess  the  guilt  of  neglecting,  yea,  rejecting  motions  of  rformation  iu 
former  Parliaments,  and  proceed  now  more  fully  to  answer  the  just  ex- 
pectations of  Heaven,     But  I  have  in  my  hands,  a  hv'ipf  manuscript,  writ- 


S80  THE  HISTORY  OF  ?nE\V-ENGLAND.         [Book  \U. 

ten  in  a  neat  Latin  style,  whereof  he  u'as  an  incomparable  master.  'Tis 
a  vindication  of  the  Congregational  church-government ;  and  there  is  one 
passage  in  it,  by  transcribing  whereof,  1  will  take  the  leave  to  address 
the  present  age. 

j\'on  raro  Keformationem  impe'Iii.  DiJJicvUas  Reformandi,  Sr  Ecclesias 
vera:  Disciplince  C()iijormes  reddendi.  Jehoshaphat  excelsa  non  amovebat 
quia  Populus  non  Comparaverat  Animum  Deo.  '  Non  defuerunt  {inquit 
'  BucerusJ  intra  hos  Triginta  Annos,  qui  Videri  voluerint  Justam  Evange- 
'  hi  PrcEdicaAionevi  plane  ampi.ecti,  atq  ;  Religionis  Christi  rite  Constituen- 
'  dcs  pripxipuam  Curam  suscipere,  propter  quam  etiam  non  parum periclita- 

*  ri  sunt.  Veriun  perpauci  adhuc  reperti  sunt,  qui  se  Christi  Evangelio  <$• 
'  Regno  omnino  subjecissent.  Multo  vero  minus  pervfiissumfuit  fides,  pro- 
'  batisq  ;  Ecclesiarum  Ministris,  nee  adeomidii  Ministrorum  vouissent  id 
'  sibi  concedi,  ut  qui  Privatis  Admonitionibus  non  acquievisscnt,  atq  ;  a  ma- 

*  nifestis  peccatis  suis  recipcre  se  nohiissent,  eos  una  cum  Ecclesice  Seniori- 
'  bus,  ad  hoc  electis,  nomine  tolius  Ecclesice,  ad  Pccnitcntiam  Vocassent  S,'  Li- 
'•  gassent ;  eosq  ;  qui  <$•  hoc  Salutis  siicc  Remedium  rcspuissent,  cum  assensii 
'■  Ecclesice  pro  Elhnicis  4*  Publicanis  habendos  Piiblice  pronunciassent.^ 
'  Cujus  Rationem  etiam  posuit  Peter  Martyr  ;  '  Videntur  aliqui  subvereri 
'  Ttnnullus.  ^'    Turbas,  quod  suce    TranquilitJfi   consulant,  sibiq  ;  fingant 

'  (ttq ;  saiiinicnt,  quondam.  T ranquilitatem  in  Ecclesia,  quam  impossibile  est 
'  ut  habeant,  si,  Gregcm  Christi  ncte pasci  voluerint.''  Hinc  Regida  Pru- 
dentia?  pro  RegidaVi7Ece.'p\\  proponitur  ;  &,'  Qnceritur  potins  quid  fieri  con- 
vementer  possit,  quam  quid  debeat.  Fallit  hccc  Regida  ;  cum  mnlta  Deus 
efficial  per  Zelotas  [quos  vacant)  9?«ce  Politicis  Impossibilia  Visa  fuerint  ; 
Puta  Hezekiam,  Josiam,  &  Edvardum  Sextum,  Angliaj  Regem.  Cumvi- 
deas  iinum  Ezrara  Cinere  4"  Cilicio  fietu  &,-  Jcjunio,  tarn  Spissum  ^  Ar- 
duum  Opus  superasso,  quo  Carissiinas  Conjuges,  4"  liberos  desiderarissimos. 
€ MaritorumGremio,  ^'  Paiernis  Genibus,  revidsit  ^'  ablegavit ;  eorumq  ; 
non  tantum  infimce  Plebis  ;  etiam  Manus  ipsorum  Pprinciputn  &  Antisti- 
tum.  prima  fuit  in  Prasvaricatione  ista  :  Quis  in  quam,  fi  delis  Minister  adeo 
^oXiyoTriTJeg  est,  ut  in  repurganda  Ecclesia, nihil  non  audeat,  cumBono  Deo? 
Magna  quidem  est  Veritatis  4*  Sanctitatis,  P"is  S,-  Majestas  :  Fidelis  4*  Effi- 
cax  est  Assistentia  Spiritus,  iis  qui  Zelo  accensi  Glori(j>  Dei  sedulo  incum- 
bunt.  Tempori  quidem  aliqando  est  cedendum  ;  sed  Operi  Dei  non  est  su- 
persedendum. 

God  will  one  day  cause  these  words  to  be  translated  into  English! 

In  the  mean  time,  go  thij  xvay,  Nathan  ael,  until  the  end  ;  for  thou  shah 
rest — and  on  thy  resting  place  I  will  inscribe  the  words  oi  Lxdhcr  upon 
his  Nesenus,  for  thy 

EPITAPH. 

0  Natiiaxael,  Si  mini  datum  esset  Donntn 

Miraculosum  Excifandi  Mortuos, 
Et  si  ulhnn  unquam  Excitasse-n, 
TE  nunc  Excitorem. 

And  for  the  same  use  borrow  the  words,  iu  the  epitaph  of  Brentius^ 
l:hc  younger. 

Morte  Pic:  rapiiur,  C'celiq;  fit  Incola  :  Semper 
Audiet,  O  magno  digna  propago  Patro. 


1 


Rook  III.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  XEW-FA'GLAND.  381 


APPENDIX. 

The  inv;iluable  diary  of  Mr.  Nathanael  Rogers  is  li^st  :  something  of 
his  fathcr''s  is  not  so  :  we  will  do  something  towards  repairing  our  loss 
out  of  that :  some  secret  papers  of  old  Mr.  John  Rogers,  are  fallen  into 
my  hands  :  I  will  make  them  as  publick  as  I  can  ;  and  I  will  annex  them 
to  the  life  of  his  excellent  son,  because  that  son  of  his,  did  live  over  the 
life  of  his  renowned  father.  Thus,  father  and  son  shall  live  here  togeth- 
er ;  and  by  offering  the  reader  an  extract  of  some  observable  7ncmiirials 
for  a  godly  life,  contained  in  reserved  experiences  of  Mr.  John  Rogers  ot 
Dedham,  I  shall  also  describe  the  very  spirit  of  the  old  Puritans,  in  the 
former  age,  by  the  view  whereof  I  hope  there  will  more  be  made  in  that 
age  which  is  to  come.  Sirs,  read  these  holy  memorials,  and  let  it  not  be 
said  of  us,  according  to  the  complaint  which  the  Talmuds  thus  utter  ;  57 
prisci  fuerunt  Filii  Regnum,  nos  siimus  Filii  Hominum  Jlilgarium ;  4"  st 
prisci  fuerjtnt  Homines  Volgnres,  nos  sumus  velitt  Asini.  Let  it  not  be 
said,  as  it  uses  to  be  by  the  Jewish  Rabbi's,  Elegantior  est  Sermofamilia- 
ris  Patritm,  quant  Lex  Filiorum. 

SIXTY  MEMORIALS  FOR  A  GODLY  LIFE. 

A   COVEXAXT. 

I.  I  HAVE  firmly  purposed,  (by  God's  grace,)  to  make  my  t^/jo/e  life,  a 
meditation  of  a  better  life,  and  godliness  in  every  part ;  that  I  may  from 
point  to  point,  and  from  step  to  step,  with  more  watchfulness,  tcalk  -with 
the  Lord. 

Oh  !  the  infinite  gain  of  it!  No  small  help  hereto,  is  daily  meditation 
and  often  conference.  Therefore,  since  the  Lord  hath  given  me  to  see.  in 
some  sort,  the  coldness  of  the  half-service,  that  is  done  to  his  majesty, 
by  the  most,  and  even  by  my  self,  I  renew  my  covenant  more  firmly  with 
the  Lord,  to  come  nearer  unto  the  practice  of  godliness,  and  oftener  to 
have  my  conversation  in  heaven,  my  mind  seldomer,  and  more  lightl}'  set 
upon  the  things  of  this  life,  to  give  to  my  self  le■^s  liberty  in  the  secret- 
est  and  smallest  provocations  to  evil,  and  to  endeavour  after  a  more  con- 
tinual zvulch  from  thing  to  thing,  that  as  much  as  may  be.  I  may  walk  with 
the  Lord  for  the  time  of  my  abiding  here  below. 

A  FORM  OF   DIRECTICX. 

II.  This  resolutely  determine.  That  God  be  always  ray  glory,  through 
the  day  :  and,  as  occasion  shall  be  ofi'erod,  help  forward  such  as  shall  re- 
pair to  me,  or  among  whom,  by  Gods  providence,  I  shall  come  :  and 
these  two  being  regarded,  that  1  may  tend  my  oxvn  good,  going  forward, 
(my  own  heart,  I  mean,  calling  and  life,  and  my  family  and  charge)  look- 
ing for  my  change,  and  preparing  fcr  the  cross,  yea,  for  death  it  self : 
and  to  like  Utile  of  mine  estate,  when  I  shall  not  sensibly  find  it  thus  with 
me  :  and  whiles  God  affordeth  me  peace,  health,  liberty,  an  heart  de- 
lighting in  him,  outAvard  blessings  with  the  same,  to  beware  \\\7ii  godliness 
seem  not  pleasant  to  me,  for  earthly  commodity,  but  for  it  self:  if  in  this 
course,  or  any  part  of  it,  1  should  halt,  or  raislike,  not  to  admit  of  any 

such  deceit:  and  for  the  maintpnance  of  this  roi7r«p.  to  (ako  my  part  in 


:^82  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW  EiNGLAlsD.  [hooKlli. 

;ill  the  gond  helps,  appointed  by  God  for  the  same  ;  as  these  :  first,  to  be- 
:^in  the  day  with  meditation,  thanksgiving,  confession  and  prayer  :  to 
put  on  my  armour :  to  z^^atch  and  pray  oft  and  earnestly  in  the  day,  for 
holding  fast  this  course  :  to  hearten  on  my  self  hereto  by  mine  own  ex- 
perience  (who  have  ever  seen,  that  it  goeth  well  with  those,  which  walk 
after  this  rule,  1  Pet.  iii.  13.  Gal.  vi.  IC,)  and  by  the  example  of  others. 
(Heb.  xiii.  7.)  And  for  the  better  helping  my  self  forward,  still  in  thia 
course,  mji^  purpose  and  desire  is,  to  learn  humility  and  meekness  moi-e  and 
more,  by  God's  chastisements,  and  encourage  my  self  to  this  course  of 
life,  by  his  daily  blessings  and  mercies;  and  to  make  the  same  use  of  all 
exercises  in  my  family.  And  faithfully  to  peruse  and  examine  the  seve- 
ral parts  of  my  life  every  evening,  how  this  course  hath  been  kept  of 
'me,  where  it  hath  to  keep  it  still,  where  it  hath  not,  to  seek  pardon  and 
recovery  ;  and  all  behaviour  that  will  not  stand  with  this,  to  hold  me 
from  it,  as  from  bane. 

A  I'ORM  FOR  A  MINISTER'S  LIFE. 

HI.  In  solitariness  to  be  least  solitary  :  in  company,  taking  or  doing  of 
good  ;  to  wife,  to  family,  to  neighbours,  to  fellow-ministers,  to  all  with 
whom  I  deal,  ^md;  amiable,  yet  modest;  low  in  mine  own  ej'es  ;  oft 
with  the  sick  and  afflicted  :  attending  to  reading ;  painful  for  my  ser- 
mons \  not  easily  provoked  unto  anger;  not  carried  away  with  conceits 
hastily  ;  not  wandring  in  fond  dreams,  about  ease  and  deceivable  plea- 
sures ;  not  snared  in  the  world,  nor  making  laziful  liberties  my  delight  ; 
helpful  to  all  that  need  my  help,  readily,  and  all  those  that  I  ought  to  re- 
gard :   and  all  this,  with  continuance,  even  all  my  days, 

IV.  Chief  con-uptiuns  to  be  v»'atched  against,  be,  sourness,  sadness, 
timorousness,  forgetfulness,  fretting,  and  inability  to  bear  wrongs. 

V.  I  am  very  backward  \o  private  visiting  of  neighbours'  houses,  which 
doth  much  hurt  :  fur  thereby  their  love  to  me  cannot  be  so  great  as  it 
would  be  ;  and  i  know  not  their  particular  wants  and  states  so  well,  and 
therefore  cannot  speak  so  fitly  to  them  as  I  might. 

VI.  A  minister  had  need  look,  that  he  profit  by  all  his  preaching /m?i- 
self,  because  he  knows  not  what  others  do  :  many,  he  knows,  get  no  good  : 
of  many  more  he  is  uncertain  :  so  that  if  he  get  no  good  himself,  his  la- 
bour and  travail  shall  be  in  vain. 

Vil.  Begin  the  day  with  half  an  hour^s  meditation  and  prayer.  And 
let  me  resolutely  set  myself  to  walk  with  God  through  the  day  :  if  any 
thing  fall  out  amiss,  recover  again  speedily,  by  humble  confession,  hear- 
ty prayer  for  pardon,  with  confidence  of  obtaining.     And  so  proceed, 

Vlil.  Oh  !  mildness,  and  cheerfulness,  with  reverence,  how  sweet  a  com- 
panion art  thou  ! 

IX.  Few  rare  and  vrorthy  men,  continue  so  to  their  end  ;  })ut  one 
way  or  other,  fall  into  coldness,  gross  sin,  or  to  the  world  :  therefore  6e- 
■ware.. 

X.  Cotmt  aot  the  daily  direciiun,  nor  christian  life,  to  be  bondage  ; 
but  count^it  the  sweetest  liberty,  and  the  only  way  of  true  peace.  When- 
soever this  is  counted  hard,  that  state  that  is  embraced  instead  thereof, 
shall  be  harder. 

XI.  Worldly  dealings,  are  great  lets  to  fruitfulness  in  study,  and  cheer- 
ful proceeding  in  our  christian  course. 

XII.  One  can  nevor  go  about  study,  ov  preaching,  if  any  thing  lie  heavy 
on  the  ionscience. 


i>ooK  HI.]  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  38.T 

XFII.  The  worst  day  wherein  a.man  keeps  his  watch,  and  holds  to  the 
daily  rules  of  directions,  is  freer  ^om  danp;er,  and  brings  more  safety 
than  the  best  day,  wherein  this  is  not  known  or  practised. 

XIV'.  I  am  oft,  i  confess,  ashamed  of  my  sch",  when  I  have  been  in 
company,  and  seen  gifts  of  knozcledgc,  in  many  careless  unconscionable, 
and  odd  ministers  ;  which  (with  better  reasons)  hath  stirred  up  a  desire 
oftimes  in  me,  that  1  could  follow  my  studies.  Yet  I  would  never  have, 
been  willing  to  have  changed  with  thr-m  :  for  what  is  all  knowUdgc. 
without  a  sanctified  and  comfortable  use  of  it,  through  love  ;  and  without 
fruit  of  our  labour,  in  doing  good,  and  winning  and  building  up  of  souls, 
or  at  least  a  great  endeavour  after  it. 

XV.  Many  ministers  set  their  minds  much  upon  this  rvorld,  either  pro- 
fit, or  preferment,  for  which  they  venture  dangerously,  and  some  of 
them  are  soon  snatched  a^uy .  Therefore  God  keep  me  ever  from  set- 
ting my  foot  on  such  a  path,  as  hath  no  continuance,  and  is  not  withou*^ 
much  danger  in  the  end. 

XV^I.  It  is  good  for  a  man  to  delight  in  that,  wherein  he  may  be  bold 
to  delight  without  repentance  :  and  that  is,  to  be  always  doing,  or  seek- 
ing occasion  to  do  some  good.     The  Lord  help  me  herein. 

XVII.  When  God  hedgeth  in  a  man  with  many  mercies,  and  gives  hitr. 
a  comfortable  condition,  it  is  good  to  achnoza-ledge  it  often,  and  be  highly 
thankful  for  it.  Else  God  may  soon  bring  a  man  so  low,  as  he  would 
think  that  state  happy,  that  he  was  in  before,  if  now  he  had  it  again. 
Therefore,  God  make  me  rcise. 

XVIII.  Right  good  men  have  complained,  that  they  are  oft  times  in 
very  had  case,  their  hearts  disordered  and  distempered  very  sore,  for 
want  of  taking  to  themselves  a  certain  direction  for  the  government  of 
their  lives. 

XIX.  Idle  and  unprofitable  talk  o{  by-matters,  is  a  canker  that  consu- 
meth  all  good,  and  yet  our  heart  much  lusteth  after  it :  therefore  resolve 
firmly  against  it. 

XX.  A  necessary  and  most  comely  thing  it  is,  for  a  minister  to  carr}' 
bimself  so  wisely  and  amiably  unto  all,  as  he  may  do  good  unto  all  sorts  : 
to  bring  back  them  that  be  fallen  off,  in  meekness  and  kindness,  to  pas.- 
by  an  offence  in  those  that  have  wronged  him,  which  is  an  high  point  of 
honour,  and  not  to  keep  from  them,  and  estrange  himself  from  their  ac- 
quaintance, and  so  suffer  them  to  fall  further,  to  be  lowly  towards  the 
meaner  sort  of  christians  ;  to  keep  the  credit  of  his  ministry  with  all. 

I  am  perswaded,  if  my  light  did  shine  more  clearly,  and  mine  exam- 
ple were  seen  more  manifestly,  in  these  and  such  things  (which  are  of 
no  small  force  to  perswade  the  people)  that  both  my  ministry  would  be 
of  more  power,  and  that  I  should  draw  them  also  to  be  better. 

XXI.  Look,  that  I  lie  not  down  in  bed,  but  in  peace  with  God  any 
night,  and  never  my  heart  rest,  until  it  relent  truly,  for  any  thing  tha' 
hath  passed  amiss  in  the  day. 

XXII.  It  is  good  for  a  minister,  not  to  deal  much  with  his  people 
about  worldly  matters,  yet  not  to  be  strange  to  them  :  nor  to  be  a  stumb- 
ling block  unto  the  people,  hy  n-orldliness,  ov  any  other  fault,  else  he 
deprives  himself  of  all  liberty  and  advantage  of  dealing  with  them  for 
their  errors. 

XXII I.  Bifff'eliiigs  of  Satan,  though  tYif^y  he  grievous,  j'ct  they  are  a 
.very  good  medicine  against  pride  and  securit}'. 

XXIV.  Christ's  droth.  and  fjod'a  mercy,  is  not  sweet,  but  where 
sin  is  sour 


;i84  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  Hi. 

XXV.  It  is  an  hard  thing  for  a  man.to  keep  the  rules  of  daily  direction, 
at  times  of  sickness  or  pain.  Let  a  naan  labour  to  keep  out  evil,  when 
he  wants  ^iness,  strength,  and  occasion,  to  60  good,  and  that  is  a  good 
portion  for  a  sick  body.  Also  iu  sickness  that  is  sore  and  sharp,  if  a 
man  can  help  himself  with  short  and  oft  prayers  to  God,  for  patience, 
contentment,  meekness,  and  obedience  to  his  holy  hand,  it  is  well,  though 
he  can't  bend  the  mind  much,   or  earneslly  upon  any  thing. 

XXV'I.  Innocence  is  a  very  good  fence  and  fort  against  impatience, 
in  false  accusations,  or  great  afHictions.  Let  them  that  be  guilty  fret 
and  vex  themselves,  and  shew  bitterness  of  stomach  against  such  as 
speak  ill  of  them  ;  but  they  that  look  carefully  to  their  hearts  and  ways, 
(without  looking  at  meri's  eye,)  let  them  be  still,  and  of  a  meek  and  quiet 
spirit. 

XXVH.  Besides  the  use  of  the  daily  direction,  and  following  strictly 
the  rules  thereof,  yet  there  must  be  now  and  then  the  use  of  fasting, 
to  purge  out  zceariness,  and  commonness ,  in  the  use  of  it. 

XXVIII.  'Tis  a  rare  thing  for  any  man,  so  to  use  prosperity,  as  that 
his  heart  be  drawn  the  nearer  to  God.  Therefore  we  had  need  in 
that  estate,  to  watch  diligently,  and  labour  to  walk  humbly. 

XXIX.  Oh,frowardness  .'  how  unseemly  and  hurtful  a  thing  to  a  man's 
self  and  others  !  Amiable  cheerfulness,  with  watchfulness  and  sobriety,  is 
the  best  estate,  and  meetest  to  do  good,  especially  to  others. 

XXX.  Follow  my  calling  :  lose  no  time'at  home  or  abroad  ;  but  be 
doing  some  good  :  miud  my  going  homeward  :  let  my  life  never  be 
pleasant  unto  me,  when  I  am  not  fruitful,  and  fit  to  be  employed  in  do- 
ing good,  one  way  or  other. 

XXXI.  It  is  a  great  mercy  of  God  to  a  minister,  and  a  thing  much  to 
be  desired,  that  he  be  well  moved  with  the  matter  that  he  preaches  to 
the  people  ;  either  in  his  private  meditation,  or  in  his  pnblick  delivery, 
or  both  :  better  hope  there  is  then,  that  the  people  will  be  moved 
therewith  :   which  we  should  ever  aim  at. 

XXXII.  If  the  heart  be  heavy  at  any  time,  and  xeounded,  for  any  thing, 
shame  our  selves,  and  be  humbled  for  our  sin,  before  we  attempt  any 
good  exercise  or  duty. 

XXXIH  It's  a  very  good  help,  and  most  what  a  present  remedy,  when 
one  feels  himself  dull,  and  in  an  ill  condition,  straightway  to  confess  it  to 
God,  accuse  himself,  and  pray  for  quickning.     God  sends  redress. 

XXXIV.  There  is  as  much  need  to  pray  to  be  kept  in  old  age,  and 
unto  the  end,  as  at  any  time.  And  yet  a  body  would  think,  that  he  that 
hath  escaped  the  danger  of  his  younger,  should  have  no  great  fear  in  his 
latter  days,  but  that  his  experience  might  prepare  him  against  any  thing. 
However,  it  is  not  so  :  for  many  that  have  done  well,  and  very  com- 
mendably  for  a  while,  have  shrewdly  fallen  to  great  hurt.  This  may 
moderate  our  grief,  vi'hen  young  men  of  great  hopes  be  taken  away. 

Oh  .'  how  much  rather  had  I  die  in  peace  quickly,  than  live  to  disgrace 
the  gospel,  and  be  a  stumbling'block  to  any,  and  live  with  reproach  ! 

XXXV.  What  a  sweet  life  is  it,  when  every  part  of  the  day,  hath 
some  work  or  other  allotted  unto  it,  and  this  done  constantly,  but  with- 
out commonness,  or  customariness  of  spirit  in  the  doing  it. 

XXX V/.  When  a  man  is  in  a  drowsie  unprofitable  course,  and  is  not 
humbled  for  it,  God  oft  lets  him  fall  into  some  sensible  sin,  to  shame  him 
with,  to  humble  his  heart,  and  drive  him  more  thoroughlv  to  God.  to  br- 
waii  and  repent  of  both. 


Book  III.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  385 

XXXVn.  A  ti'ue  godly  man,  hath  never  his  life  joyful  unto  him,  any 
longer  than  his  conversation  is  holy  and  heavenly.  Oh  !  let  it  be  so 
with  me  ! 

XXXVIII.  It  is  some  comfort  for  a  man,  whose  heart  is  out  of  order, 
if  he  seei/i  it,  and  that  with  hearty  mistake,  and  cannot  be  content  until  it 
be  bettered. 

XXXIX.  I  have  seen  of  others,  (which  I  desire  to  die,  rather  than  it 
should  be  veritied  of  me  !)  that  many  ministers  did  never  seemgrosly  to 
depart  from  God,  until  they  grew  zn-ealihy  and  gre^i?. 

XL.  How  much  better  is  it  to  resist  sin,  when  we  be  tempted  thereunto, 
than  to  repent  of  it  after  we  have  committed  it  ? 

XLI.  VVhatsoever  a  justified  man  doth  by  direction  of  Gorf's  word, 
and  for  which  he  halh  either  precept  or  promise,  he  pleases  God  in  it, 
and  may  be  comfortable,  in  whatsoever  falls  out  thereupon.  But  where 
ignorance,  rashnes,   or  our  own  will  carry  us,  we  offend. 

XLII.  Let  no  man  boast  of  the  grace  he  hath  had  ;  for  we  stand  not 
now  by  that,  but  it  must  be  daily  nourished  ;  or  else  a  pan  shall  become 
as  other  men.  and  fall  into  noisome  evils  :  for  what  are  we  but  a  lump  of 
sin  of  our  selves  ? 

XLIII.  If  God  in  mercy  arm  us  not,  and  keep  us  not  in  compass,  Lord 
what  stuff  will  break  from  us  !  for  what  a  deal  of  poison  is  in  our  hearts, 
ifit  may  have  issue  !  and  therefore  what  need  of  watchfulness  continually? 

XLI  V.  The  raorst  day,  (commonly)  of  him  that  knoweth,  and  endeav- 
ourethto  walk  by  the  daily  direction,  is  freer  from  danger,  and  passed  in 
greater  safety,  than  the  best  day  of  a  godly  man,  that  knows  not  this  di- 
rection. 

XLV.  Many  shew  themselves  forward  christians  in  company  abroad, 
that  yet  where  they  should  shew  most  fruits,  (as  at  home)  are  too  se- 
cure ;  either  thinking  they  are  not  marked,  or  if  they  be,  do  not  much 
regard  it.      This  ought  not  to  be. 

XLVI.  Be  careful  to  mark  what  falls  out  in  the  day,  in  heart,  or  life  ; 
and  be  sure  to  look  over  all  at  night,  that  hath  been  amiss  in  the  day : 
that  so  I  may  lie  down  in  peace  with  God.  and  conscience.  The  contra- 
ry were  a  woful  thing,  and  wonld  cause  hellish  imquietness.  Be  sure 
therefore,  that  none  of  the  malicious  subtleties  of  the  devil,  nor  the 
naughtiness  of  my  own  heart,  do  carry  me  further  than  at  night,  I  may 
sleep  with  quiet  to  God-ward. 

XLVII.  When  God  saith.  Dent,  xii.  7,  That  his  may  rejoyce  before  him, 
in  all  that  they  put  their  hands  unio :  it's  a  great  liberty,  and  enjoyed  of 
but/erw.  No  doubt,  many  of  our  sorrows  come  through  our  own  defatdf, 
which  we  might  avoid.  And  as  for  godly  sorrow,  it  may  stand  with  this 
rejoicing.  If  therefore  we  may  in  all  things  rejoice,  then  from  one  thing 
to  another,  from  our  walking  to  our  sleeping  :  lirst,  in  our  first  thoughts 
of  God  in  the  morning  ;  then  in  our  prayer  ;  after  in  our  <:crlliiig,  and 
while  we  ire  at  it  ;  then  at  our  meat,  and  in  company,  and  alone,  at  home 
and  abroad,  in  prosperity,  and  advi^rsity,  in  meditation,  in  dealings,  and  af- 
fairs :  and  lastly,  in  shutting  up  the  day  in  examination,  and  viewing  it 
over.  And  what  hinders  ''.  if  we  be  willing  and  resolved  to  do  the  will 
of  God,  throughout  the  day,  but  that  we  may  rejoice  before  him  in  all  we 
put  our  hand  unto. 

XLV  HI.  He  that  makes  conscience  of  his  ways,  and  to  please  God  hi? 
only  way,  is  to  take  him  to  a  daily  direction,  and  some  set  rules,  thereby 
looking  constantly  to  his  heart  all  the  day  :  and  thus,  for  the  most  part. 
he  may  live  comfortably  ;  either  not  falling  into   any  thing  that    should 

Vol.  L  "  19 


S86  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  HI. 

much  disquiet  hiin,  or  soon  returning  by  repentance  to  peace  again.  But 
if  a  man  tie  not  himself  tiius  to  rules,  his  heart  will  break  from  him,  and 
be  disguised  one  way  or  another,  which  will  breed  continual  wound  un- 
to his  conscience,  and  so  he  shall  never  live  any  time  together  in  peace 
The  cause  why  many  christians  also  give  themselves  great  liberty,  in  not 
accusing  themselves  for  many  offences,  is  the  want  of  some  certain  direc- 
tion tu  follow  in  the  day. 

XLIX.  Whenive  feel  unfitness  to  our  ordinary  duties,  we  either  be- 
gin to  be  discouraged,  or  else  yield  to  corruption,  and  neglect  our  du- 
ties :  neither  of  both  which  should  be,  but  without  discouragement  we 
should  resist  our  untowardness,  and  shake  it  off,  and  flee  to  God  by  pray- 
er, even  farce  our  selves  to  pray  for  grace,  and  fitness  to  pray  ;  and  be- 
ing earnest,  and  praying  in  faith,  we  may  be  assured,  that  we  shall  obtain 
life  and  grace. 

L.  When  the  mind  is  distracted  any  way,  unsettled,  unquiet,  or  out  of 
order,  then  get  alone  and  muse,  and  see  what  hath  brought  us  to  this 
pass  ;  consider  how  irksome  a  state  this  is,  and  unprofitable,  pray  to 
God,  and  work  with  thy  own  heart,  until  it  be  brought  in  frame.  Aa 
hour  or  two  alone,  shall  do  a  man  more  good,  than  any  other  courses  or 
duties. 

LI.  Aim  (if  it  be  possible)  to  spend  one  afternoon  in  a  week,  in  vis- 
iting the  neighbours  houses,  great  use  there  is  of  it  :  their  love  to  me 
will  be  much  increased  ;  much  occasion  will  be  ministered  unto  me,  for 
direction  to  speak  the  more  fitly  in  my  ministry,  i  am  exceedingly 
grieved,  that  1  am  so  distracted  with  journeyings  about,  that  I  cannot 
bring  this  to  pass. 

LII.  I  never  go  abroad,  (except  I  season  my  mind  with  good  medita- 
tions by  the  way,  or  read,  or  confer)  but  besides  the  loss  of  my  tirne,  neg- 
lecting my  ordinary  task  at  home,  at  my  study,  I  come  home  weary  in 
body,  unsettled  in  mind,  untoward  to  study.  So  that  I  have  small  cause 
to  rejoice  in  m^'  goings  forth,  and  I  desire  God  to  free  me  more  and  more 
from  them  :  so  may  I  also  attend  my  own  neighbours  more  diligently, 
which  is  my  great  desire  ;  and  the  contrary  hath  been,  and  is  my  great 
burthen. 

LIIl.  I  have  ever  observed,  that  my  jourrieyings  and  distractions  of  di- 
vers kinds,  in  these  my  later  times,  and  by  too  often  preaching  in  my  youn- 
ger years,  I  have  been  held  from  using  means  io  get  knowledge,  and  grow 
therein  :  which  I  counted  ever  the  just  punishment  of  God  upon  me,  for 
the  neglect  of  my  young  time,  when  I  should  and  might  have  furnished 
my  self. 

LIV.  When  I  am  in  the  best  estate  my  self,  I  preach  most  zealously 
and  profitably  for  the  people. 

LV.  It  breeds  an  incredible  comfort  and  joy,  when  one  hath  got  pow- 
er over  some  such  corruption,  as  in  former  times  hath  used  to  get  the 
mastery  over  him.  This  is  a  good  provocation  to  strive  hard  so  to  do,  and 
a  cause  of  great  thankfulness  when  it  so  comes  to  pass.  ' 

LVI.  If  we  be  at  any  time  much  dejected  for  sin,  or  otherwise  disqui-  j 
eted  in  our  minds,  the  best  way  that  can  be,  is  to  settle  and  quiet  them  by 
private  meditation  and  prayer.     Probatum  est. 

LVII.  The  humble  man  is  the  strongest  man  in  the  world,  and  surest  to 
stand,  for  he  goes  out  of  himself  for  help.  'Theproitd  man  is  the  weak' 
est  man,  and  surest  to  fall  :  for  he  trusts  to  his  own  strength. 

LVIII.  It  is  good  in  all  the  changes  of  our  life,  whatsoever  they  be,  to 
hold  our  own,  and  be  not  changed  therewith  from  our  goodness  ;  as  Abra- 


Book  III.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  387 

ham,  wheresoever  he  came  (after  liis  calling)  still  built  his  altar  to  the 
true  God,  and  called  upon  his  name  :  he  changed  his  place,  but  never 
changed  his  God. 

LIX.  Our  whole  life  under  the  gospel  should  be  nothing  but  thankful- 
ness and  fruilfidness.  And  if  we  must  judge  our-selves  for  our  inward 
lustre  and  corruptions  of /^ri'.ie,  didness  in  good  duties,  earthliness,  impa- 
tience. If  we  make  not  conscience  of,  and  be  not  humbled  for  these, 
God  will  and  doth,  oft  give  us  up  to  open  si7is,  that  stain  and  blemish  out 
profession. 

LX.  The  more  we  judge  our  selves  daily,  the  less  we  shall  have  to 
do  on  our  sick-beds,  and  when  we  come  to  die.  Oh  !  that  is  an  unfit  time 
for  this  !  we  should  have  nothing  to  do  then,  but  bear  our  pain  wisely, 
and  be  ready  to  die.  Therefore,  let  us  be  exact  in  our  accounts  every 
day  ! 

Reader,  having  thus  entertained  thee  with  the  memorials  of  the  famous 
Mr.  John  Rogers,  I  will  conclude  them  with  transcribing  a  remark,  which 
I  find  in  a  book  published  by  Mr.  Giles  Firmin,  1681. 

'  Some  excellent  men  at  home  conformed,  but  groaned  under  the  bur- 
"  den  ;  as,  1  remember,  Mr.  John  Rogers  of  Dedham,  an  eminent  saint ; 
'  though  he  did  conform,  I  never  saw  him  wear  a  surplice,  nor  heard  him 

•  use  but  a  few  prayers  ;  and  those,  I  think,  he  said  memoriter,  he  did 
'  not  read  them  ;  but  this  he  would  in  his  preaching,  draw  his  finger 
'  about  his  throat,  and  say.  Let  them  take  me  and  hang  me  up,  so  they  will 
'  but  remove  these  stumbling  blocks  out  of  the  church.  But  how  many  thou- 
'  sands  of  choice  christians  plucked  up  their  stakes  here,  forsook  their 
'  dear  friends  and  native  country,  shut  up  themselves  in  ships,  (to  whom 

•  a  prison  for  the  time,  had  been  more  eligible)  went  remote  into  an  how* 
'  ling  wilderness,  there  underwent  great  hardships,  water  was  their  com- 
'  mon  drink,  and  glad  if  they  might  have  had  but  that  which  they  had 
'  given  at  their  doors  here,  (many  of  them  :)  and  all  this  suffering  was  to 

•  avoid  your  impositions,  and  that  they  might  dwell  in  the  House  of  Ged, 
'  and  enjoy  all  things  therein,  according  to  his  own  appointment.' 


CHAPTER  XV. 

Bihliander  Nov-J\nglicus.     The  Life  of  Mr.  Samuel  Newman. 

Nulla  Tuas  unquam  Virtutes  nesciet  JEtas  ; 
Non  Jus  in  Laudes  Mors  habet  Atra  Tuas, 

§  1.  None  of  the  least  services,  which  the  pens  of  ingenious  and 
industrious  men  have  done  for  the  Church  of  God,  hath  been  in  the  writing 
of  Concordances  for  that  miraculous  Book,  where,  Qnicquid  docetur  est 
Veritas;  Quicquid  prcecipitur,  Bonitas  ;  Quicquid  promittitur,  Fa;licitas. 
The  use  of  such  concordances  is  well  understood  by  all  that  search  the 
scriptures,  and  think  thereby  to  have  eternal  life:  but  rao.st  of  all  by  those 
Bezaleels,  whose  business  'tis  (as  one  speaks)  to  cut  and  set  in  gold  the 
diamonds  of  the  divine  word. 

And  therefore  there  have  been  many  concordances  of  the  Bible  since 
that  origen  first  led  the  way  for  such  composures,  and  divers  languages  ; 
whereof,  it  may  be,  the  Maximce  <§•  absolutissimce  Concordantia,  most 
compleat,  have  been  those  that  were  composed  by  the  two  Stephens,  Bo- 


388  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND,       Book  HI.] 

hert  the  father  and  Henry  ihe  son  ;  tliese,  as  their  name  signifies  a  crozcn, 
to  in  this  work  of  theirs,  like  Deiaoslhcnc.s  in  his  oration,  Dei  Corona, 
have  carried  away  the  garland  from  all  that  went  afore  them. 

Now,  in  the  catalogue  of  concordances,  even  from  that  of  R.  Isaac 
J^alhans,  in  Hebrew,  to  all  that  have  in  many  other  derived  languages  im- 
itated It,  there  is  none  to  be  cuini)ared  unto  that  of  Mr.  Samuel.  Newman, 
in  English.  Indeed,  first  Marbcck  in  a  concordance,  which  pointed  unto 
chapters,  bat  not  unto  verses  ;  then  Cotton,  who  though  no  cler-gy-riian 
himself,  yet  by  his  more,  but  yet  not  quite  perfect  concordance  and  his 
diligence,  obliged  all  clergymen  ;  and  afterwards  Bernard,  who  yet  (no 
more  than  his  narrie's  sake)  saw  not  all  thin;^s  ;  and  then  Downham, 
Wickens,  Bennet,  and  how  many  more  ?  have  done  ver/uously  ;  but  thoti, 
Newman  hast  excelled  them  all!  It  halh  been  a  just  remark,  sometimes, 
made  by  them,  who  are  so  wis^  as  to  observe  these  things,  that  the  Lord 
Jesus  Clirist,  in  his  holy  providence,  hath  chose  especially  to  make  the 
names  of  those  persons  honourable,  who  have  laboured  in  their  works, 
especially  to  \)\i\.honour  upon  the  sacred  scriptures.  And  in  conformity  to 
that  observation,  there  are  dues  to  be  now  paid  unto  the  memory  of  Mr. 
Saviuel  A'ewmati,  who  that  the  scriptures  might  be  preserved  for  the 
mciuory,  »s  well  as  the  understanding  of  the  christian  world,  first  compiled 
in  England,  a  more  elaborate  concordrince  of  the  Bi'le  than  had  ever  yet 
been  seen  in  Europe;  and  after  he  came  \o  New- England,  made  tluit 
concordance  yet  more  elaborate,  by  the  addition  of  not  only  many  texts, 
that  were  not  in  the  former,  but  also  the  marginal  readings  of  all  the 
texts  that  had  them,  and  by  several  other  contrivances  so  made  the 
whole  more  expedite,  for  the  use  of  them  that  consulted  it. 

§  2.  The  life  of  Mr.  Samuel  Newman,  commenced  with  the  cen- 
tury now  running  ;  at  Banbury,  where  he  was  born  of  a  family,  more 
eminent  and  more  ancient  for  the  profession  of  the  true  Protestant  re- 
ligion, than  most  in  the  realm  of  England.  After  his  parents,  who  had 
more  piety  and  honesty,  then  worldly  greatness  to  signalize  them,  had 
bestowed  a  good  education  upon  him,  and  after  his  abode  in  the  univers- 
ity of  Oxford,  had  given  mere  perfection  to  that  education,  he  became 
fin  able  minister  of  the  Nezc-Tedamevt.  But  being  under  the  conscieu- 
sitious  dispotions  of  real  Christianity,  which  was  then  called  Puritanism, 
the  persecution  from  the  prevailing  Hierarchy,.,  whereto  he  therefore 
became  obnoxious,  deprived  him  of  liberty,  for  the  peaceable  exerrise 
of  his  ministry.  Whence  it  came  to  pass,  that  although  we  might  otiter- 
nisc  have  termed  him  n  presbyter  of  one  town  by  ordination,  we  uwat 
now  caW  hhnnn  evangelist  of  many,  through  persecution  :  for  the  Epis- 
copal molestations  compelled  him  to  no  less  than  seven  removes,  and  as 
many  places  may  now  contend  for  the  honour  of  his  ministry,  as  there 
did  for  Hoinci-'s"  nativity.  But  an  eighth  remove,  whereto  a  vveariness 
of  tlic  former  seven  drove  him,  shall  bury  in  silence  the  claims  of  all 
other  placcfitmto  him  ;  for  after  the  year  1658,  (in  which  year,  with 
many  others,  as  excellent  diristians,  as  any  breathing  upon  earth,  he 
crossed  the' water  to-./]  ;Aemt/.)  he  must  be  styled,  a  New-England  man. 

§  3.  After  Mr.  JVctav/ian's  arrival  at  New- England,  he  spent  a  year 
and  half  at  Dorchester,  live  years  at  Weymouth,  and  nineteen  years  at 
iU'.hobolh,  which  name  he  save  unto  the  town,  because  his  flock,  which 
were  before  straitned  for  want  of  room,  now  might  say.  The  Lord  hath 
made  room  for  us,  and  zee  shall  be  fruitful  in  the  land :  nor  will  it  be 
wondered  at,  if  one  so  well-versed  in  the  scripture,  could  think  of  none 
;...'  .,  r...?>m-e-?!awe,  for  tlie  place  of  his  habitation.     How  many  straiii 


Book  III]  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  389 

he  afterwards  unJerwent  at  Rehoboth,  \n  the  dark-day,  when  he  was 
almost  the  only  minister,  wliose  invincible  patience  held  out,  under  the 
scandalous  neglect  and  contempt  of  the  ministry,  which  the  whole  col- 
ony of  Phjmouth,  was  for  a  while  bezi-itchcd  into,  it  is  best  known  unto  the 
compassionate  Lord,  who  said  unto  liim,  /  knon'  thy  works,  and  lurja  thou 
hast  born  and  hast  patience .  and  for  my  name^s  sake  hast  laboured,  arid  hast 
not  fainted.  But  no  doubt,  the  straits  did  but  more  effectually  recom- 
mend Heaven  to  him  as  the  only  Rehoboth  ;  whether  he  went  July  5, 
in  the  year  of  our  Lord  1663,  when  by  passing  through  iiiue  sevens  of 
years,  he  was  come  to  that  which  we  call,  the  grawl  Cliinacterical. 
Nor  let  it  be  forgotten,  that  in  this  memorable  and  miserable  year, 
each  of  the  three  colonies  of  Nexc-England  was  beheaded  of  the  minis- 
ter from  whence  they  had  most  of  their  intluences  ;  J\''orton  went  from 
the  Massachv.set  colony,  Stone  went  from  Connecticut  colony,  and  JVexiinan 
from  Plymouth  colony,  within  a  few  weeks  of  one  another. 

§  4.  He  was  a  very  lively  preacher,  and  a  very  preaching  liver.  He 
loved  his  church  as  if  it  had  been  ha  family,  and  he  taught  his  family,  as 
if  it  had  been  his  church.  He  was  Rahard  student ;  and  as  much  toyi  aad 
oyl,  as  his  learned  name's  sake  JS'eander  employed  in  illustrations  and 
commentaries,  upon  the  old  Greek,  Pagan  poets,  our  J\''ezvman  bestowed 
in  compiling  his  concordances  of  the  sacred  scriptures  :  and  the  incompara- 
ble relish  which  the  sacred  scriptures  had  with  him,  while  he  had  them 
thus  under  his  continual  rumination ,  was  as  well  a  mean,  as  a  sign  of  his 
arriving  to  an  extraordinary  measure  of  that  sanctity,  which  the  truth 
produces.  But  of  \\\i-  family-disicipline  there  was  no  part  more  notable 
than  this  one  ;  that  once  a  yevw  he  kept  a  solemn  day  o{  humiliation  with 
his  family  ;  and  once  a  year,  a  day  of  thanksgiving  ;  and  on  these  days,  he 
would  not  only  enquire  of  his  houshold,  what  they  had  met  withal  to  be 
humbled,  or  to  be  thankfal  for,  but  also  he  would  recruit  the  memr-irs  of 
his  diary  ;  by  being  denied  tiie  sight  whereof,  our  history  of  him  is  ne- 
cessarily creepled  %vith  much  imperfection. 

But  whether  it  were  entred  in  that  diary  or  no,  there  was  one  re- 
markable which  once  befol  him,  worthy  of  a  mention  in  this  history. 
He  was  once  on  a  journey  home  from  Boston  to  Rehoboth  :  but  hearing 
of  a  lecture  at  Dorchester  by  the  way,  he  thought  with  himself.  Perhaps 
I  shall  not  be  out  of  my  may,  if  I  go  so  far  out  of  my  rcay,  as  to  tithe  that 
lecture.  There  he  tbund  3Ir.  Alather  at  prayer  ;  the  prayer  being  end- 
ed, Mr.  Mather  would  not  be  satisfied  except  he  would  preach.  Accord- 
ingly after  the  singing  of  a  psalm,  he  preached  an  excellent  sermon  ; 
and  by  that  sermon,  a  poor  sinner,  well  known  in  the  place,  was  re- 
markably converted  unto  God,  and  became  a  serious  and  eminent  chris^ 
tian. 

§  5.  Hospitality  was  an  essential  of  his  character  ;  and  I  can  tell  when 
he  entertained  angels  not  unawares.  'Tis  doubtless,  a  faulty  piece  of 
insensibility,  among  too  many  of  the  faithful,  that  they  do  little  consider 
the  guard  of  holy  angels,  wherewith  our  Lord  Je^:us  Christ  wonderfully 
supplies  lis  against  the  mischief  and  malice  o^  wicked  spirits.  Those 
holy  angels,  are,  it  may  be,  two  hundred  and  sixty  times  mentioned  in  the 
sacred  oracles  of  Heaven  ;  and  we  that  read  so  much  in  those  oracles, 
«re  so  earthly-minded,  as  to  take  little  notice  of  them.  'Tis  a  marvel- 
lous thing,  that  as  one  says,  the  natives  of  Heaven  do  not  grudge  to  at- 
tend upon  those,  who  are  only  the  denisons  thereof;  and  that  as  the  an- 
cient expresses  it,  we  may  see  the  whole  Heaven  at  work  for  our  salvation, 
God  the  Father  sending  bis  Son  to  redeem  u*,  both  the   Father  and  the 


390  THE  HISTORy   01'  InEVV-ENGLAND.         [Book  UK 

Son  sending  their  Spirit  to  guide  us,  the  Father,  Son  and  Spirit  sending 
their  angels  to  minister  for  us.  Now  of  the  whole  angelical  ministra- 
tion concernea  for  our  good,  there  is,  it  may  be,  none  more  considerable, 
than  the  illustrious  convoy  and  conduct,  which  they  give  unto  the  spirits 
of  believers,  when  being  expired,  they  pass  through  the  territories  of  the 
prince  of  the  power  of  the  air,  unto  the  regions,  where  they  must  attend 
until  the  resurrection.  What  Elijah  had  at  his  translation,  a  chari- 
ot of  angels,  does,  in  some  sort,  accompany  all  the  saints  at  their  expira- 
tion ;  they  are  carried  by  angels  unto  the  feast  with  Abraham,  and  angels 
do  then  receive  them  into  cvtrlasting  habitations.  The  faith  of  this  mat- 
ter has  tnerefore  tilled  the  departing  souls  of  many  good  men,  with 
a  joy  unspeakable  and  full  of  glory  :  thus  the  famous  hord  Mornay, 
when  dyins,  said,  I  am  taki7ig  my  fight  to  heaven;  here  are  angels  that 
stand  ready  to  carry  my  soul  into  the  bosom  of  my  Saviour  ;  thus  the 
famous  Dr.  Holland,  when  dying,  said,  O  thou  fiery  chariot,  which  earnest 
down  to  fetch  up  Elijah,  ymi  angels,  that  attended  the  soul  of  Lazarus, 
bear  me  into  the  bosom  of  my  best  beloved :  thus  we  know  of  another, 
that  when  dying,  said,  O  that  you  had  your  eyes  opened  to  see  what  I  see ! 
J  see  millions  of  angels  ;  God  has  appointed  them  to  carry  my  soul  up  to 
Heaven,  where  I  shall  behold  the  Lord  face  to  face.  And  now,  let  my 
I'eader  accept  another  instance  of  this  dying  and  most  lively  expectation  ! 

Our  JVewman,  towards  the  conclusion  of  his  days,  advanced  more  and 
more  towards  the  beginning  o[  his  joys  :  and  ajoyfid  as  well  as  a  prayer- 
ful, watchful,  anA  fruitful  temper  of  soul,  observably  irradiated  him.  At 
length,  being  yet  in  health,  he  preached  a  sermon  on  these  words  in  Job 
xiv.  14,  .fill  the  days  of  my  appointed  time  will  I  wait,  until  my  change 
come :  which  proved  his  last.  Falling  sick  hereupon,  he  did  in  the  af- 
ternoon of  a  following  Lord's  day,  ask  a  deacon  of  his  church  to  pray  with 
him  ;  and  the  pious  deacon  having  finished  his  prayer,  this  excellent  man 
turned  about,  saying.  And  now  ye  angels  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  come, 
do  your  office  !  with  which  words  he  immediately  expired  his  holy  soul, 
into  the  arms  of  angels  ;  the  spirit  of  thh  just  man,  was  immediately  with 
the  innumerable  company  of  angels. 

§  6.  The  believing  sinner,  then  has  the  forgiveness  of  sin  effectually 
declared  and  assured  unto  him,  when  the  holy  spirit  of  God,  with  a  spe- 
cial operation  (which  is  called,  The  seal  of  the  Holy  Spirit)  produces  in  him 
a  solid,  powerful,  wonderful,  and  well-grounded  perswasion  of  it;  and 
when  he  brings  home  the  pardoning  love  of  God  unto  the  heart,  with  such 
immedi.-tte  and  irresistible  efficacy,  as  marvellously  moves  and  melts  the 
heart,  and  overwhelms  it  with  the  inexpressible  consolations  of  a  pardon. 
The  forgiveness  of  sin,  may  be  hopefilly,  but  cannot  be  joyfully,  evident 
unto  us,  without  such  a  special  operation  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  giving  evi- 
dence thereunto.  When  we  set  ourselves  to  argue  our  justif  cation, 
from  the  marks  of  our  sanctification,  that  we  can  find  upon  ourselves, 
we  do  well;  we  work  right;  we  are  in  an  orderly  way  of  proceeding. 
But  yet,  we  cannot  ell  see  our  sanctification,  except  a  special  operation 
of  the  spirit  of  God,  help  our  sight  ;  and  if  we  do  see  our  sanctification, 
yet  our  sight  of  onv  justification  will  be  no  more  than  feeble,  except  a 
special  operation  of  the  spirit  of  God  shall  comfort  us.  Our  own  argu- 
ment may  make  us  a  little  easy;  and  it  is  our  duty  to  be  found  in  that  ra- 
tional icay  of  arguing  ;  but  this  meer  argument  of  our  own,  will  not  bring 
us  to  that  joyful  peace  of  soul,  that  will  carry  us  triumphantly  through 
the  dark  vcdley  of  the  shadow  of  death,  and  make  us  triumph  over  our 
■doubts,  our  fears,  and  all  our  discouragements.      At  last,  the  Spirit  of 


Book  III. J  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.  391 

God,  ^e  will  come  in  gloriously  upon  our  hearts,  and  cause  us  to  re- 
ceive the  pardon  of  our  sins,  offered  freely  through  Christ  unto  us  ;  and 
then,  we  shall  rejoice  with  joy  unspeakable  and  full  of  glory.  Neverthe- 
less, whenever  the  forgiveness  of  our  sins,  is  by  a  special  operation  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  revealed  unto  us,  the  symptoms  of  a  regenerate  srid.  do  al- 
ways accompany  it.  Though  the  marks  of  sanctification  are  not  enough, 
to  give  us  the  full  joy  of  oxiv  justif  cation ;  yet  they  give  us  the  proof  of 
it.  When  a  special  operation  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  gives  us  to  see  o\ir  justi- 
fication, it  will  give  us  to  see  our  sanclijication  too. 

In  writing  this,  I  have  written  a  considerable  article  of  our  church-his- 
tory :  for  it  was  this  article,  that  perhaps  more  than  any  whatsoever,  ex- 
ercised the  thoughts  and  pens  of  our  churches,  for  many  years  together. 
But  the  mention  hereof,  serves  particularly  to  introduce  a  few  more 
■memoirs  of  our  holy  Newman. 

All  good  christians  do  sometimes  examine  themselves  about  their  inte- 
riour  state  :  and  they  that  would  be  great  christians,  must  often  do  it. 
Though  the  reserved  papers  of  our  JVea^naw,  are  too  carelessly  lost,  yet 
I  have  recovered  one,  which  runs  in  such  terms  as  these. 

'  JVotes,  or  marks  of  grace,  I  find  in  my  self;  not  wherein  I  desire  to 
'  glory,  but  to  take  ground  of  assurance,  and  after  our  apostles'  rules, 
'  to  make  my  election  sure,  though  I  find  them  but  in  weak  measure. 

M.  1  find,  I  love  God,  and  desire  to  love  God,  principally/or  himself. 

'  2.  A  desire  to  requite  evil  zvtih  good. 

'  3.  A  looking  up  to  God,  to  see  him,  and  his  hand,  in  all  things  that 
'  befal  me. 

'  4.  A  greater/ear  of  displeasing  God,  than  all  the  world. 

'  5.  A  love  to  such  christians  as  I  never  saw,  or  received  good  from. 

'  6.  A  grief,  when  I  see  Godh  commands  broken  by  any  person. 

'7.  A  moMrning  for  not  finding  the  assurance  of  God's  love,  and  the 
'  sense  of  his  favour,  in  that  comfortable  manner,  at  one  time,  as  at  anoth- 
'  er  ;  and  not  being  able  to  serve  God  as  I  should. 

'  8.  A  williugness  to  give  God  the  glory  of  any  ability  to  do  good. 

'  9.  A  joy,  when  I  am  in  christian  company,  in  godly  conference. 

'  10.  A  grief,  when  I  perceive  it  goes  ill  zi'ith  christians,  and  the  con- 
'  trary. 

'11.  A  constant  performance  of  secret  duties,  between  God  and  my  gelf, 
'  morning  and  evening. 

'  12.  A  bewailing  of  such  sins,  which  none  in  the  world  can  accuse 
*  rae  of. 

'  13.  A  choosing  of  suffering  to  avoid  sin. 

But  having  thus  mentioned  the  self-examination ,  which  this  holy  man 
accustomed  himself  unto,  I  know  not  but  this  maybe  a  very  proper  op- 
portunity, to  observe,  that  the  holiness  of  our  primitive  christians,  in  this 
land,  v/as  more  than  a  little  expressed  and  improved,  by  this  piece  ot" 
Christianity.  And  that  I  may  serve  this  design  of  Christianity,  upon  the 
devout  reader,  I  will  take  this  opportunity  to  digress,  (if  it  be  a  digres- 
sion) so  far,  as  to  recite  a  passage  I  lately  read  in  a  paper,  which  a  pri- 
vate christian,  one  of  our  godly  old  men,  who  died  not  long  since,  (name- 
ly Mr.  Clap,  once  the  captain  of  our  castle)  did,  at  his  death,  leave 
behind  him. 

That  godly  man  had  long  been  labouring  under  doubts  and  fears,  about 
his  inierioifr  state  before  God.     At  last  hf  was  one  dav  considering  with 


392  'J'HE  HISTURY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  111 

himselt,  wh.it  was  his  most  beloved  sin.  Herewithal  he  considered, 
whether  in  case  the  Lord  would  assure  him.  that  all  sin  should  be  for 
ever  pardoned  unto  him,  and  he  should  arrive  sale  to  heaven  in  the  is- 
sue, yet  he  should  not  in  the  mean  time  have  that  one  sin  mortified,  and 

be  delivered  from  the  reign  and  rage  of  that  one  sin, Whether 

this  would  content  him  ?  Hereunto  he  found  and  said,  before  the  Lord, 
that  tliis  7iooulfl  not  content  him.  And  hereupon  the  Spirit  of  God  imme- 
diately irradiated  his  mind,  with  a  strange  and  a  strong  assurance  of  the 
divine  love  unto  him.  He  was  dissolved  into  a  flood  of  tears,  with  as- 
surance, that  God  had  loved  him  z<Dif.h  an  everlasting  love.  And  from 
this  time,  the  assurance  of  his  pardon,  conquered  his  doubts  and  fears, 
I  think,  all  the  rest  of  his  days. 

Our  too  defective  history  of  our  Newman,  I  will  conclude,  as  Bluhos- 
/iMs  did  in  his  history  ol  Johannes  Cornu:  Longum  eslet  Elogia  hujus  viri 
narrare.  Bed  perfect) or  Historia,  ut  de  aliis  vires,  itu  4"  de  isto,  consum- 
matur.  i^  quotidie  augeiur  in  Vita  eternd ;  Qwaw  da  nobis,  O  Domine  De- 
us,  in  glorid  cum  gaudio  legendam.     Amen. 

EPITAPHIUM. 

Mortuus  est  Neander  Nov-Anglus, 

Qui  ante  mortem  dedicit  mori, 

lit  obiit  ed  morte,  qua  potest  esse,  Ars  bene  moriendi. 


CHAPTER  XVL 

Doctor  Irrefragabilis.     The  Life  of  Mr.  Samuel  Stone. 

§  1.  If  the  church  of  Rome  do  boast  of  her  Cornelius  a  Lapide,  wh© 
hath  published  learned  commentaries  upon  almost  the  whole  Bible,  the 
Protestant  and  reformed  church  of  JVew-E7igland,  may  boast  of  her  Sam- 
uel  Stone,  who  was  better  skilled  than  the  other  in  sacred  philology,  and 
whose  learned  sermons  and  writings  were  not  stuffed  with  such  trifles 
and  fables,  and  other  impertinencies,  as  fill  many  pages  in  the  compo- 
sures of  the  other. 

§  2.  In  his  youth,  after  his  leaving  of  the  University  of  Cambridge, 
where  £?na?2T/eZ-Colledge  had  instructed  him  with  the  light,  and  nourished 
him  with  the  cup  of  that  famous  university,  he  did.  with  several  other 
persons,  that  proved  famous  in  their  generation,  sit  at  the  feet  of  a  most 
excellent  Gamaliel;  attending  upon  that  eminently  holy  man  of  God. 
whom  I  vvill  venture  to  call.  Saint  Blackerby.  That  Reverend  Richard 
Blackerby,  whose  most  angelical  sort  of  life,  you  may  read  among  the  last 
of  Samue/ C/aWc's  collections,  was  a  tutor  to  Mr.  Stone;  and  you  may 
reasonably  expect,  that  such  a  scholar,  should  have  a  double  portion  of 
the  spirit,  which  there  was  in  such  a  tutor. 

§  3.  Having  been  an  accomplished,  industrious,  but  yet  persecuted 
minister  of  the  gospel,  in  England,  he  came  to  jYezv-England,  in  the 
same  ship  that  brought  over  Mr.  Cotton,  and  Mr.  Hooker.  A  ship,  which 
in  those  three  worthies,  brought  from  Europe  a  richer  loading,  than  the 
richest  that  ever  sailed  back  from  America  in  the  Spanish  Flotn ;  even 
that  wreck  which  had  on  board,  among  other  treasures,  one  entire  table 
of  gold,  weighing  above  three  thousand  and  three  hundred  pound.     In- 


Book  III.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  393 

deed  the  foundation  oi  New -England  had  a   precionsyem  laid  in  it,  when 
Mr.  Stone  arrived  in  these  regions. 

But  the  circumstances  of  this  removal,  require  to  be  related  with  more 
of  particularities.  The  judicious  christians  that  were  coming  to  New- 
England  with  Mr.  Hooker,  were  desirous  to  obtain  a  collegue  for  him, 
and  being  disappointed  of  obtaining  Mr.  CoUon  for  that  purpose,  (who  ne- 
vertheless took  it  very  kindly,  that  Mr.  Hooker  had  sent  them  unto  him) 
they  began  to  think,  that  a  couple  of  such  great  men  might  be  more  ser- 
viceable asunder,  than  together.  So  their  next  agreement  was,  to  pro- 
cure some  able  and  godly  young  man,  who  might  he  an  assistant  unto  Mr. 
Hooker,  with  something  of  a  disciple  also  ;  and  those  three,  Mr  Shcpardy 
Mr.  Norton,  and  Mr.  Stone,  were  to  this  end  proposed  ;  and  Mr.  Stone, 
then  a  lecturer  at  Torcester  in  N'ortlianiptoiishire,  was  the  person  upon 
whom  at  length  it  fell,  to  accompany  Mr.  Hooker  into  America. 

§  4.  From  the  A^'ew- English  Cambridge,  he  went  collegue  to  Mr.  Hook- 
er, with  a  chosen  and  devout  company  of  christians,  who  gathered  a  fam- 
ous church,  at  a  town  which  they  called  Hartford,  upon  the  well-known 
river  Connecticut.  There  he  continued  feeding  the  flock  of  our  Lord, 
fourteen  years,  with  Mr  Hooker,  and  sixteen  years  after  him  ;  till  he 
that  was  born  at  Hartford  in  England,  now  on  Jidy  20,  1663,  died  in 
Hartford  of  New-England  ;  and  went  unto  the  Heavenly  Society,  where- 
of he  would  with  some  longing  say,  Heaven  is  the  more  desirable,  for 
such  company  as  Hooker,  and  Shepard,  a7id  Hains,  zn'ho  are  got  there  be- 
fore me. 

§  5.  His  way  of  living  was  godly,  sober  and  righteous.^  and  like  that 
great  apostle  who  was  his  name-sake,  he  could  seriously  and  sincerely 
profess,  Lord,  thou  knovsest  all  things  ;  thou  knoxaest  that  I  love  thee.  But 
there  were  two  things,  wherein  the  power  of  godliness  uses  to  be  most 
remarkably  manifested  and  maintained  ;  and  he  was  remarkaole  for  both 
of  these  things  ;  namely,  frequent  fastings,  and  exact  Sabbaths  He 
would,  not  rarely,  set  apart  whole  days  for  fasting  and  p'a?/er  before  the 
Lord,  whereby  he  ripened  his  blessed  soul  for  the  inheritance  of  the  saints 
in  light.  And  when  the  weekly  Sabbath  came,  which  he  scill  began  ia 
the  evening  before,  he  would  compose  himself  unto  a  most  heavenly 
frame  in  all  things,  and  not  let  fall  a  zpord,  but  what  should  be  grave,  se- 
rious, pertinent.  Moreover,  it  was  his  custom,  that  the  sermon  which  he 
was  to  preach  on  the  Lord's  day  in  his  assembly,  he  would  the  night  be- 
fore, deliver  to  his  own  family.  A  custom  which  was  attended  with  sev- 
eral advantages. 

§  6.  Being  ordained  the  teacher  of  the  church  in  Hartford,  he  appre- 
hending himself  under  a  particular  and  peculiar  obligation,  to  endeavour 
the  edification  of  his  people,  by  a  more  doctrinal  way  of  preaching  :  ac- 
cordingly, as  he  had  the  arf  of  keeping  to  his  hour,  so  he  had  an  incom- 
parable skill  at  tilling  of  that  hour  with  nervous  discourses,  in  the  way 
of  common-place  and  proposition,  handling  the  points  of  divinity,  which  he 
would  conclude  with  a  brief  and  close  application:  and  then  he  would 
in  \\\%  prayer,  after  sermon,  put  all  into  such  pertinent  confessions,  peti- 
tions, and  thanksgivings,  as  notably  digested  his  doctrine  into  devotion. 
He  was  a  man  of  principles,  and  in  tiie  management  of  those  principles, 
he  was  both  a  Load-Stone  and  a  Flint-Stone. 

§  7.  He  had  a  certain  pleasancy  in  conversation,  which  was  the  effect 
and  symptom  of  his  most  ready  ■wit;  and  made  ingenious  men  to  be  as 
covetous  of  hi?,  familiarity,  as  admirers  of  his  ingenuity.  Possibly  he  might 
fhinkof  what  Snidas  report?  concerning  Macarius,  that  by  the  pleasancy 

Vor,.  I  r^o 


394  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  IH 

of  his  discourses  on  all  occasions,  he  drew  niany  to  the  ways  of  God. 
He  might  be  inclined,  like  Dr.  Staunton,  who  snid,  I  have  used  myself  In 
he  cheerful  in  companij,  that  so  standers-by  might  he  tlic  more  in  love  witJi 
religion,  seeing  it  consistent  with  cheerfulness .  Hence  facetious  turns  wera 
almost  natural  to  him,  in  his  conversation  with  svicli,  as  had  the  sence  to 
comprehend  the  subtleties  of  his  reparties.  But  still  under  such  a  re- 
serve,  as  to  escape  the  sentence  of  the  canon  of  the  councilor  Carthage, 
Clericum  scurrihm  4r  verbis  turpibus  Joculatorem,  ah  officio  Retrahendum 
fsse  censcmiis. 

§  8.  Reader,  what  should  be  the  meaning  of  this  ?  our  Mr.  Stone,  about, 
or  before  the  year  1G50,  when  all  things  were  in  a  profound  calm,  deliv- 
ered in  a  sermon  his  pre-apprehensions,  that  churches  among  them  would 
come  to  be  broken  by  schism,  and  sudden  censures,  and  angry  removes  : 
and  that  e'er  they  were  aware,  these  mischiefs  would  arise  among  them  : 
in  the  churches,  prayers  against  prayers,  hearts  against  hearts,  tears 
against  tears,  tongues  against  tongues,  and  fasts  against/asLf,  and  horrible 
prejudices  and  underminings.  Many  years  did  not  pass,  before  he  saw 
in  his  own  church,  all  of  this  accomplished  He  little  thought  that  his  own 
church,  must  be  the  stage  of  these  tra^j^cdies,  when  he  told  some  of  his 
friends,  That  he  should  never  want  their  love.  He  did  live  to  undergo 
Tvhat  we  are  now  going  to  signiiie  : 

Towards  the  latter  end  of  his  time,  this  present  evil  world,  was  made 
yet  more  evil  unto  him,  through  an  unhappy  difference,  which  aroso 
between  him  and  a  ruling  elder  in  the  church,  whereof  he  was  himself  a 
teaching  elder.  They  were  both  of  them  godly  men  ;  and  the  true  orig- 
inal of  the  misunderstanding  between  men  that  were  of  so  good  an  under- 
standing, has  been  rendred  almost  as  obscure  as  the  rise  of  Connecticvt- 
river.  But  it  proved  in  its  unhappy  consequences,  too  like  that  river  in 
its  great  annual  inundations  ;  for  it  overspread  the  whole  colony  oi  Con- 
necticut. Such  a  monstrous  CHc/^an^meni  there  was  upon  the  minds  even 
of  those  who  were  christians,  and  brethren,  that  in  all  the  towns  round 
about,  the  people  generally  made  themselves  parties,  either  to  one  side 
or  the  other,  in  this  quarrel  ;  though  multitudes  of  them,  scarce  ever 
distinctly  knew,  what  the  quarrel  was  :  and  the  factions  insinuated  them- 
selves into  the  smallest,  as  well  as  the  greatest  affairs  of  those  towns. 
From  the  fire  of  the  altar,  there  issued  thundrings  and  lightnings,  and 
earthquakes,  through  the  colony.  As  once  in  Constantinople ,  a  fire  that 
began  in  the  church  consumed  the  Senate-house.  Thus  the  fire  which 
began  in  the  church  more  than  a  little  affected  the  Senaie-himse  in  Con- 
necticut :  and  the  people  also  were  many  of  them  as  fiercely  set  against 
one  another,  as  the  Combites  in  the  poet  were  against  the  Tentyriles.  A 
world  of  sin  was  doubtless  committed,  even  by  pious  men  on  this  occa- 
sion, while  they  permitted  so  many  things  conti\iry  to  the  law  of  charity. 
and  so  much  mispcndina:  of  their  time,  and  misplacing  of  their  zeal,  as 
must  needs  occur  in  their  woful  variance.  Alas  !  how  many  o^ Solomon^ s 
wise  proverbs  were  explained  and  instanced  in  the  follies  of  these  con- 
tests! Indeed,  for  the  composing  of  these  6?'a«nfZes,  there  was  the  help 
of  cmincil  called  in  ;  but  every  council  fetched  from  the  neighbourhood, 
was  thought  prejudiced  ;  for  which  cause,  at  last,  a  council  was  desired 
from  the  churches  about  Boston,  in  the  Massachusets  Bay,  whose  mes- 
sengers took  the  pains,  thus  to  travel  more  than  an  hundred  mile-'  for 
the  pacification  of  these  animosities  ;  and  a  sort  of  pacification  was  there; 
by  attained  ;  but  yet  not  without  the  dismission  and  removal  of  many 
virtuous  people,  further  up  the  river  ,•  whereby  some  other  chnrche« 


i5ooK  III.]        THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  395 

came  to  be  gathered,  which  are  now  famous  in  our  Israel.  'Tis  not  easy 
to  comprehend,  and  1  wish  no  such  faitliful  servant  of  God  may  experience 
it  ;  how  much  the  spirit  of  Mr.  Stone,  was  worn  b>'  the  continual  drop- 
ping of  this  contention. — Gulta  cavat  LaptJem.  But  the  dust  of  mortality 
being  thrown  upon  those  good  men,  they  have  not  only  left  sti7tging  one 
another,  but  also  they  are  together  hived  with  xmjarring  luve,  in  the  land 
that  tiows  with  what  is  better  than  milk  and  honey.  As  for  Mr.  Stone,  if 
it  were  metaphorically  true  (what  they  proverbially  said)  of  Beza,  that 
he  had  no  gall,  the  physicians  that  opened  him  after  his  death,  found  it 
literally  true  in  this  worthy  man. 

§9.  in  his  church-discipline,  he  was,  perhaps,  the  exactest  of  that 
which  we  call  Congregational,  and  being  asked  once  to  give  a  description 
of  the  Congregational  church-government,  he  replied,  It  n'us  a  speaking 
Aristocracy  in  theface  of  a  silent  Democracy. 

§  10.  He  was  an  extraordinary  person  at  an  argument ;  and  as  clear, 
and  smart  a  disputant,  as  most  that  ever  lived  in  the  world.  Hence, 
when  any  scholar  came  to  him  with  any  question,  it  was  his  custom  to  bid 
him  take  which  part  the  quaerist  himself  pleased,  either  positive  or  neg- 
ative, and  he  would  most  argumentativcly  dispute  against  him  ;  whereby 
having  disputed  one  another  into  the  narrow  of  the  case,  he  would  then 
give  the  enquirer  the  most  judicious  and  satisfying  determination  of  his 
■problem,  that  could  be  imagined.  Yea,  what  Cicero  says  of  one,  might 
almost  be  said  of  him,  Nidlam  unquam  in  Dispufationibus  rem  defendit, 
quam  non  probarit  ;  nullum  oppugnavit,  quern  non  everterit. 

§  11.  The  world  has  not  been  entertained  with  many  of  his  compo- 
sures. But  certain  strokes  of  Mr.  Hudson  and  Mr.  Cowdry,  fetched  one 
spark  out  of  this  well  compacted  Stone  ;  which  was,  A  Discourse  about 
the  Logical  Notion  of  a  Congregational  Church  ;  wherein  some  thought, 
that  as  a  Stone  from  the  sling  of  David,  he  has  mortally  wounded  the 
head  of  that  Goliah,  a  national  political  church.  At  least,  he  made  an  es- 
aay.  to  do  what  was  done  by  the  Stone  of  Bohan.^  setting  the  bounds  be- 
tween church  and  church,  as  that  between  tribe  and  tribe. 

Moreover  1  find  in  a  book,  which  a  late  author  hath  written  on  Free- 
grace,  this  passage  ;  Might  the  world  be  so  hnppy^  as  to  see  a  very  elab- 
orate confutation  of  the  Antinomians,  written  by  a  very  acute  and  solid  per- 
son, a  great  disputant,  viz.  Mr.  Stone  of  New-England,  a  Congregatio ..  rl 
divine,  it  would  easily  appear,  that  the  Congregational  are  not  Antinomiao. 
.And  Mr.  Baxter,  in  one  of  his  last  works,  does  utter  his  dying  wishea^ 
for  the  resurrection  of  that  buried  manuscript. 

But  one  of  the  most  elaborate  things  written  by  Mr.  Stone,  or  indeed 
in  this  land,  is  his  Body  of  Divinity  ;  wherein  the  reader  has  in  a  Rich- 
ardsonian  method,  curiously  drawn  up  the  doctrine  of  the  Protestant,  and 
Reformed,  and  New-English  churches  ;  and  the  marrow  of  all  that  had 
been  reached,  by  the  hard  and  long  studies  of  this  great  student  in  theol- 
ogy. This  rich  treasure  has  often  been  transcribed  by  the  vast  pains  of 
our  candidates  for  the  ministry  ;  and  it  has  made  some  of  our  most  con- 
siderable divines.  But  all  attempts  for  the  printing^  of  it,  hitherto  proved 
abortive. 

EPITAPHIUM. 

Quern  Nubila  Ficta  Ceronarff-. 


396  THE  HJSTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  [Booic  HI 

CHAPTER   XVH. 

The   Life  of  Mr.  William  Thompson. 

§  1.  There  is  no  experienced  minister  of  the  gospel,  who  hath  not  in 
the  cases  of  tempted  souls,  often  had  this  experience,  that  the  ill  cases  of 
their  distempered  bodies,  are  the  frequent  occasion  and  original  of  their 
temptations.  There  are  many  men,  who  in  the  very  constitution  of  their 
bodies,  do  afford  a  bed,  wherein  busy  and  bloody  devils,  have  a  sort  of  a 
lodging  provided  for  them.  The  mass  of  blood  in  them,  is  disordered 
with  some  liery  acid,  and  their  brains  or  bozeels  have  some  juices  or  fer- 
ments, or  vapours  about  them,  which  are  most  unhappy  engines  for  devils 
to  work  upon  their  souls  withal.  The  vitiated  humours  in  many  per- 
sons, yield  the  steams,  whereinto  Satan  does  insinuate  himself,  till  he  has 
gained  a  sort  of  possession  in  them,  or  at  least,  an  opportunity  to  shoot 
into  the  mind,  as  xinmy  fiery  darts,  as  may  cause  a  sad  life  unto  them  ; 
yea,  'tis  well  if  self-murder  be  not  the  sad  end,  into  which  these  hurried 
people  are  thus  precipitated.  jXew- Engl  and,  a  countiy  where  sple- 
netic maladies  are  prevailing  and  pernicious,  perhaps  above  any  other, 
hath  afforded  numberless  instances,  of  e\en  pioics  people,  who  have  con- 
tracted those  melancholy  indispositions,  which  have  unhinged  them  from 
all  service  or  comfort ;  yea  not  a  few  persons  have  been  hurried  there- 
by to  lay  violent  bands  upon  themselves  at  the  last.  These  are  among 
the  unssiirchab'e  judgments  of  God! 

§  2.  Mr.  William  Tliompson  was  a  reverend  minister  of  the  gospel, 
v}\\o  felt  in  himself,  the  vexations  of  that  melanchdy,  which  persons  in 
his  office  do  so  often  see  in  others.  He  was  a  very  powerful  and  suc- 
cessfnl  preacher  ;  and  we  tind  his  name  sometimes  joined  in  the  title-j>age 
of  several  books,  with  his  countryman,  Mr.  Richard  Mather,  as  a  zvritcr. 
Nor  was  Nez^-England  the  only  part  of  America,  where  he  zealously 
published  the  messages  and  mysteries  of  Heaven,  after  that  the  English 
Hierarchy  had  persecuted  him  from  the  like  labours  in  Lancashire,  over 
into  America  ;  but  upon  a  mission  from  the  churches  of  jSi'em}- En  gland, 
he  carried  the  tidings  of  salvation  b}'  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  into  Virgin- 
ia ;^  where  he  saw  a  notable  fruit  of  his  labours,  until  that  faction  there, 
which  called  it  self,  the  Church  of  England,  persecuted  him  from  thence 
also.  Satan,  who  had  been  after  an  extraordinary  manner  irritated  by 
the  evangelic  labours  of  this  holy  man,  obtained  the  liberty  to  sift  him  ; 
and  hence,  after  this  worthy  man  had  served  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  in 
the  church  of  our  New-English  Braintrce,  he  fell  into  that  Balneum  dia- 
holi,  a  black  melancholy,  which  for  divers  years  almost  wholly  disabled 
him  for  the  exercise  of  his  ministry  ;  but  the  end  of  this  melancholy, 
was  not  so  tragical,  as  it  sometimes  is  with  some,  whom  yet  because  of 
their  exemplary  lives,  we  dare  not  censure  for  their  prodigious  deaths. 
It  is  an  observation  of  no  little  consequence,  in  our  christian  warfare, 
that  for  all  the  lierce  temptations  of  the  devil  upon  us,  there  is  a  time 
limited  ;  an  hour  of  temptation.  During  this  time,  the  devil  may  grow 
the  more  furious  upon  us,  the  more  we  do  resist  him.  We  must  raist 
until  the  time,  which  is  prefixt  by  God,  but  iinknozcn  to  us,  is  expired  : 
and  then,  we  shall  tind  it  a  laiv  in  the  invisible  world  strictly  kept  unto, 
that  if  the  resistance  be  carried  on  to  such  a  period,  though  perhaps  with 
many  intervening  foyle,  the  devil  will  be  gone  ;  yea,  whether  he  will 
or  no,  we  must  be  gone.     There  is  a  law  for  it,  which  obliges  him  to  a 


Book  HI.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  ;i97 

flight,  and  -d  flight  that  carries  a  fright  in  it  ;  a/eaj-  from  an  apprehension 
that  God,  with  his  good  angels,  will  come  in,  with  terrible  chastisements 
upon  him,  if  he  presume  to  continue  his  temptations  one  moment  longer, 
than  the  time  that  had  been  allowed  unto  him.  Ail  this,  may  be  implied, 
in  that  passage  of  the  apostle,  Resist  the  devil  and  he  will Jlce from  you. 
And  as  our  Lord,  being  twice  more  furiously  tempted  by  the  devil, 
drezv  near  to  God,  with  extraordinary  prayer ;  but  when  the  time 
for  the  temptation  was  out,  God  by  his  angels  then  sensibly  /Ireiv  near 
unto  him,  with  fresh  consolations:  to  this,  no  doubt,  the  apostle  refers, 
when  he  adds,  Draw  nigh  to  God.  and  he  shall  drazc  nigh  to  you.  Accord- 
ingly, the  pastors  and  the  faithful,  of  the  churches  in  the  neighbourhood, 
kept  resisting  of  the  devil,  in  his  cruel  assaults  upon  3Ir.  Thompson,  by 
continually  drazving  near  to  God,  with  ardent  supplications  on  his  behalf: 
and  by  praying  a/rcai/s, without  fainting  without  ceasing,  they  saw  the 
devil  atHength  flee  from  him,  and  God  himself  drar^-  near  unto  him,  with 
unutterable  joy.  The  end  of  that  man  is  peace  .' 
§  3.  A  short  flight  of  our  poetry  shall  tell  the  rest. 


REMARKS 

On  the  bright  and  the  dark  side,  of  that  American  pillar,  the  Reverend 
J[Ir.  William  Thompson  ;  pastor  of  the  church  at  Braintree.  Who 
triumphed  on  Dec.   10,   1666. 

But  ma}'  a  rural  pen  try  to  set  forth 
Such  a  great  father''s  ancient  grace  and   worth  '. 
I  undertake  a  no  less  arduous  theme, 
Than  the  old  sages  found  the  Chaldee  dream. 
Tis  more  than  Tythes  of  a  profound  respect, 
That  must  be  paid  such  a  Mclchizedeck. 

Oxford  this   lisht,  with  tong:ues  and  arts  doth  trim  ; 
And  then  his  northern  town  doth  challenge  him. 
His  time  and  strength  he  centered  there  in  this ; 
To  do  good  tvorks,  and  he  what  novt:  he  is. 
His  fulgent  virtues  there,  and  learned  strains, 
Tall  comely  presence,   life  unsoil'd  with  stains, 
Things  most  on  Worthies,  in  their  stories  writ, 
Did  him  to  moves  in  orbs  of  service  fit. 
Things  more  peculiar  yet,  my  muse,  intend, 
Say  stranger  things  than  these  ;  so  weep  and  end. 

When  he  forsook  first  his  Oxonian  cell. 
Some  scores  at  once  from  popish  darkness  fell  ; 
So  this  reformer  studied  !   rare  first  fruits  ! 
Shaking  a  crab-tree  thus  by  hot  disputes, 
The  acid  juice  by  miracle  turn'd  wine. 
And  rais'd  the  spirits   of  our  young  divine. 
Hearers,  like  doves,  flock't  with  contentious  wing, 
Who  should  be  first,  feed  most,  most  homeward  bring. 
Laden  with  honey,  like  Hybleean  bees, 
They  knead  it  into  coinbs  upon  their  knee? 


398  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  III. 

Why  he  from  Europe's  pleasant  garden  fled, 
In  the  next  age,  will  be  with  horrour  said. 
Braintrcc  was  of  this  jewel  then  possest, 
Until  himself,  he  labour  d  into  rest. 
His  inventory  then,  with  Johns,  was  took  ; 
A  rough  coat,  girdle  with  the  sacred  book. 

When  Reverend  Knowles  and  he,  sail'd  hand  in  hand, 
To  Christ  espousing  the  Virginian  land. 
Upon  a  ledge  of  craggy  rocks  near  stav'd, 
His  Bible  in  his  bosom  thrusting  sav'd  ; 
The  Bible,  the  best  of  cordUil  of  his  heart, 
Come  Jloods,  come  Jiaines,  (cry'd  he)  weHl  never  part. 
A  constellation  of  great  converts  there, 
Shone  round  him,  and  his  Heavenly  glory  were. 
GooKiNS  was  one  of  these  :  by  Thompson''s  pains, 
Christ  and  New-England,  a  dear  Gookins  gains. 

With  a  rare  skill  in  hearts,  this  doctor  cou'd 
Steal  into  thera  words  that  should  do  them  good. 
His  balsams  from  the    tree  of  life  distill'd. 
Hearts  cleans'd  and  heal'd,  and  with  rich  comforts  fiU'd. 
But  here's  the  wo  !  balsams  which  others  cur'd. 
Would  in  his  ovvn  turn  hardly  be  endur'd. 

Apollyon  owing  him  a  cursed  spleen 
Who  an  Apollos  in  the  church  had  been, 
Dreading  his  traffick  here  would  be  undone 
By  nnm'rous  proselytes  he  daily  won, 
Accus'd  him  of  imaginary  faults. 
And  push'd  him  down  so  into  dismal  vaults  : 
Vaults,  where  he  kept  long  Ember-weeks  of  griet 
Till  Heaven  alarmed  sent  him  in  relief. 
Then  was  a  Daniel  in  the  lions''  den, 
A  man,  oh,  how  belov''d  of  God  and  men  ! 
By  his  bed-side  an  Hebrew  sword  there  lay, 
With  which  at  last  he  drove  the  devil  away. 
Quakers  too  durst  not  bear  his  keen  replies, 
But  fearing  it  half  drawn,  the  trembler  flies. 
Like  Lazarus,  new  raised  from  death,  appears 
The  saint  that  had  been  dead  for  many  years. 
Our  JVehemiah  said.  Shall  such  as  I 
Desert  my  flock,  and  like  a  coward  fly  ! 
Long  had  the  churches  begg'd  the  saint's  release  ; 
Releas'd  at  last,  he  dies  in  glorious  peace. 
The  night  is  not  so  long,  but  phosphor'' s  ray 
Approaching  glories  doth  on  high  display. 
Faitli's  eye  in  him  discern'd  the  morning  star, 
His  heart  leap'd  ;  sure  the  sun  cannot  be  far. 
In  extasies  of  joy,  he  ravish'd  cries, 
Love,  love  the  lamb,  the  lamb  !  in  whom  he  die?. 

Dec.   10,  1666. 


Book  III.]  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  399 

But  the  Churches  of  New-England  having  had  another  instance  of  afflic- 
tion like  that  which  exercised  our  Th'iinpson,  I  shall  chuse  this  place 
to  introduce  it.  Lives  have  been  sometimes  best  written  in  the  way 
of  parallel.  To  Mr.  William  Thompson,  shall  now  therefore  hepar- 
nlleled,  onr  Mr.  John  JVarham. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

The  Life  of  Mr.  John  Warham. 

When  the  time  of  reformation  was  come  on,  one  of  the  more  elTectual 
things,  done  towards  that  reformation  in  England,  about  the  middle  of 
the  former  centur}',  was  to  send  about  the  kingdom  certain  itinerant 
preachers,  with  a  license  to  preach  i\\G  fundamentals  of  religion,  instead 
of  the  stuff,  with  which  the  souls  of  the  people  had  been  formerly  fam- 
ished. Upon  this  occasion,  it  is  a  passage  mentioned  by  the  famous  Ur. 
Burnet:  Many  complaints  ■were  made  of  those  that -were  licensed  to  preach  ; 
and  that  they  might  be  able  to  justife  themselves,  they  begin  generally  to 
write  and  read  their  sermons  :  and  thus  did  this  custom  begin  ;  in  which^ 
what  is  wanting  in  the  heat  and  force  of  delivery,  is  much  made  up  by  the 
strength  and  solidity  of  the  matter  :  and  it  has  produced  many  volumes  of  as 
excellent  sermons,  as  have  been  preached  in  any  age. 

The  custom  of  preaching  with  notes,  thus  introduced,  has  been  decri- 
ed by  many  good  men,  besides  fanaticks,  in  the  present  age,  and  many 
poor  and  weak  prejudices  against  it  have  been  pretended.  But  hear  the 
words  of  the  most  accomplished  Mr.  Baxter,  unto  some  gainsayers  :  It  is 
not  the  zi-ant  of  our  abilities,  that  makes  us  use  our  notes ;  but  it  is  a  regard 
unto  our  zeork,  and  the  good  of  our  hearers.  I  use  notes  as  much  as  any 
man,  when  I  take  pains ;  and  as  little  as  any  man,  when  I  am  lazy,  or  bu- 
sie^  and  have  not  leisure  to  prepare.  It  is  easier  unto  us,  to  preach  three 
sermons  without  notes,  than  one  ivith  them.  He  is  a  simple  preacher,  that  is 
not  able  to  preach  a  day,  without  preporalion,  if  his  strength  would  serve. 
Indeed  I  would  have  distinction  made  between  the  reading  of  notes,  and 
the  using  of  notes.  It  is  pity  that  a  minister  should  so  read  his  notes,  as 
to  take  away  the  vivacity,  and  efficacy  of  his  delivery  ;  but  if  he  so  use 
his  notes,  as  a  lawyer  does  the  minutes  whereupon  he  is  to  plead,  and  car- 
ry ixfill  quiver  into  the  pulpit  with  him,  from  whence  he  may  with  one 
cas<  of  his  eye,  after  the  lively  shooting  ofonearrozv,  fetch  out  the  next, 
it  might  be  a  thousand  ways  advantageous. 

I  suppose  the  first  preacher  that  ever  thus  preached  with  notes  in  our 
New-England,  was  the  Reverend  Warham :  who  though  he  were  some- 
times faulted  for  it,  by  some  judicious  men,  who  had  never  heard  him, 
yet  when  once  they  came  to  hear  him,  they  could  not  but  admire  the  no- 
table e?7erg-!/of  his  ministry.  He  was  n  move  vigorous  preacher  than  the 
most  of  them  who  have  been  applauded  for,  never  looking  in  a  book  in 
their  lives.  His  latter  days  were  spent  in  the  pastoral  care  and  charge  of 
the  church  at  Windsor,  where  the  whole  colony  of  Connecricvt  consider- 
ed him  as  a  principal  pillar,  and  father  of  the  colony. 

But  I  have  one  thing  to  relate  concerning  him,' which  I  would  not 
mention,  if  I  did  not  by  the  mention  thereof,  propound  and  expect  the 
advantage  of  some,  that  may  be  my  readers.  Know  then,  that  though 
onr  JVarhnm  were  as  pious  a  man  as  most  that  were  out  of  Hpaven,  yet 


400  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW -EN  GLAND.         [Book  HI. 

Satan  often  threw  him  into  those  deadly  pangs  of  melancholy,  that  made 
him  despair  of  ever  getting  thither.  Such  were  the  terrible  temptations, 
and  horrible  btiffetings,  undergone  sometimes  by  the  soul  of  this  holy 
man,  that  when  he  has  administred  the  Lord'' s  Supper  to  his  flock,  whom 
he  durst  not  starve  by  omitting  to  administer  that  ordinance  ;  yet  he  has 
forborn  himself  to  partake  at  the  same  time  in  the  ordinance,  through  the 
fearful  dejections  of  his  mind,  which  perswaded  him  that  those  blessed 
xouls  did  not  belong  unto  him.  The  dreadful  da^-kness  which  overwhelm- 
ed this  child  of  light  in  his  life,  did  not  wholly  leave  him  till  his  death. 
It  is  reported,  that  he  did  even  set  in  a  cloud,  when  he  retired  unto  the 
glorified  society  of  those  righteous  ones,  that  are  to  shine  forth,  as  the  sun 
in  the  kingdom  of  their  Father  :  though  some  have  asserted,  that  the  cloud 
was  dispelled,  before  he  expired. 

What  was  desired  by  Joannes  Mrthesius,  may  now  be  inscribed  on  our 
Wakhaai,  for  an 

EPITAPH. 

Securus  recubo  hie  mundi  pertcesus  iniqni  : 
Et  didici  iS*  docui,  vulnera,  Christc,  tua. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 
The  Life  of  Mr.  Henry  Flint. 

Although  there  is  a  most  sensible  and  glorious  demonstration  of  the 
Divine  Providence  over  human  affairs,  in  the  stupend  variety  of  Imman fa- 
ces, that  among  so  many  millions  of  men,  their  countenances  are  distin- 
guishable enough  to  preserve  the  order  of  human  society,  and  conversa- 
tion thereon  depending  ;  yet  there  have  been  some  notable  instances  of 
resemblance  in  the  world.  They  are  not  only  twins,  which  have  some- 
times had  this  resemblance,  in  such  a  degree,  as  to  occasion  more  diver- 
sion, than  the  two  Sosia's  in  Plautus''  Amphytrio ;  but  some  other  per- 
sons have  been  too  like  one  another  to  be  known  asunder,  without  crit- 
ical observations  of  accidental  circumstances.  I  will  not  mention  the 
several  examples  of  likeness  reported  by  Pliny,  because  there  is  frequent- 
ly as  much  likeli7iess  between  a  Plinyism  and  w  fable.  F>ut  Mersennus 
gives  us  the  names  of  two  men  so  extreamly  alike,  that  their  nearest  rela- 
tior.s  were  thereby  most  notoriously  imposed  upon.  \ea,  i\\\<i  likeness 
lias  proceeded  so  far,  that  Polystratus,  and  Hippoclides,  two  philosophers 
much  alike,  were  both  born  in  the  same  day  ;  they  were  school-fellows, 
and  of  the  same  sect;  they  both  died  in  a  great  age,  and  at  the  very 
same  iustant.  Further  }'et,  the  two  famous  brothers  at  Riez,  in  France, 
perfectly  alike,  if  one  of  them  were  sick,  or  sad,  or  sleepy,  the  other  would 
immediately  be  so  too.  And  the  story  of  the  three  Gordians,  the  one 
exactly  like  Jlvgustus,  the  second  exactly  like  Pompey,  the  third  exactly 
like Scipio  ;  he  that  has  read  Pczdins,  doubtless  will  rememlier  it. 

I  know  not  whether  any  of  these  likenesses  are  greater,  than  whal  it  vvas 
the  desire  and  study,  and  in  a  lesser  measure,  the  attainment  of  that  holy 
and  worthy  man,  Mr.  Henry  Flint,  the  teacher  of  Brain-tree,  to  have  un- 
to  Mr    Cotton,  the  well-known  teacher  of  Boston-     Having  t7i:ins  once 


Book  III.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  401 

born  unto  him,  he  called  the  one  John,  the  other  Cutton,  and  his  honour- 
ing imitation  of  that  great  man,  was  as  if  he  had  been  a  teinto  John  Cotton 
himself.  In  his  exemplary  life,  he  was  John  Citton  to  the  life  ;  and  in  all 
the  circumstances  of  his  ministry,  he  propounded  John  Cottun  for  his  pat- 
tern ;  as  apprehending  that  hefoHoxved  Jesus  Christ. 

You  may  be  sure,  he  that  copied  after  such  an  excellent  person,  must 
■write  fair,  though  he  should  happen  to  fall  any  thing  short  of  the 
original. 

Wherefore,  having  already  written  the  life  of  John  Cotton,  I  need  say 
nothing  more  o^  Henry  Flint ;  but  they  are  now  both  of  them  gone,  where 
the  harmony  is  become  yet  more  agreeable. 

He  that  was  a  solid  stone,  in  the  foundations  oi  New 'England,  is  gone 
to  be  a  glorious  one,  in  the  walls  of  the  Ne'^ -Jerusalem. 

He  died  April  27,  1668,  and  at  his  death  deserved  the  epitaph  once  al- 
lowed unto  Mentzer. 

EPITAPHIUM, 

FlintfEUS  semper  Meditatus  Gaudia  C'celi, 
JVunc  tandem  Cali  Gaudia  Lcetus  habet. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

The  LiFK  of  Mr.  Richard  Mather. 

Florente  verbo,  omnia  Florent  in  Ecclesia.         Luther. 

^1.  It  is  a  memorable  passage,  which  Doctor  Hall,  after  a  personal 
examination  of  it,  ventures  to  relate,  as  most  credible,  [in  his  book  of 
angels,]  that  a  certain  cripple  called  John  Trelille,  having  been  sixteen 
j'ears  a  miserable  cripple,  did  upon  three  monitions  in  a  dream  to  do  so, 
wash  himself  in  S.  Mathern''s  well,  and  was  immediately  restored  unto  the 
use  of  his  limbs,  and  became  able  to  walk,  and  work,  and  maintain  him- 
self 

Reader,  if  thou  hast  any  febleness  upon  thy  mind,  in  regard  either  of 
piety,  or  thy  perswasion  about  the  church-order  of  the  gospel,  I  will  car- 
ry thee  now  to  a  well  of  a  S.  Mathern  ;  which  name,  I  suppose,  to  be 
the  Cornish  pronunciation  of  that,  which  was  worn  by  the  good  man,  whose 
history  is  now  going  to  be  offered. 

In  the  7iight  whereon  our  Lord  was  born,  there  was  a  glorious  light, 
with  an  host  oi^  angels  gloriously  singing  over  Bethlehem!i^\^nd  the  birth  of 
the  great  and  good  Shepherd,  was  thus  revealed  unto  the  shepherds  of  that 
country.  The  magicians  in  the  east,  whether  they  had  by  their  conver- 
sations with  the  invisible  world,  a  readier  eye  to  discern  such  objects,  or 
whether  it  were  only  the  sovereign  and  gTticious  providence  of  God,  which 
thus  directed  them,  they  probably  saw  that  glory  of  the  Lord.  Possibly 
to  them  at  a  distsnce,  it  mi^ht  seem  a  new  star  hanging  over  Jiida:a  ;  but 
after  two  years  of  wonder  and  suspense  about  it,  they  Avere  informed  by 
God,  what  it  signified  ;  and  when  they  came  near  the  place  of  the  Lord's 
nativity ,'\i  is  likely  that  this  glory,  once  again  appeared,  for  their  fullest 
satisfaction.  This,  till  I  see  a  better  account,  must  be  that  which  I  shall 
take  about,  the.  star  of  the  wise  men  in  the  East.      But  I  am  now  tst  add. 

Vol.  I.  51 


iO^  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  Hi 

that  in  all  ages,  there  have  heen  stars  to  lead  men  unto  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  :  angelical  men  employed  in  the  ministry  of  our  Lord,  have  been 
those  hHppy  stars;  and  tiic  in  the  West,  have  been  so  happy,  as  to  see 
some  oi  i\\e,  first  luagniliidc ;  among  which  one  was  Mr.  lit  chard  Mather. 
§  2.  It  was  at  a  small  toicn,  called  L&zcton,  in  the  county  of  Lancaster, 
Anno  1596,  that  so  grrai  dinan,  as  Mr.  Lichard  Mather  was  born,  of  pa- 
rents that  were  of  credible  and  ancient  families.  And  these  his  parents, 
though  by  some  disasters,  their  estate  was  not  a  little  sunk  below  the 
means  of  their  ancestors,  yet  were  willing  to  bestow  a  liberal  education 
on  him;  upon  occasion  whereof  Mr.  A'a^Aer  afterwards  thus  expressed 
himself:  By  what  principles  and  motives  my  parents  were  chiefly  induced 
to  keep  meat  school,  I  have  not  to  say,  nor  do  I  certainly  know  :  but  this  I 
must  needs  say,  that  this  was  the  singular  good  providence  of  God  towards 
me,  (whu  hath  the  hearts  of  all  men  in  his  hands)  thus  to  incline  the  hearts  of 
my  parents ;  for  in  this  thing  the  Lord  of  Heaven  shewed  me  such  favour, 
as  had  not  been  shewed  to  many  my  predecessors  and  contemporaries  in  that 
place.  They  sent  him  to  school  at  Winwich,  where  they  boarded  him  in 
\.\i&  winter  ;  but  in  the  sununer  so  warm  was  his  desire  of  learning,  that 
he  travelled  every  day  thither,  which  was  foiir  miles  from  his  father's 
house.  ^Vhilst  he  was  thus  at  school,  Multu  tulit  fecitque  Puer — he  met 
tvith  an  extremity  of  discouragement  from  the  Orbilium  harshness  and 
fierceness  oi ihe. paidagogue  ;  who  though  he  had  bred  many  fine  scholars, 
yet  for  the  severity  of  his  discipline,  came  not  much  behind  the  master 
o(  Junius,  who  would  beat  him  eight  times  a  day,  whether  he  were  in  a 
fault,  or  710  fault.  Our  young  Mather,  tired  under  this  captivity,  at  last 
frequently  and  earnestly  importuned  of  his  father,  that  being  taken  from 
the  school,  he  might  be  disposed  unto  some  secular  calling  ;  but  when 
he  had  waded  through  his  difficulties,  he  wrote  this  reflection  thereupon  : 
God  intended  better  for  me,  than  Iwoidd  have  chosenfor  my  self;  and  there- 
fore, my  father,  tliough  in  other  things  indulgent  ejiough,  yet  in  this  would, 
never  condescend  to  my  request,  but  by  putting  me  in  hope,  that  by  his  speak- 
ing to  the  master,  thitigs  would  be  amended,  would  still  over  ride  me  to  go 
on  in  my  studies  :  and  good  it  was  for  me  to  he  over  ruled  by  him,  and  his 
discretion,  rather  than  to  be  left  to  my  0W7i  affections  and  desire.  But,  0, 
that  all  school-masters  would  learn  wisdom,  moderation,  and  equity,  to- 
wards their  scholars ;  and  seek  rather  to  win  the  hearts  of  children  by  right- 
eous loving,  and  courteous  usage,  than  to  alienate  their  minds  by  partiality, 
nnd  undue  severity ;  which  had.  been  my  utter  undoing,  had  not  the  good 
providence  of  God,  and  the  wisdom  and  authority  of  my  father  prevented. 

§  3.  Yea,  and  here  Almighty  God  made  use  of  his  otherwise  cruel 
school -master,  to  deliver  this  hopeful  young  man  from  an  apprenticeship 
unto  a  Popish  merchatit.  when  he  was  very  near  falling  into  the  woful 
snares  of  su(!h^^%ondition  ;  which  mercy  of  heaven  unto  him  was  ac- 
companied with  the  further  mercy  of  living  under  the  ministry  of  one  Mr. 
Palin,  then  preacher  at  Leagh:  of  whom  he  would  long  after  say,  That 
though  his  knowledge  of  that  good  man  7vas  only  in  his  childhood,  yet  the  re- 
memhrance  of  him  wis  even  in  his  old  age  comfortable  to  him;  inasmuch 
as  he  observed  such  a  penetrating  efficacy  in  the  ministry  of  that  man,  as  was 
not  in  the  common  sort  of  preachers. 

§  4.  There  were  at  this  time,  in  Toxteth  Park  near  Liverpool,  a  well- 
disposed  people,  who  were  desirous  to  erect  a  school  among  them,  for 
the  good  education  of  their  posterity.  This  people  sending  unto  the 
school-master  of  ^inwick,  to  know  whether  he  had  any  scholar  that  he 
'^ould  recommend  for  a  master  of  their  new  school.     Richard  Mather  was 


Book  III. J  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.  403 

by  him  recooimended  unto  that  service  ;  and  at  the  perswasion  of  his 
friends  to  attend  lh;it  service,  he  laid  aside  his  desire,  and  his  design  of 
going;  to  the  university  :  not  unsensible  of  what  hath  been  still  observed, 
Scholas  esse  Theoiogiw  pedisse  qiias,  ac  seminaria  fieipubliccE.  Now  as  it 
cannot  justly  be  reckoned  any  blemish  unto  him.  that  at  Jifiecii  years  of 
age  he  was  a  school  master,  who  carried  it  with  such  wisdom,  kindness,  and 
grave  reservation,  as  to  be  hved  and  feared  by  his  young  folks,  much 
above  the  most  that  ever  used  the  ferula  ;  so  it  was  many  ways  advanta- 
geous unto  him,  to  be  thus  employed.  Hereby  he  became  a  more  accu- 
rate  grammarian,  than  divines  too  often  are  ;  and  at  his  leisure  hours  he 
90  studied,  as  to  become  a  notable  proficient  in  the  other  liberal  arts. 

Moreover,  it  was  by  means  hereof,  that  he  experienced  an  effectual 
conversion  of  soul  to  God,  in  his  tender  years,  even  before  his  going  to 
Oxftrd;  and  thus  he  was  preserved  from  \.\\c  temptations  anA  corruptions, 
which  undid  many  of  his  contemporaries  in  the  ^iniversity.  That  more 
thorough  and  real  conversion  in  him,  was  occasioned  by  observing  a  dif- 
ference between  his  own  walk,  and  the  most  exact,  watchful,  fruitful, 
and  prayerful  conversation  of  some  in  the  family,  of  the  learned  and  pious 
Mr.  Edward  Aspinwal,  of  Toxteth,  where  he  sojourned.  This  exempla- 
ry walk  of  that  holy  man,  caused  man}'  sad  fears  to  arise  in  his  own  soul, 
that  he  was  himself  ott<  of  the  way  ;  which  consideration  with  his  hearing 
of  Mr.  Harrison,  then  a  famous  minister  at  Hyton,  preach  about  regene- 
ration, and  his  reading  of  Mr.  Perkins''  book,  that  shows,  how  far  a  repro- 
bate may  go  in  religion  ;  were  the  means  whereby  the  God  of  Heaven 
brought  him  into  the  state  of  a  new  creature.  The  troubles  of  soul,  which 
attended  his  new  birth,  were  so  exceeding  terrible,  that  he  would  often 
retire  from  his  appointed  meals  unto  secret  places,  to  lament  his  mise- 
ries ;  but  after  some  time,  and  about  the  eighteenth  year  of  his  age,  the 
good  Spirit  of  God  healed  his  broken  heart,  by  pouring  thereinto  the  evan- 
gelical consolations  of  His  great  and  precious  promises. 

§  5.  After  this,  he  became  a  more  eminent  blessing,  in  the  calling, 
wherein  God  had  now  disposed  him  ;  and  such  notice  was  taken  of  him, 
that  many  persons  were  sent  unto  him,  even  from  remote  places,  for 
their  education  ;  whereof,  not  a  few  went  well  accomplished,  from  him 
to  the  university.  But  having  spent  some  years  in  this  employment,  he 
judged  it  many  ways  advantageous  for  him  to  go  unto  the  university  him- 
self, that  he  might  there  converse  with  learned  7ne7i  and  books,  and  more 
improve  himself  in  learning,  than  he  could  have  done  at  home.  Accord- 
ingly, at  Oxford,  and  particularly  at  Brazen-Nose-College  in  Oxford,  he 
now  resided,  where  together  •vith  the  satisfactio7i  of  seeing  his  old  scho- 
lars, who  had  by  his  education,  been  fitted  for  their  being  there,  he  had 
the  opportunity  further  to  enrich  himself  by  study,  by  conference,  by 
disputation,  and  other  academical  entertainment :  as  considering,  that 
the  lamps  were  to  be  lighted,  before  the  incense  was  to  be  burned  in  the 
sanctuary.  And  here,  he  was  more  intimately  acquainted  with  famous 
Dr.  Woral,  by  whose  advice,  he  read  the  works  of  Peter  Ramus,  with  a 
singular  attention  and  affection  ;  which  advice,  he  did  not  afterwards  re- 
pent that  he  had  followed. 

§  6.  But  it  was  not  very  long  before  the  people  of  Toxteth  sent  after 
him,  that  he  would  return  unto  tliem,  and  instruct,  not  their  children  as? 
a  school-master,  but  themselves  as  a  minister :  with  which  invitation,  he 
at  last  complied  ;  and  at  Toxteth,  November  13,  1618,  he  preached 
his^rs^  sermon,  with  great  acceptance  in  a  vast  assembly  of  people  ; 
btitsuch  was  the  strength  of  his  memnrn.  that  what  he  had  prepared  for 


404  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  HL 

one,  contained  no  less  than  six  long  discourses.  He  was  after  this  or- 
daified  with  many  others,  by  Dr.  Morton,  the  Bishop  of  Chester,  who  af- 
ter ttie  ordination  was  over,  singled  out  Mr.  Mathtr  from  the  rest,  say- 
ing, /  have  something  to  say  betwixt  you  and  me  alone.  Mr.  Mather  was 
now  jealous,  tliat  some  informations  might  have  been  exhibited  against 
him  for  his  Pur/tanisin,  instead  of  which  when  the  Bishop  had  him  alone, 
what  he  said  unto  him  was,  I  have  an  earnest  request  unto  you,  sir,  and 
you  must  not  deny  me  :  "'tis,  that  you  would  prayfoi  me  ;  for  I  know  ( said 
he)  the  prayers  of  men  that  fear  God  will  avail  much,  and  you  1  believe  are 
such  a  one.  And  being  so  settled  in  Toxteth,  he  married  the  daughter  of 
Edmund  Holt,  Esq.  oi' Bury,  in  Lancashire,  September  29,  1624,  which 
vertuous  gentlewoman,  God  made  a  rich  blessing  to  him,  for  thirty  years 
together  ;  and  a  mother  of  six  sotis,  most  of  whom  afterwards  proved 
famous  in  their  generation. 

§  7.  He  preached  every  Lord's  day  twice  at  Toxteth,  and  every  fort- 
night he  held  a  Tuesday  lecture,  at  Prescot :  besides  which,  he  often 
preached  upon  the  h<dy~days,  not  as  thinking  that  any  dayw/ns  now  holyy 
except  the  christian  vveekl}'  sabbath,  but  because  there  was  then  an  op- 
portunity to  cast  the  net  of  the  gospel  among  viuckfish,  in  great  assem- 
blies, which  then  were  convened,  and  would  oiherwise  have  been  worse 
employed.  In  tiiis,  he  followed  the  examples  of  the  apostles,  who 
preached  most  in  populous  places,  and  this  also  on  the  Jewish  Sabbaths, 
which  yet  were  so  far  abrogated,  Ihat  they  charged  the  faithful  to  let  nu 
man  judge  them  in  imposing  the  observation  thereof  upon  them. 

He  preached  likev/ise  very  frequently  at  funerals,  as  knowing,  that 
though  funeral  sermons  are  wlioUy  disused  in  some  reformed  churches,  and 
have  been  condemned  by  some  decrees  of  councils,  yet  this  was  chiefly 
because  of  the  common  error  committed  in  the  lavish  praises  of  the  dead 
on  such  occasions,  which  therefore  he  avoided,  instead  thereof,  only 
giving  counsels  to  the  living.  Indeed,  the  custom  of  preaching  ni  funerals 
may  seem  ethnical  in  its  original  ;  for  Publicola  made  an  excellent  ora- 
tion in  the  praise  of  Brutus,  with  vvhicii  the  people  were  so  taken,  that 
it  became  a  custom,  for  famous  ?neJ^,  after  this,  at  their  death,  to  be  so 
celebitited  ;  and  when  the  women  among  the  Romans  parted  with  their 
ornaments,  for  the  public  weal,  the  senate  made  it  lawful  for  zvomen  also 
lo  be  in  the  like  manner  celebrated.  Hiac  mortuos  Laudandi  Mos  Jluxit, 
quern  nos  hodic  scrvamus,  if  Polydore  Virgil  may,  as  he  sometimes  may  be 
believed.  But  the  M adgehurgensian  centuriators  tell  us  that  this  rite 
was  not  practised  in  the  church,  before  the  beginning  of  the  apostaey. 
However,  this  watchful  minister  of  our  Lord,  made  his  funeral-speeches  to 
be  but  a  faithful  dischc;rge  of  his  ministry  in  admonitions  concerning  the 
last  thmgs,  whereby  the  living  might  be  edified.  But  thus  in  his  publick 
ministry,  he  went  over  the  24th  chapter  in  the  second  of  Samuel ;  the 
lirst  chapter  of  Proverbs;  the  tirst  and  sixth  chapters  of  Isaiah;  the 
twenty  second  and  twenty  third  chapters  of  Luke  ;  the  eighth  chapter  of 
the.  Romans  ;  the  second  Epistle  to  Timoihy  ;  the  second  Epistle  of  John, 
and  the  Epistle  ofJude. 

§  8.  Having  spent  about  fifteen  years,  thus,  in  the  »abours  of  his  minis- 
try, his  lecture  at  Present  in  fine,  gave  him  to  find  the  truth  ofC^uintHians 
observation,  Magnam  Famam  &r  Magnam  Qvientem,  codem  Tempore,  jXe- 
mo  potest  Acquirere.  Through  the  malice  of  Satan,  nn^  the  envy  of  the 
Satanical,  there  were  now  brought  against  him,  those  complaints  for  his 
non  conformity  to  the  ceremonies,  which  in  August,  1G33,  procured  him 
to  be  suspended.     The  suspension  continued  upon  him,  till  the  JVovember 


Book  III.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  406 

following,  but  then  by  the  intercession  of  some  gentlemen  la  Lancashire, 
anil  the  influence  of  Simon  Biby,  a  near  alliance  of  the  Bishop's  A'isitor , 
he  was  rcsfund.  After  his  restoration,  he  more  exactly  than  ever,  stu- 
died the  points  of  church- discipline  ;  and  the  etfect  of  his  most  careful 
studies  was,  that  the  Congregational  xi-ay ,  asserted  by  Cariictight,  Parker, 
Baines  and  Ames,  was  the  pitch  of  Reformation,  which  he  judged  the 
scriptures  directed  the  servants  of  the  Lord  humbly  to  endeavour.  But 
this  liberty  was  not  longer  lived  than  the  year  1G34,  for  the  Arch-Bishop 
of  York  now  was  that  gentleman  whom  King  James  jjleasantly  admonish- 
ed of  his  preaching  Popery,  because  of  some  unacceptable  things  in  his 
<;onduct,  which  taught  the  people  to  pray  for  a  blessing  on  his  dead  p^rede- 
ressor ;  and  lie  now  sending  his  visitors,  among  whom  the  famous  lXt. 
Cousins  was  one,  into  Lancashire  ;  where  they  kept  their  court  at  lii- 
gan,  among  other  hardj  things,  they  passed  a  sentence  of  suspension  upon 
jVIr.  Mather,  nieerly  for  his  nan  cmformity.  His  judges  were  not  willicg, 
that  he  should  ofl'er  the  reasons,  which  made  him  consci-' ntiously  so  dispo- 
ed,  as  then  he  was,  but  the  glorious  Spirit  of  God  enabled  him,  with  much 
wisdom,  to  encounter  what  they  put  upon  him  ;  insomuch,  that  in  his 
private  manuscripts,  he  entred  this  memorial  of  it.  In  the  passages  of 
that  day,  I  have  this  to  bless  the  name  of  God  fur,  that  the  terrour  of  their 
threatening  zcords,  of  their  pursevants,  and  of  the  rest  of  their  pomp,  did  not 
terrific  my  mind^  but  that  I  could  stand  before  them  without  being  daunted 
in  the  least  measure,  but  ansn-ered  for  my  self  such  zcords  of  truth  and  so- 
berness, as  the  Lord  put  into  rny  mouth,  not  being  afraid  of  their  faces  at 
all  :  which  supporting  and  comforting  presence  of  the  Lord,  I  count  not  much 
less  mercy,  than  if  I  had  been  altogether  preserved  out  of  their  hands.  But 
all  means  used  afterwards,  to  get  off  this  unhappy  suspension,  were  inef- 
fectual ;  for  when  the  visitors  had  been  informed,  that  he  had  been  a 
minister  ^ieeji  years,  and  all  that  while  never  wore  a  surpliss,  one  of 
them  swore,  It  had  been  better  for  him,  that  he  had  gotten  seven  bastards. 

§  9.  He  now  betook  himself  to  h  private  life,  without  hope  of  again 
enjoying  the  liberty  of  doing  any  more  public  work,  in  his  native  land  ; 
but  herewithal  foreseeing  a  storm  of  calamities  like  to  be  hastened  on 
the  land,  by  the  wrath  of  Heaven  incensed,  particularly  at  the  injustice 
used  in  depriving  the  truly  conscientious  of  their  libert\',  his  wishes  be- 
came like  those  of  the  deprived  psalmist,  0,  that  I  had  zvings  like  a  dove  .' 
lo,  then  would  I  wander  far  off,  and  remain  in  the  wilderness  ;  I  would  has- 
ten my  escape  from  the  windy  storm  and  tempest, 

New-England  was  the  retreat  which  now  offered  it  self  unto  him  ; 
and  accordingly,  he  drew  up  some  arguments  for  his  removal  thither, 
which  arguments  were  indeed,  the  very  reasons,  that  moved  the  tirst  fa- 
thers of  JS'ew- England  unto  that  unparalleled  undertaking  of  transporting 
their  families  with  themselves,  over  the  Atlantic  ocean. 

L    A  removal  from  a  corrupt  church  to  r  purer. 

H.  A  removal  from  a  place,  where  the  truth  and  professors  of  it  are 
persecuted,  unto  a  place  of  more  quiet  and  safety. 

HI.  A  removal  from  a  place,  nliere  all  the  ordinances  of  God  cannot 
be  enjoyed,  unto  a  place  where  they  may. 

IV.  A  removal  from  a  church,  where  the  discipline  of  the  Lord  Jesue 
Christ  is  wanting,  unto  a  church  where  it  may  be  practised. 

V.  A  removal  fro.m  a  place,  where  the  ministers  of  God  are  unjustly- 
inhibited  Irom  the  execution  of  their  functions,  to  a  place  where  they 
mav  more  freelv  execute  the  =i7\mf:. 


406  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  HI. 

VI.  A  removal  from  a  place,  where  there  are  fearful  signs  of  desola' 
Hon,  to  a  place  where  one  may  have  well  grounded  hope  of  God's  pro- 
tection. 

Such  a  removal,  he  judged  that  unto  j\ew-England  now  before  him. 

These  considerations  were  presented  unto  many  ministers  and  chris- 
tians of  Lancashire,  at  several  meetings,  whereby  they  were  perswaded, 
and  even  his  own  people  of  Toxteth,  who  dearly  loved  him  and  prized 
him,  could  not  gain-say  it,  that  by  removing  to  New-England,  he  would  not 
go  out  of  his  way.  And  hereunto  he  was  the  more  inclined  by  the  letters 
of  some  great  persons,  who  had  already  settled  in  the  country  ;  among 
whoii  the  renowned  f/ooA;(;r  was  one,  who  in  his  letters  thus  expressed 
hi'aiself,  In  a  word,  if  I  may  speak  my  own  thoughts  freely  and  fully,  though 
there  are  very  many  places  where  men  may  receive  and  expect  more  earthly 
'nmmodities,  yet  do  I  hcleive  there  is  no  place  this  day  upon  the  face  of  the 
earth,  where  a  gracious  heart  and  a  judicious  head,  may  receive  more  spir^ 
itunl  good  to  himsef,  and  do  more  temporal  and  spiritual  good  to  others. 
Wherefore  being  satisfjed  in  his  design  for  Kew-England,  after  extraor- 
dinary supplication  for  the  smiles  of  Heaven  upon  him  in  it.  he  took  his 
leave  of  his  friends  in  Lancashire,  with  affections  on  both  sides  like  those, 
wherewith  Paid  bid  farewell  to  his  in  Ephesus  ;  and  in  April,  1635,  he 
made  his  journey  onto  Bristol,  to  take  ship  there  ;  being  forced  as  once 
Brenfius  v»'as,  to  change  his  apparel,  that  he  might  escape  the  pursevants, 
who  were  endeavouring  to  apprehend  him. 

§  10.  On  May  23,  1635,  he  set  sail  from  Bristol  for  New -En  gland : 
but  when  he  came  upon  the  coasts  of  New-England,  there  arose  an  hor- 
rible hurricane,  from  the  dangers  whereof  his  deliverance  was  remarka- 
ble, and  well  nigh  miraculous.  The  best  account  of  it,  will  be  from  his 
o»vn  journal  ;  where  the  relation  runs  in  these  words  : 

August  15,  1633, 
'  The  Lord  had  not  yet  done  with  us,  nor  had  he  let  us  see  all  his 
'  power  and  goodness,  which  he  would  have  us  take  the  knowledge  of. 
'  And  therefore  about  break  of  day,  he  sent  a  most  terrible  storm  of  rain, 
'  and  easterly  zvind,  whereby  we  were,  I  think,  in  as  much  danger  as  ever 
'  people  were.  When  we  came  to  land,  we  found  many  mighty  trees 
'  rent  in  pieces,  in  the  midst  of  the  bole,  and  others  turned  up  by  the 
'  roots,  by  tierceness  thereof.  We  lost  in  that  morning  three  anchors 
'  and  cables  ;  one   having  never  been  in  the   water  before  ;  two  were 

*  broken  by  the  violence  of  the  storm,  and  a  third  cut  by  the  ?ea-men  in 
'  extremity  of  disiret^?,  to  save  the  ship,  and  t'leir,  and  our  lives.  And 
'  when  our  cables  and  anchors  were  ai!  lost,  we  had  no  outward  means 
'  of  deliverance,  hut  by  hoisting  sail,  if  so  be  we  might  get  to  sea,  from 
'  among  the  islands  and  rocks,  where  we  were  anchored.  But  the  Lord  let 
'  us  see  that  ouv  sails  could  n  I  help  us  neither,  no  more  than  the  cables 
'  and  anchors  :  for  by  the  force  of  the  wind  and  storm,  the  sails  were  rent 
'  asunder,  and  split  in  pieces,  as  if  they  had  been  but   rotten  rags  ;  so 

*  that  of  divers  of  them,  there  was  scarce  left  so  much  as  an  hand's- 
'  breadth,  that  was  not  rent  in  pieces,  or  blown  away  into  the  sea  ;  so 
'  that  at  that  time,  all  hopr  that  we  should  be  saved,  in  regard  of  any  out- 

*  ward  appearance,  >vas  utterly  taken  away  :  and  the  rather,  because  we 
'  seemed  to  diivc  nitli  full  force  of  wind,  directly  upon  a  mighty  rock, 
'  stindingout  in  ^^ight  above  v/ater  ;  so  that  we  did  but  continually  wait, 
'  wlien  we  should  liear  and  feel  the  doleful  crushing  of  the  ship  upon 
'  the  rock.  In  this  extremity  and  appearance  of  death,  as  distress  and 
■  distraction  would  suffer  us.  we  cried  r.nto  t!ie  Lord,  and  he  was  pleas 


Book  11 1. j         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  40T 

•  ed  to  have  compassion  upon  us  ;  for  by  his  over-ruling  providence,  and 
■  his  own  immediate  good  hand,  he  guided  the  ship  past  the  rock,  asswa- 
'  ged  tlie  violence  of  the  sea,  and  of  the  zt-itid.  It  was  a  day  much  to 
'  be  remembered,  because  on  that  day  the  Lord  granted  us  as  wonderful 
'  a  deliverance  as,  I  think,  ever  any  people  had  felt.  The  sea  men  con- 
'  fessed  they  never  knew  the  like.  The  Lord  so  Lmpiint  the  memory 
'  of  it  in  our  hearts,  that  we  may  be  the  better  for  it,  and  be  careful  to 
'  please  him,  and  to  walk  uprightly  before  him  as  long  as  ne  live.  And 
'  I  hope  we  shall  not  forget  the  passages  of  that  morning,  until  our  dying 
■^  day.  In  all  this  grievous  storm,  my  fear  was  the  less,  when  1  consid- 
'  ered  the  clearness  of  my  calling  from  God  this  n^ay.  And  in  some  meas- 
'  ure  (the  Lord's  holy  name  be  blessed  for  it,)  he  gave  us  hearts  con- 
'  tented  and  willing,  that  he  should  do  with  us,  and  ours,  what  he  pleased, 

•  and  what  might  be  most  for  the  glory  of  his  name  ;  and  in  that  we  rest- 
'  ed  our  selves.  But  when  news  was  brought  us  into  the  gun-room, 
'  that  the  danger  was  past,  Oh  !  how  our  hearts  did  then  relent  and  melt 
'  within  us  !  we  burst  out  into  tears  of  joy  among  our  selves,  in  love  un- 
'  to  the  gracious  God,  and  admiration  of  his  kindness,  in  granting  to  his 
'  poor  servants  such  an  extraordinary  and  miraculous  deliverance,  his 
'  holy  name  be  blessed  for  evermore.' 

The  storm  being  thus  allayed,  they  came  to  an  anchor  before  Boston, 
August  17,  1635.  Where  Mr,  Mather  abode  for  a  little  while,  and  with 
his  virtuous  consort,  joined  unto  the  church  in  that  place. 

§  11.  He  quickly  had  invitations  from  several  towns,  to  bestow  him- 
self upon  them  ;  and  was  in  a  great  strait,  which  of  those  invitations  to 
accept.  But  applying  himself  unto  counsel,  as  an  ordinance  of  God,  for 
his  direction,  Dorchester  was  the  place,  whereto  a  council,  wherein  Mr. 
Cotton  and  Mr.  Hooker,  were  the  principal,  did  advise  him.  Accordingly 
to  Dorchester  he  repaired  ;  and  the  church  formerly  planted  there,  being 
transplanted  with  Mr.  Warham  to  Connecticut,  another  church  was  now 
gathered  here,  August  23,  1636,  by  whose  choice  Mr.  Mather  was  now 
become  their  teacher.  Here  he  continued  a  blessing  unto  all  the  church- 
es in  this  wilderness,  until  his  dying  day,  even  for  near  upon  four 
and  thirty  years  together.  He  underwent  not  now  so  many  changes,  as 
he  did  before  his  coming  hither  ;  and  he  never  changed  his  habitation 
after  this,  till  he  went  unto  the  house  eternal  in  the  Heavens  ;  albeit  his 
old  people  of  Toxteth  vehemently  solicited  his  return  unto  them,  when 
the  troublesome  Hierarchy  in  England  was  deposed. 

§  12.  Nevertheless,  if  Luther'' s  three  tutors  for  an  able  divine,  study 
ixnd  prayer,  and  temptation,  as  Mr.  Mather  could  not  leave  the  t-jDo  first, 
so  the  last  would  not  leave  him ;  the  wilderness  whereinto  he  was  come, 
he  found  not  w\\.\\o\iiii?,  temptations.  He  was  for  some  years  exercised 
with  spiritual  distresses,  and  internal  desertions,  and  uncertainties  about 
his  everlasting  happiness  ;  which  troubles  of  his  mind  he  revealed  unto 
that  eminent  person  Mr.  Norton,  whose  well-adapted  words,  comforted 
his  weary  soul.  It  was  in  these  dark  hours  that  d^  glorious  light  rose  unto 
him,  with  a  certain  disposition  of  soul,  which  I  find  in  his  private  papers 
thus  expressed  :  My  heart  relented  with  tears  at  this  prayer,  that  God 
tvould  not  deny  me  an  heart  to  bless  him,  and  not  blaspheme  him,  that  is  so 
holy,  just,  and  good  ;  though  I  should  be  excluded  from  his  presence,  and  go 
down  into  everlasting  darkness  and  discomfort.  But  when  these  terrible 
temptations  from  within  were  over,  there  were  several  and  successive 
(Mictions,  which  he  did  from  abroad  meet  withal  :  of  all  which  afflictions, 
toe  most  calamitous  was.  the  death  of  his  dear,  good,  and  wise  consort. 


408  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.        [Book  HI. 

by  whose  discreet  management  of  his  affairs,  he  had  been  so  released 
from  all  secular  incumbrances,  as  to  be  wholly  at  liberty,  for  the  sacred 
employment  of  his  ministrj'.  However,  after  he  had  continued  in  his 
widowhood  a  year  and  half,  the  state  of  his  family  made  it  necessary  for 
him  to  apply  himself  unto  a  second  marriage;  which  he  made  with  the 
pious  widow  of  the  most  famous  Mr.  John  Cotton ;  and  her  did  God  make 
a  blessing  unto  him  the  rest  of  his  days. 

§  13.  My  describing  his  general  mariner  of  life,  after  he  came  to 
New-England,  shall  be  only  a  transcribing  of  those  voivs,  which  though 
he  made  before  his  coming  thither,  yet  he  then  renewed.  In  his  private 
papers,  wherein  he  left  some  records  of  the  days  which  he  spent  some- 
times in  secret  humiliations,  and  supplications,  before  the  God  of  Heaven , 
and  of  the  assurances  which  with  the  tears  of  a  melted  soul,  in  those 
days,  he  received  of  blessings  obtained  for  himself,  his  children,  his 
people,  and  the  whole  country,  I   find  recording  the  ensuing  instrnmejit. 

'  Promissiones Deo factce, per  me,\  Psal.  Ixvi.  13,  14. 

'  Richardum  Matherum.  f  ^*«^-  c'f'^-  106. 

\  Psal.  Ivi.  12. 

V  A'e/«.  ix.  33,   with   x.  29,    30,   31, 
21  D.    6M.  1633.  }      Sec. 

I.  Touching  the  Ministry. 

*  1.  To  be  more  painful  and  diligent  in  private  preparations,  forpreach- 
■  ing,  by  reading,  meditation,  and  prayer  ;  and  not  slightly  and  super- 
'  ficially.  Jer.  xlviii.    10.  Eccl.  ix,    10.    1    Tim.  iv.   13,   15. 

'  2.  In  and  after  preaching,  to  strive  seriously  against   inward  pride, 

*  and  vain- glory. 

'  3.  Before  and  after  preaching,  to  beg  by  prayer  the  Lord's  blessing 
'  on  his  word,  for  the  good  of  souls,  more  carefully  than  in  time  past. 
'  1   Cor.  iii.  6.  Acts  xvi.    14. 

II.  Touching  the  Family. 

'  1.  To  be  more  frequent   in  religious  discourse  and  talk.  Dent.  vi.  7. 
'  2.  To  be  more  careful  in  catechisi7tg  children.  Gen.  xviii.   19.  Prev. 

*  xxii.  6.  Eph.  vi.  4.  And  therefore  to  bestow  some  pains  this  way, 
'  every  week  once  ;  and  if  by  urgent  occasions  it  be  sometimes  omitted, 
'  to  do  it  twice  as  much  another  week. 

HI.   Touching  My  self. 

'  1 .  To  strive  more  against  worldly  cares  and  fears,  and  against  the 
-  inordinate  love  of  earthly  things.  Mat.  vi.  25,  &c.  Psal.  Iv.  22. 
'  1  Pet.  v.  7.  Phil.  iv.  6. 

'  2.  To  be  more  frequent  and  constant  in  private  prayer.  Mat.  vi.  6.  and 
'  xiv.  23.   Psal.  Iv.   17.   Dan.  vi.    10. 

'3.  To  practise  more  carefully  and  seriously,  and  frequently  the  duty 
'  of  self-examination.  Lam.  iii.  40.  Psal.  iv.  4.  Psal  cxix.  59  ;  especially 
'  before  the  receiving  cf  the  Lord''s  Supper.      1  Cor.  xi.  28. 

'  4.  To  strive  against  carnal  security,  and  excessive  sleeping.  Prov. 
'  vi.   9,   10,  and  Prov.  xx.  13. 

'  5.  To  strive  against  vain  jangling,  and  mispemling  precious  time. 
^Eph.  V.  16- 


JooK  ill.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  4U& 

IV.  Touching  Others. 

'  1.  To  be  more  careful  and  zealous,  to  do  good  unto  their  souls,  by 
'  private  exhortations,  reproofs,  instructions,  conferences  of  God's 
'  word.   Prov.  X.   21,  and  xv.    17.   Lev.  xix.    17.  Psal.  xxxvii.  30. 

'  2.  To  be  ready  to  do  olfices  of  love  and  kindnesi,  not  only,  or  prin- 
•  cipally,  for  the  praise  of  men,  to  purchase  comtnend-.ition  for  a  good 
•neighbour,  but  rather  out  o(  conscieytcc  io  the  commandment  of  God. 
'  Phil.   ii.  4.  1  Cor.  x.   24.  Heb.  xiii.    16. 

•'  Renerved  with  a  profession  of  disabilities  in  my  self,  for  performance, 
'  and  of  desire  to  fetch  power  from  Christ,  thereunto  to  live  upon 
'  him,  and  act  from  him,  in  all  spiritual  duties. 

15.  D.  6.  Ai    1G36. 

Richard  Mather. 

§  14.  His  way  o(  preaching  was  very  plain,  studiously  avoiding  ob- 
scure and  foreign  terms,  and  unnecessary  citation  oi  Latin  sentences  ; 
and  aiming  to  shoot  his  arroz^s,  not  over  the  heads,  but  into  the  hearts  of  his 
hearers.  Yet  so  scripturaUy,  unA  so  pou-crf ally  (i[t\  he  preach  his  p/af/t 
sermons,  that  Mr.  Hooker  would  say,  j\Iy  brother  Mather  is  a  mighty  man  ; 
and  indeed  he  saw  a  great  success  of  his  labours,  in  both  Englands,  convert- 
ing many  souls  unto  God.  his  voice  was  loud  and  big,  and  uttered  with, 
a  deliberate  vehemency,  it  procured  unto  his  ministry  an  awful  and 
very  taking  majesty  ;  nevertheless,  the  substantial  and  rational  matter 
delivered  by  him,  caused  his  ministry  to  take  yet  more,  where-ever  he 
came.  Whence,  even  while  he  was  a  young  man,  Mr.  Gellibrand,  a 
famous  minister  in  Lancashire,  hearing  him,  enquired,  what  his  name 
was?  when  answer  was  made,  that  his  name  was  Mather;  he  replied, 
J^ay,  his  name  shall  be  Matter  ;for  believe  it,  this  man  hath  good  substance 
in  him.  He  was  indeed  a  person  eminently  judicious,  in  the  opinion  of 
such  as  were  not  in  controversies  then  managed,  of  his  own  opinion  ; 
by  the  same  token,  that  when  Dr.  Parr,  then  Bishop  in  the  Isle  of 
.1/an,  heard  of  Mr.  .l/af/ter's  being  silenced,  he  lamented  it,  saying,//^ 
Mr.  Mather  be  silenced,  I  am  sorry  for  it  ;  for  he  was  a  solid  man,  and 
the  Church  of  God  hath  a  great  loss  of  him.  And  it  was  because  of  his 
being  esteemed  so  judicious  a  person,  that  among  the  ministers  of  JVerv- 
England,  he  was  improved  more  than  the  most,  in  explaining  and  main- 
taining the  points  of  Church-Goverment  then  debated.  The  discourse 
about  the  Church-Covenant,  and  the  answer  to  the  thirty  tzvo  questions, 
both  written  in  the  year  1639,  though  they  pass  under  the  name  of  the 
ministers  of  New-England,  Mr.  Mather  was  the  sole  author  of  them. 
And  when  the  Platform  of  Church-Discipline  was  agreed  by  a  Synod  of 
these  churches,  in  the  year  1647,  Mr.  Mather'' s  model  was  that  out  of 
which  it  was    chiefly  taken. 

And  being  thereto  desired,  he  also  prepared  for  the  pres5,  a  very 
elaborate  composure,  which  he  entituled,  a  Plea  for  the  churches  oj 
New-England. 

Moreover,  to  defend  the  Congregational,  in  those  lesser  pi(nctilio''s, 
wherein  it  seems  to  differ  from  the  Presbyterian  rjuy  of  church-government ; 
be  printed  one  little  book  in  answer  to  Mr  Herl,  and  another  in  answer  to 
Mr.  Rutherford  ;  and  yet  was  he  so  little  Brownisticully  affected,  that  be- 
sides his  apprehension  of  so  vicious  and  infamous  a  man.  as  Brown'' s  not 
being  likely  to  be  the  discoverer  of  any  momentous  truth  in  religion,  he 

Vol!'  I.  52 


410  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  HI. 

wrote  a  treatise  to  prove,  tliat  whatever  privileclge  aiifl  liberty  may  belong 
to  the  fraternity,  the  rt«/e  of  the  church  belongs  only  to  its  presbytcrif. 
Furthermore,  when  the  propositions  of  tbe  Synod,  in  1662,  were  opposed 
by  Mr.  Davenport,  Mr.  Mnilicr  was  called  upon  to  answer  him  ;  which 
he  (iifl,  and  tlierein,  as  in  his  former  ans-uvers,  he  gave  such  instances  of 
a  close  regard  unto  |he  trvtk,  and  the  cause,  without  the  least  expression 
or  disrespect  unto  the  persons  ansv.'ered,  that  as  my  reverend  friend  Mr. 
Higginsou  hath  said  sometimes  to  me,  He  was  a  pattern  for  all  answerers  to 
the  end  of  the  world. 

But  as  he  judged  that  a  preacher  of  the  gospel  should  be,  he  was  a  ver}' 
hard  student  :  yea,  so  intent  was  he  upon  his  beloved  stxidies,  that  the 
morning  before  he  died,  he  importuned  the  friends  that  watched  with 
him  to  help  him  into  the  rooni,^  where  he  thought  his  usual  works  and 
books  expected  him  ;  to  satistie  his  importunity,  they  began  to  lead  him 
thither;  but  finding  himself  unable  to  get  out  of  his  lodging-room,  he 
said,  I  sec  I  am  not  able,  I  have  not  been  in  my  study  several  days  ;  and  is 
it  not  a  lamentable  thing,  that  I  should  lose  so  much  time  ?  He  was  truly 
abundant  in  his  labours;  for  thougli  he  was  very  frequent  in  hearing  the 
word  from  others,  riding  to  the  lectures  in  the  neighbouring  towns,  till  his 
disease  disabled  him,  and  even  to  old  age  writing  notes  at  those  lectures, 
as  the  renowiied  Hildersham  likewise  did  before  him  ;  yet  he  preached 
for  the  most  part  of  every  Lord's  day  twice  ;  and  a  lecttire  once  a  fort- 
night, besides  many  occasional  sermons  both  in  publick  and  private  ; 
and  many  ca.ics  of  con^-zience,  which  were  brought  unto  him  to  be  discuss- 
ed. Thus  his  ministry  in  Dorchester,  besides  innumerable  other  texts  of 
scripture,  went  over  the  book  of  Genesis,  to  chap,  xxxviij.  the  sixteenth 
Psalm ;  the  wiiole  book  of  the  prophet  Zechariah ;  Mathew's  gospel  to 
chap.  XV.  the  ffth  chapter  in  the  first  Epistle  to  the  Thessalonians  ;  and 
the  whole  second  Epistle  of  Peter  ;  his  notes  wheron  he  reviewed  and 
renewed,   and  fitted  for  the  press  before  his  death. 

He  also  publislied  a  treatise  o{  justification,  whereof  Mr.  Cotton  and 
Mr.  I'Vihon  gave  this  testimony  :  Thou  shalt  find  this  little  treatise  to  be 
like  Mary's  box  of  spikenard,  which  washing  the  paths  of  Christ  toward  us, 
[as  that  did  his  feet)  will  befit  to  pefunie  not  only  the  whole  house  of  God 
Willi  the  odour  <f  his  grace,  but  also  thtj  soul  with  the  oyl  of  gladness,  above 
what  creature  comforts  can  afford.  The  manner  of  handling  thou  shalt  find 
to  be  solid,  judicious,  succinct,  and  pithy,  fit  (^by  the  blessing  of  Christ')  to- 
make  wise  xiato  salvation.  And  besides  these  things,  he  published  ca/'e- 
chisms,  a  l.-sserand  a  larger,  so  well  formed,  that  a  7vwi/ier  himself  would 
not  have  been  ashamed  of  being  a  learner  from  them. 

Nevertheless,  after  all  these  works,  he  was  as  Kaziauzen  saith  of 
.ithanasius ,  ''f^yiXroi;  roTi  '^pyois,  rotTreivoi  S'e  ro7i  (ppovii/iuta-f  As  low  in  his 
thoughts,  as  he  was  high  m  his  works.  He  never  became  twice  a  child 
through  infirmity,  but  was  always  one,  as  our  Saviour  hath  commanded 
us,  in  humility. 

§  15.  A  Jerom  would  weep  at  the  death  of  such  a  man,  as  portending 
evil  to  the  place  of  his  former,  useful,  holy  life  :  but  such  an  occasion 
of  tears,  the  death  of  Mr.  Mather  must  at  last  give  to  his  bereaved  peo- 
ple. Some  years  before  his  death,  [having  sent  over  unto  his  old  Hock 
in  Lancashire,  a  like  testimony  of  his  concernment  for  them]  he  composed 
and  published,  A  Farewell  Exhortation  Jo  the  church  and  people  of  Dor- 
chester, consisting  of  seven  directions,  wherein  his  flock  might  read  the 
design  and  spirit  of  his  wliole  ministry  among  them  ;  on  a  certain  Lord's 
day,  he  did,  by  the  hands   of  his  deacons,  put  these  little  books  into  the 


Book  III.]  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  41! 

hands  of  his  congregation,  that  so  whenever  he  should  hy  death  take  h'\^ 
farezoelof  them,  they  might  still  remember  how  they  had  been  exhorted.. 
But  old  age  came  now  upon  him,  wherein  though  his  hearing  was  decay- 
ed, and  (as  with  great  Zanchy)  the  sight  of  one  ot"  his  eyes  :  yet  iipon  all 
other  accounts  he  enjoyed  an  health  both  of  body  and  spirit,  which  wa5 
very  wonderful,  and  agreeable  as  well  to  his  hardy  conslituiion,  as  to  Ihe 
simple  and  wholsome  diet,  whereto  he  still  accustomed  himself  He  nev- 
er made  use  of  any  physician  all  his  days ;  nor  was  he  ever  sick  of  any 
acute  disease,  nor  in  hfty  years  together,  by  any  sickness  detained  so  much 
as  one  Lord's  day  from  his  publick  hbours.  Only  the  two  last  years  oi' 
his  life,  he  felt  that  which  has  been  cuMed  FiageHum  Studiosoriim,  nam.ely, 
the  stone  which  proved  the  tombstone,  whereby  all  his  labours  and  sor- 
rows were,  in  fine  brought  unto  a  period. 

§  16.  A  council  of  neighbouring  churches  being  assembled  ai  Boston, 
April  13,  1669,  to  advise  about  some  differences  arisen  there,  Mr.  Ma- 
ther, for  his  age,  grace  and  wisdom,  was  chosen  the  Moderator  of  that 
reverend  assembly.  For  divers  days,  whilst  he  was  attending  this  co7i-^ 
sidtation,  he  enjoyed  his  health  better,  than  of  some  later  months  ;  but 
as  Luther  was  at  a  Synod  surprised  with  a  violent  tit  of  the  stone,  which 
caused  him  to  return  home,  with  little  hope  of  life,  so  it  was  with  this 
holy  man.  On  Jpril  16,  lodging  at  the  house  of  his  worthy  son,  a  min- 
ister in  Boston,  he  was  taken  very  ill  with  a  total  stoppage  of  urine,  where- 
in according  to  Solomo)i''s  expression  of  it.  The  u-heet  zvas  broken  at  the  cis- 
tern. So  his  Lord  found  him  about  the  blessed  work  of  a  peace  maker ; 
and  with  an  allusion  to  the  note  of  the  German  Phoenix,  Mr.  Shepard  of 
Qharlestown,  put  that  stroke  afterwards  into  his  Epitaph  : 

Vixerat  in  Synodis,  Moriiur  Moderator  in  Illis. 

Returning  by  coach,  thus  ill,  unto  his  house  in  Dorchester,  he  lay  pa 
t-ient'.y  expecting  of  his  change  ;  and,  indeed  was  a  pattern  of  patience. 
to  all  spectators,  for  all  survivors.  Though  he  lay  in  a  mortal  extremi- 
ty of  pain,  he  ne.\er  shrieked,  he  rarely  groaned,  with  it ;  and  when  he 
w;is  able,  he  took  delight  in  reading  Dr.  Goodwin''s  discourse  about  pa- 
tience, in  which  book  he  read  until  the  very  day  of  his  death.  When 
they  asked  him,  how  he  did  ?  his  usual  answer  was,  Far  from  rt-ell,  yet  far 
better  than  mine  iniquities  deserve.  And  when  his  son  said  unto  him,  Sir, 
God  hath  shen-ed  his greit  faithfulness  unto  you,  having  upheld  you  notn' 
for  the  space  of  more  than  fifty  years  in  his  service,  and  employed  you  therein 
without  ceasing,  which  can  be  said  of  very  few  men,  on  the  face  of  the  earth  ; 
he  replied.  You  say  true  ;  I  must  acknoxi'lcdge,  the  mercy  of  God  hath  been 
great  towards  me,  all  my  days  ;  but  I  must  also  acknowledge  that  I  have  had 
many  failings,  and  the  thoughts  rfthem  abaseih  me,  and  workelh  patience  in 
m'-i.  So  did  he,  like  Austin  having  the  Peniienlial  Psalms,  before  him,  un- 
til he  died,  keep  up  a  spirit  of  repentcmce,  as  long  as  he  lived.  Indeed 
this  excellent  man  did  not  speak  much  in  his  last  sickness,  to  those  that 
were  about  him,  having  spoken  so  much  before.  Only  his  son  perceiving 
the  symptoms  of  death  upon  him,  said,  Sir  if  ihwe  be  any  special  thing, 
which  you  woxdd  recommend  unto  me  to  do,  in  casejhe  Lord  rhould  spare 
me  on  earth,  after  you  are  in  Heaven,  I  would  intreat  you  to  express  it  ;  at 
which,  after  a  little  pause,  with  lifted  eyes  and  hands,  he  returned,./!  spe- 
cial thing  which  I  would  commend  to  you,  is,  care  concerning  the  rising  gen- 
eration in  this  country,  that  they  be  brought  under  the  government  oj  Christ 
mhis  churchy  and  that  when  grown  vp.  and  qualified^  they  have  baptism,  for 


412  THE  HISTORY  OI-    NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  HI. 

their  childnn.  I  must  confess,  I  have  been  dejuiive,  as  to  practice  ;  yet  I 
have  publickly  decl-ired  my  judgment,  and  manifested  my  desires  to  prac- 
tice thai  7i:hich  I  think  ought  to  be  attended  ;  but  the  dissenting  of  some  in 
our  church,  discouraged  me.  I  have  thought,  that  persons  might  have  right 
to  baptism,  and  yet  not  to  the  Lord's  Supper  ;  and  I  see  no  cause  to  alter  my 
judgment,  as  to  liiai  particular.  And  1  still  think,  that  persons  qualified.^ 
according  to  the  ffih  prnponition  of  (he  late  Synod-Book,  have  right  to  baptism 
fur  their  children.  His  dolours  continued  on  him,  till  Jlpril  22,  at  night ; 
when  he  quietly  breathed  forth  bis  last  ;  after  he  had  been  yhoni  seventy- 
three  years,  a  citizen  of  the  world,  and  fifty  years  a  minister  in  the  church 
of  God. 

^17.  The  presage  which  he  had  upon  his  mind,  of  his  own  approaching 
dissolution,  was  like  that  in  Ambrose  among  the  ancients,  and  in  Gesner, 
Melancthon,  and  Sandford,  among  the  modern  divines  ;  whence  the  last 
of  the  texts,  whereon  he  insisted,  in  his  public  ministry,  was  that  in  2 
Tim.  iv.  6,  7,  8,  The  time  of  my  departure  is  at  hand — I  have  finished  my 
course.  And  the  last  before  that,  was  that  in  Job  xir.  14.  All  the  days  of 
my  app'  inled  time  will  I  wait,  till  my  change  come.  And  for  a  private  con- 
ference, he  had  prepared  a  sermon  on  those  words,  in  2  Cor.  v.  1.  For 
■we  know,  that  if  our  earthly  house  of  this  tabernacle  were  dissolved,  we  have 
a  building  of  God,  an  house  not  made  with  hands,  eternal  in  the  Heavens  ; 
but  by  his  removal  from  this  house  to  that,  he  was  prevented  in  the 
preaching  of  the  sermon.  How  ready  he  was  for  the  lust  end  of  his  days 
thus  expected,  is  a  little  expressed  in  certain  passages  of  his  last  will ; 
the  whole,  of  which  if  I  should  here  transcribe  it,  after  the  example  of 
Beza,  writing  the  life  o(  Calvin,  and  Bannosivs  writing  the  life  of  Bamvs, 
and  other  such  examples,  it  would  be  no  ungrateful  entertainment,  but 
I  shall  only  offer  that  one  paragraph,  wherein  his  words  were  : 

Concerning  death,  as  I  do  believe,  it  is  appointed  for  all  men  once  to  die  f 
so  because  I  see  a  great  deal  of  unprofitableness  in  my  own  life,  and  because 
God  hath  also  let  me  see  such  vanity  and  emptiness  even  in  the  best  of  those 
comforts,  which  this  life  can  afford,  thai  I  think  I  may  trxdy  say,  that  I  have 
seen  an  end  of  all  perfection  :  therefore  if  it  were  the  will  of  God.  I  shoidd 
be  glad  to  be  removed  hence,  where  the  best,  that  is  to  be  had,  doth  yield- 
such  little  satisfaction  to  my  so^d,  and  to  be  brought  into  his  presence,  in 
glory,  that  there  /  mightfind,  (for  there  /  know  it  is  to  be  had)  that  salis- 
fying  and  all-snfficient  contentment,  in  him,  which  under  the  sun  is  not  to  be 
enjoyed  ;  in  the  mean  time  I  desire  to  stay  the  Lord's  leisure.  But  thou,  O 
Lord,  how  long  .' 

Thus  lived,  and  thus  died  Richard  Mather ;  able  to  make  his  appeal 
unto  an  evil  world,  at  his  leaving  of  it. 

JVullum  Turbavi  ;  Discordes  Pacificavi  : 
Lc:sus  sustinui  ;  nee  mihi  Complacui. 

§  18.  The  special  favour  of  God,  which  was  granted  unto  some  of  the 
ancients,  that  their  sons  after  them  succeeded  in  the  ministry  of  the  gos- 
pel ;  and  which  was  parlicularly  granted  unto  the  ha})py  fathers  of  Gre- 
gory Kazicuizen,  Gregory  JVysscn,  Basil  and  Hillary  ;  this  was  enjoyed  by 
many  of  tho«eirood  men.  that  planted  our  jVew-English  churches,  but  by 
none  more  comfortably,  than  by  Mr.  Mather.  It  is  mentioned  as  the  fe- 
licity of  the  blessed  I'etterus  a  Bohemian  pastor  in  the  former  century, 
that  he  gave  the  church  no  less  than  four  sons  to  be  worthy  ministers  of 
Ihe  gospel.      Such  was  the  felicity  of  our  Mather,     Many  years  before 


Book  111.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  41^ 

he  died,  he  had  the  comfort  of  seeing  four  sons  that  were  preachers  of 
no  mean  consideration  among  the  people  of  God  ;  it  was  counted  the 
singular  happiness  of  the  great  Roman  Alctellus,  that  he  expired  in  the 
arms  of  his  four  sons,  who  were  all  of  them  eminent  persons  ;  as  happy 
was  our  Mather;  and  in  a  christian  account,  much  inore  happy.  And 
since  his  death,  our  common  Lord,  has  been  served  by  Mr.  Samuel  Ma- 
ther, pastor  of  a  chiirch  in  Dublin,  Mr.  Aathanael  .Mather,  pastor  after 
him  of  the  same  church,  but  before  that,  of  Barnstable,  and  then  of  Ro- 
terdam,  and  since  that  of  a  church  in  London  ;  Mr  Eleazer  Mather,  pas- 
tor of  a  church  at  our  Northampton  ;  and  Mr.  Increase  jMather,  teaciier 
of  a  church  in  Boston,  and  president  of  Harvard  Colledge.  Sow  because 
this  mighty  man,  and  the  youngest  but  one  of  these  arro's)s  in  his  hand, 
were  not  only  lovely  ajid  useful  in  tlieir  lives,  but  also,  iv  their  deaths  not 
divided  (for  he  died  about  three  months  after  his  lather)  it  will  be  pity  to 
divide  them,  in  the  history  of  their  lives  :  and  therefore  of  this  Mr.  Ele- 
azer  Mather,  we  will  here  subjoin  some  small  account. 

§  19.  Mr.  Eleazer  Mather,  (born  May  13,  1637,)  having  passed 
through  his  education  in  Harvard-Colledge ,  and  having  by  the  living  and 
lively  proofs  of  a  renewed  heart,  as  well  as  a  well  instructed  head,  re- 
commended himself  unto  the  service  of  the  churches,  the  church  of 
Korthampion  became  the  happy  owner  of  his  talents.  Here  he  laboured 
for  eleven  years  in  the  vineyard  of  our  Lord  ;  and  then  the  txi:elve  hours 
o  f  his  day^s  labour  did  expire,  not  without  the  deepest  lamentations  of 
all  the  churches,  as  well  as  his  oxun  ;  then  sitting  along  the  river  of  Con- 
necticut. As  he  was  a  very  zealous  preacher,  and  accordingly  saw  many 
seaZs  of  his  ministry,  so  he  was  a  very  pious  walker  ;  and  as  he  drew  to- 
wards the  enrfof  his  days,  he  grew  so  remarkably  r/yje  for  Heaven,  in  an 
holy,  watchful,  fruitful  disposition,  that  many  observing  persons  did  prog- 
nosticate his  being  not  far  from  his  end.  He  kept  a  diary  of  his  experi- 
ences ;   wherein  the  last  zcords  that  ever  he  wrote  were  these  : 

July,  10,  1669. 

'  This  evening,  if  my  heart  deceive  me  not,  I  had  some  sweet  work- 
'  ings  of  soul  after  God  in  Christ,  according  to  the  terms  of  the  covenant 
'  of  grace.  The  general  and  indefinite  expression  of  the  prom/se,  was  an 
'  encouragement  unto  me  to  look  unto  Christ,  that  he  would  do  that  for 
'  me,  which  he  has  promised  to  do  for  some,  nor  dare  I  exclude  my  self  ; 
'  but  if  the  Lord  will  help  me,  I  desire  to  lie  at  his  feet,  and  accept  of 
'  grace,  in  his  o-a-a  way,  and  with  his  own  time,  through  his  power  ena- 
'  bling  of  me.  Though  I  am  dead,  Avithout  strength,  help  or  hope  in  my 
'  self,  yet  the  Lord  requireth  nothing  at  my  hands  in  my  own  strength  ; 
'  but  that  by  his  power,  1  should  look  to  him,  to  work  all  his  works  in  m» 
'  and  for  me.  When  i  tind  a  dead  heart,  the  thoughts  of  this  are  exceed- 
'  ing  sweet  and  reviving,  being  full  of  grace,  and  discovering  the  very 
'  heart  and  love  of  Jesus.'' 

He  died  July  24,  16G9,  aged  years,  about  thirty-two. 

Sic  Rosa,  sic  Viola;,  prima  Moriuntur  inHerba, 
Candida,  nee  Toto,  Lilia,  Mense  nitent. 

§  20.  The  dying  words  of  his  father  unto  his  brother,  about  t')e  rising 
generation,  caused  hiin,  in  the  few  sabbaths  now  left,  before  his  own 
death,  to  preach  several  sermons  upon  the  methods  that  should  be  taken 
for  the  conveying  and  securing  of  religion,  with  the  ffood  presence  of  God 


414  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  ['Book  III. 

unto  that  sjenr-ration,  [on  1  Kings  viii.  57.]  The  notes  which  he  left 
wriiien  oftho.se  pungent  sermons,  were  afterwards  printed,  and  reprint- 
ed, 5vith  a  preface  of  his  brother's  :  and  when  unto  the  other  signs  of 
churches  left  by  God,  therein  mentioned  ;  namel3%  the  people's  being 
abandoned  untx>  njlighiy  spirit  ;  and  an  ill  xise  made  o{ temporal  prosperi- 
ty ;  a  spirit  of  aivisicn  and  contention,  turning  religion  it  selfinto/Hft/ow; 
the  efficacious  and  victorious  operations  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  withdrawn 
from  ordinances  ;  he  added,  the  death  of  such  men,  as  are  chief  means 
of  continuing  the  presence  of  God  unto  a  people  ;  he  therein  gave  unto 
us  too  true  :m\  interpretation,  o(  the  sad  providence,  which  was  justgoing 
by  death  to  remove  him,  trom  this  people  unto  a  better  world. 

EPITAPHIUM. 

RicHARDUS  hie  dormit  Matherus. 

Lcti'aius  Genuisse  Pares. 
Incerliim  est,  Utrum  Doctior,  an  Melior. 
Anima&r  Gloria,  non  queunt  humari. 
t 
But  that  nothing  may  be   wanting  to  his  epitrph,  I  will  transcribe  the 
epitaph  which  the  Reverend  old  Mr.  John  Bishop,  the  pastor  of  Stamford , 
provided  for  him. 

In  Pium,  Doctum,^'  Praclarum, 
Dorcestrensem  xMatherum. 

Si7icerus  Terr  is  noster  jacet  ecce  Matherus  ; 

Religionis  Honos,  qui  ttilit  ejus  onus. 
Clincquid  erat  Synodis,  Sacris  de,  rebus  agendum. 

Ille  (Dei  adjutii)  scEpius  Actor  erat. 
Magnus  hie  in  magnis,  non  par-cam  rebus  iisdem 

Temporibus  Variis  contribuebat  opem: 
Con'^ilis  Siilidis.,  Doctrina,  Dexteritate, 

Judicio  Claro,  cumq;  labore  gruz'i. 
A'ain  Doctus,  Prudens,  Pins,  Impiger,  afq;  peritus, 

In  Sacris,  nee  7}on  proniptus  ad  omne  Bonum. 
Oinnia  per  Christum  pottiit,  credensq;  precansq:, 

Tantafuit  Fides,  Pis  quoq;  tanfa  precum. 
Hinc  mihi  Sublato  Charo  Fi  Mortis  Andco, 

Hue  Amor  atq;  Dolor,  cvmposuere  mevs. 

.1.  Episeopiui. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

■J'he  Liu:  of  Mr.  Zachakiaii  Sy.mme;. 

^}  1.  Thk  Emperour  Probus  having  an  honour  for  the  memorij  of  hi^ 
friend  Aradion,  honoured  him  vv'ith  a  tomb  two  hundred  fooihroad.    Br: 
our  value  for  the  mcmGrii  of  the  divines  that  formerly  served  our  church- 
es, must  not  be  measured  by  the  breadth  of  our  history  concerning  them. 
Wo  cannot  sire  nnich  hrcn'Uh  to  the  room,   ^Yhich  wc  dedicate   in   fhis' 


Hook  lil.]         THE  HISTORY'  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  415 

our  liistor}^  unto  the  menwry  of  our  Sijmmes,  because  we  have  not  re- 
ceived very  large  informations  concerning  hiin.  Nevertheless,  accord- 
ing to  the  French  proverb,  U71  minisire  ne  doit  Scavoir  cjue  s'l  Bible,  A 
minister  should  know  nothing  but  his  Bible  ;  here  was  one  worthy  the  iwxme 
of  amijiister  ;  (or  he  kriezo  his  Bible  xeell  and  he  was  a  p?-eoc/;f 7- of  what 
he  knew,  and  a  sufferer  for  what  ha  preached. 

§  2.  Reader,  we  shall  not  confound  ourselves  with  fables  and  endless 
genealogies,  but  we  shall  truly  edify  ourselves,  if  we  enquire  so  far  into 
the  genealogy  ofMr.  Zachariah  Symmes,  as  to  recite  a  passage  written  by 
Mr  William  Syimnes,  the  father  of  our  Zachariah,  in  a  book  which  was 
made  by  a  godly  preacher,  that  was  hid  in  the  house  of  Mr  William 
Symmes,  the  father  of  William,  from  the  rage  of  the  Marian  persecution. 
'  I  note  it  as  a  special  mercy  of  God,  (writes  he,  in  a  leaf  of  that  book) 
'  that  both  my  father  and  mother  were  favourers  of  the  Gospel,  and  ha- 
'  ted  idolatry,  under  Queen  Mary's  persecution.  1  came  to  this  book  by 
'  this  means  :  going  to  Satidwich  in  ICent,  to  preach  the  first  or  second 
'  year,  after  I  was  ordained  minister.  Anno  1587,  or  88,  and  preaching 
'  in  Saint  Mary's,  where  Mr.  Pazcso7i,  an  ancient  godly  preacher,  was 
'  minister,  who  knew  my  parents  well  and  me  too,  at  school  ;  he  after  I 
'  had  finished  my  sermons,  came  and  brought  me  this  book  for  a  present, 
'  acquainting  me  with  the  abovementioned  circumstances.  And  then  he 
'  adds,  I  charge  my  sons  Zachariah  and  William,  before  Him,  that  shall 
'judge  the  quick  and  the  dead,  that  you  never  defile  your  selves  with 
'  any  idolatry  or  superstition  whatsoever,  but  learn  your  religion  out  of 
'God's  holy  word,  and  ivorship  God  as  he  himself  hath  prescribed,  and 
•  not  after  the  devices  and  traditions  of  men.     Scripsi.  Dec.  6,  1602. 

§  3.  Descended  from  such  ancestors,  our  Zachariah,  was  born  April 
5,  1599,  at  Canterbury,  and  the  savoury  expressions  in  the  letters  yet  ex- 
tant, which  he  wrote  while  he  was  a  youth  in  the  university  of  Cam- 
bridge, intimate,  that  he  was  new-horn,  while  3'et  a  child. 

After  his  leaving  the  university,  he  was  employed  for  a  while  in  the 
houses  of  several  persons  of  quality,  as  a  tutor  to  their  children,  but  not 
without  molestation  from  the  Prelates  for  his  conscientious  non-conformity 
to  certain  rites  in  the  worship  of  God,  then  imposed  on  the  consciences  of 
the  faithful.  When  he  had  passed  through  these  changes,  he  was  cho- 
sen in  the  year  1621,  to  be  a  lecturer  ntAthoUues,  in  the  city  of  London  : 
and  after  many  troubles  from  the  Bishops-Courts,  for  his  dissent  from 
things,  whereto  his  consent  had  never  been  required  by  the  great  Shepherd 
and  Bishop  of  our  soids,  he  removed  from  thence  in  the  year  1625,  to 
Dunstable,  where  his  ti'oubles  from  the  Bishops-Courts  continuing,  he  at 
length  transported  himself,  with  his  family  into  an  American  wilderness. 
JYew-England^  and  Charles-town  in  New-England,  enjoyed  him  all  the 
rest  of  his  days,  even  until  February  4,  1670  ;  when  he  retired  into  a 
better  world. 

§  4.  His  epitaph  at  Charles-town,  where  he  was  honourably  iaterred, 
mentions  his  having  lived  forty  nine  years  and  seven  months  with  his 
vertuous  consort,  by  whom  he  had  thirteen  childion,  live  sons,  and  eight 
daughters,  and  annexes  this  distich. 

A  prophet  lies  under  this  stone  : 

His  words  shall  live,  though  he  be  gone. 

But  as  that  eminent  person  ordered  this  clause  for  his  own  epitaph,  in- 
stesid  ©f  other  glories  and  mcwuirf,  which  use  to  adorn  a  tnonument,  Here 


416  THE  HISTORY  OF  .NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  ill 

lies  the  friend  of  Sir  Philip  Sidney.  Thus  the  epitaph  of  this  eminen' 
person,  might  have  mentioned  one  thing  more,  v/hich  might  have  gone 
in  the  room  of  many  other  testimonies,  to  the  ability,  and  integrity,  and 
zeal,  that  signalized  him  ;  Here  lies  the  friend  of  Mr.  Jeremiah  Burroughs. 
For  we  have  still  to  shew  the  letters,  which  that  great  man  sent  rnto 
our  Sijmmes,  after  his  coming  to  JVeri'-£j7g/«ftf/ ;  letters  wherein  he  com- 
pares the  love  between  them,  unto  that  between  David  and  Jonathan  : 
as  having  been  a  sort  of  sworn  brothers  to  each  other,  ever  since  their 
living  together  at  the  University. 


CHAPTER  XXn. 
The  Life  of  Mr.  John  Allin,' 

-Sequitur  quern  Vita  perennis ; 


V'ivus  enim  Semper,  qui  bene  vixit,  erit. 

^  1.  Why  is  the  dead  relation  of  father  Abraham  called,  his  dead,  no 
less  than  eight  several  times,  in  one  short  chapter  ?  It  seems,  though 
death  has  dissolved  our  old  relation  to  our  dead  friends,  yet  it  has  not  re- 
leased us  from  all  our  duty  to  them  ;  they  are  still  so  far  onrs,  that  we 
owe  something  unto  their  memory.  Reader,  we  are  entertaining  our 
selves  with  our  dead  ;  but  if  we  do  nothing  to  keep  alive  their  memory 
with  us,  we  may  blush  to  call  them  oiirs. 

Among  these,  one  is  Mr.  John  Allin.  But  if  there  were  such  an  offi- 
cer in  use  among  us,  as  once  was  among  the  Greeks,  to  measure  the  mon- 
uments of  dead  persons,  according  to  their  veriues,  he  would  greatly  com- 
plain of  it,  that  I  have  been  able  to  recover  no  more  memoirs  of  a  person, 
whose  vertues  and  merits  were  far  from  the  smallest  size,  among  those 
tyho  did-  T^orthily  in  Israel. 

§  2.   He  was  born  in  the  year  1396. 

Having  passed  his  cursus,  in  the  tongues  and  arts,  until  he  was,  as 
Theodorit  says  oi  Innocent,  ^Ayj^iyeta  xeti  a-vvio-a  x,<Kri:iiiy..£yei.  Ingenii  <5*  pru- 
dentice  ornamentis  egregie  Instrvctus :  he  became  a  faithful  preacher  of 
C/i.rjs^,  choosing  rather  to  dig  in  that  rock  oi  Zion,  than  in  a  rock  of  dia- 
monds. 

It  is  an  ancient  observation,  that  there  were  three  things  done  by  the 
Holy  Spirit  of  God,  on  and  for  the  prophets,  which  were  employed  in 
publick  service  for  him  :  one  was  to  give  them  courage  against  the  rage 
of  adversaries.  Another  was,  to  give  them  tiv'srfom,  for  to  regulate  their 
conduct.  A  third  was,  to  give  them  vertue  and  holiness,  that  their  own 
consciences  might  not  sting  them,  when  they  were  to  bestow  aculeate  re- 
bukes upon  the  vices  of  other  men. 

This  observation,  which  is  as  useful  as  ancient,  was  made  by  them 
that  considered  those  words  of  the  prophet  J\Iicah  :  I  am  full  of,  (1) 
power,  by  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord.  And  of,  (2)  judgment.  And  of  (^3)  ver- 
tue. With  all  of  these  excellencies,  did  the  JHoly  Spirit  of  God,  in  a  gra- 
cious measure  adorn  our  Allin.  But  when  the  evil  Spirit  raised  a  storm 
o{ persecution  upon  the  Puritans,  in  the  Esiglish  nation,  these  excellencies 
could  not  shelter  this  worthy  man.  from  the  injuries  of  it  ;  but  rather  ex- 
pose him  thereunto.  Leaving  o(  England,  whereof  he  might  have  taken 
that  farewel ; 

•Vort  careo  Pa.trid.  me  caret  ilia  7nas:is. . 


Book  III.]  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  417 

He  chose  aa  Jimericmi  zi)ilderness,  for  his  country  :  and  cheerfully  con- 
ibrmed  his  genteel  spirit,  unto  the  difficulties  of  such  a  wilderness  :  be- 
ing only  of  Austin's  mind,  about  the  banished  christians,  Miserrimum  cs- 
set,  si  alicubi  duci  potercmt,  uhi  Deuin  suum  non  invenisscnt. 

§  3,  He  was  a  sufficient  scholar^  and  (which  is  the  way  to  become  so) 
a  diligent  student ;  but  yet  his  experimental  acquaintance  with  Christiani- 
ty, taught  him  to  be  of  the  mind,  which  the  learned  Suarez  expressed, 
when  he  did  use  to  say,  That  he  esteemed  more  that  little  pittance  nftiuie, 
which  he  constantly  set  apart  every  day,  for  the  private  examination  of  his 
own  heo,rt,  than  all  the  other  part  of  the  day,  "ahich  he  spent  in  voluminous 
controversies.  His  accomplishments  were  considerable  ;  and  beinjr  a 
very  humble  man,  he  found,  that  sanctified  knvzvledge  grows  most  luxuri- 
ant in  the  fat  valleys  o{  humility:  being  a  very  paticit  man,  he  found 
that  the  dc-w  of  Heaven,  which  f^iUs  not  in  a  stormy  or  cloudy  night,  was 
always  falling  on  a  soul  ever  serene,  with  the  meekest  patience.  He 
was  none  of  those  low-built  thatched  cottages,  that  are  apt  to  catfhj^re  : 
but  like  an  high-built  castle,  or  palace,  free  from  the  combustions  of 
passion.  He  was  indeed  one  of  so  sweet  a  temper,  that  his  fnenJs  ana- 
gra^nmatised,  Jons  Allin,  into  this  : 

I.\  Hon  I  All. 

§  4.  His  polemical  abilities,  were  discovered.  In  a  treatise  called,  A  De- 
fence of  the  JVine  Positions  ;  wherein  (being  of  Calvhi's  mind,  ink  is  too 
dear  and  costly  ivith  us.  if  twe  doubt  to  spend  ink  in  zoriting,  to  testifis  those 
things,  which  mar!  yrs  of  old  sealed  with  their  blood:)  he,  with  Mr.  Slupard 
of  Cambridge,  handle  the  points  of  church-reformation  ;  at  what  rate,  not 
my  pen,  bat  our  famous  old  Mr.  Cotton  s  in  his  preface  to  a  book  of  Mr. 
Norton's  may  describe  unto  us. 

Shepardus,  una  cum  Allinio  Fratre,  (^Fratmm  didcepar)uti  eximiu  pie- 
txttefiorent  ambo,  <S*  Eruditione  non  mediodi,  wque  etiuin  Mysieriorum 
Pietatispraidicatione  (per  ChrisiiGratiam)  efficaci  adm'.dvm,  i(d  egregiam 
novarunl  Operant  in  abstrvsissimis  Disciplince  nodis  fcelicitur  enodaadis. 
Verba  horum  Fra'rum,  uti  suaviter  spirant  Pietatem,  Veritatem.  Charita- 
tern,  Christi  ;  ita  speramus  fore  (per  Chisti  Gratiam')  ut  multi,  qui  d  Disci- 
plinii  Christi  alieniores  erant,  odore  horum  unguentorum  Chisti  effusarum 
delebati  atque  deliacti,  ad  amorem  ejus  <5"  pellecli  4-  pertracti,  earn  avidius 
arripiunt  atque  amvlexentur. 

Moreover,  another  judicious  discourse  of  his,  in  defence  of  the  Synod 
held  at  Boston,  in  the  year  1662,  has  declared  hisprinciples  about  church- 
discipline,  as  well  as  his  abilities  to  maintain  his  principles.  The  person 
against  whom  he  wrote  this  defence,  was  that  very  person,  whose  life 
shall  be  the  very  next  in  our  hiitory  ;  for, 

Hi  Motus  Animorum,  atque  hasc  certamina  tanta, 
Pulveris  exigui  Jactu  compressa  quiescunt. 

§  5.  When  the  holy  church  of  Dedham  was  gathered,  in  the  year  1638, 
he  became  their  pastor  ;  and  in  the  pastoral  care  of  that  church  he  con- 
tinued, until  Aug  26,  1671  ;  when  after  ten  days  of  easie  sickness,  he 
died,  as  Myconius  well  expresses  it,  Vitaliter  mori ;  in  the  seventy-tiflh 
year  of  his  age. 

Now,  according  to  that  of  Jemm,  Lacrymc  Auditorum  Tuce  sint  Landes  : 
I  behold,  reader,  the  praises  of  this  excellent  man.     His  flock  published 

Vol.   T.  .v3 


418  THE  lilSLORY  OF  XEW-EXGLAXD.         [Book  HI. 

the  two  l;u-t  scrmotis  that  ever  he  preached  ;  one  wheieoi  was  on  Cani. 
viii.  5.  ]\  ho  is  this  that  comes  vp  from  the  Taniderness,  leaniug  on  her  be- 
loved P  The  other  on  John  xiv.  22.  Pi'ace  I  leave  t^ith  you.  But  they 
write  their  preface  with  tears  ;  and  with  fearful  praises  they  celebrate 
liim,  as  one  altogether  above  their  praises  :  and  a  conulant,Jaithful,  dili- 
gent slexi;ard  in  the  house  of  God;  a  man  of  peace  and  trufh^  and  a  burn- 
ing and  a  shining  light.  Adding,  The  crozcn  is  fallen  from  our  heads  : 
Oh  !  that  it  were  -..vith  us  as  in  times  past  I  which  desire  of  theirs,  has  been 
happily  answered,  in  two  most  worlhy  sticcessors. 

1  he  character  once  given  to  Phi/ippus  Gallus,  may  very  justly  be  no^ 
made  the  epitaph  of  our  John  Jlilin. 

EPITAPH  lUM 

Johannes  Allimus. 

Vir  Sincerus,  Amans pads,  paticnsrjuc  Laborunt 
Perspicuns,  Sin^plcx,  Doctrine:  purus  Amator. 


CHAPTER  XXIH. 

Cadmus  Americanus.     The  Life  of  Mr.  Charles  Chancev, 

Svadet  Lingua,  Jubct  Vita. 

§  1.  There  was  a  famous  person,  in  times,  by  chrouoigoical  compu- 
tation, as  ancient  as  the  days  of  Joshua,  known  by  the  name  of  Cadmus  ^ 
who  carried  not  only  people,  bui,  letters  also,  from  Phcenilia  into  Bteetia. 
The  Grecian  fable  of  a  serpent,  in  the  story  of  Cadmus,  was  only  de- 
rived from  the  name  of  an  Ilivite,  which  by  his  nation  belonged  unto 
him  ;  for  an  Ilivite  signifies  a  serpent,  in  the  language  of  Syria.  This 
renowned  Cadmus,  was  indeed  a  Gibeonite,  who  having  been  well  treat- 
ed by  Joshua,  and  by  Joshua  not  oidy  continued  in  the  comforts  of  life, 
but  also  instructed  ai:d  employed  m  the  service  of  the  true  God,  he 
retained  ever  after  most  honourable  sentiments  of  that  great  command- 
er. Yea,  when  after  ages,  in  their  songs,  praised  Apollo  for  his  vic- 
tory over  the  dragon  Pytho.  they  uttered  but  the  disguised  songs  of  Ca- 
naan, wherein  this  Cadmus  had  celebrated  the  praises  of  Joshua,  for 
his  victory  over  Og  the  King  of  Bashan.  Cadmus  having  been  (as 
one  of  the  Greek  poets  writes  of  him)  educated  in  Hebron  or  Debir,  the 
universities  q{ Palestine,  was  fitted  thereby  to  be  a  leader  in  a  great  un- 
dertaking ;  and  when  the  oppression  of  Cushanrishathaim,  caused  a  num- 
ber of  people  to  seek  out  new  seats,  there  were  many  who  under  the 
conduct  of  Cadmus,  transported  themselves  into  Greece,  where  the 
notions  and  customs  of  an  Israelitish  original,  were  therefore  a  long 
while  preserved,  until  they  were  confounded  with  j^cgcn  degeneracies. 
There  is  reason  to  think,  that  a  colony  of  Hebrews  themselves  did  now 
swarm  out  into  Peloponnesus,  where  the  book  of  Maccabees  will  help  us 
to  find  Lacedemonians  (or  Cadmonians,  that  is.  the  followers  of  Cadmus, 
in  their  true  etymology)  of  the  stock  of  Mondiain;  and  we  know  that 
Strabo  tells  us,  that  Cadmus  had  Arabians  (and  the  Israelites,  were  by 
such  heithea  writers  accounted  so)  in  hi.s  company.    Accordingly,  when 


Book  HI.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  ^J(j 

we  read,  thai  a  college  among  tlie  old  Grecians  was  called  academia,  we 
mnv  soon  inform  our  selves,  that  it  was  at  Tirst  called  Cadmin  or  Cudrnea, 
in  commemoration  of  C'admvs,  the  Plnaiician ;  to  whom  those  parts  of 
the  world  were  first  beholden,  fur  such  nurseries  of  good  literature 
and  religion. 

These  researches  into  autiqiiity,  had  not,  in  this  place  been  laid  be- 
fore mj'  reader,  if  they  niidit  not  have  served  as  an  introduction  unto 
this  piece  of  jXcw-Eni^lisk  history  ;  that  when  some  ecclesiastical  oppres- 
sions drove  a  colony  of  the  truest  Israelites  into  the  remoter  parts  of 
the  world,  there  was  an  academy  quickly  founded  in  that  colony  :  and 
our  Chanccij  was  the  Cadmus  of  that  academy  ;  by  whose  vast  labour 
and  learning,  the  knowledge  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  served  by  ail  the 
human  sciences,  hath  been  conveyed  unto  posterity. 

It  is  now  tit,  that  a  few  incmoirs  of  that  reverend  man  should  till  our- 
pages. 

§  ^.  Mr.  Charles  Chanccy  was  an  Hartfordshire.  man  ;  born  in  the 
year  1  j89,  of  parents  that  were  both  honourable  and  religious.  Be- 
ing sent  from  thence  to  Westminster-%ch.oo\,  his  hopeful  proficiency  in 
good  literature,  within  a  short  while,  ripened  him  for  the  ?miversity. 
And  it  was  one  thing  which  caused  him  to  have  the  more  feeling  resent- 
ments of  the  famous  Potcjr/er-P/o',  the  report  whereof  will  make  a  noise 
as  long  as  the  ^fiftk  of  November  is  in  our  kalendar  ;  that  at  the  time 
when  that  plot  should  have  taken  its  horrid  eiTect,  he  was  at  that  school, 
which  must  also  have  been  blown  up,  if  the  Por/?a«i0n/-/io7/sc  had  per- 
ished. The  university  of  Cambridge,  was  that  which  afterward /rts^rwct- 
ed  and  n"urished  this  eminent  person,  and  tilted  him  for  the  service 
wherein  he  had  opportunity  afterwards  to  demonstrate  that  he  was  in- 
deed such  a  person.  The  particular  college  whereof  he  was  here  a 
member,  was  Trinity  College  ;  by  the  same  token,  that  in  the  Lachrymcc 
Cant'.ihrigienses,  published  by  the  Cant'ibrigians,  on  the  death  of  Queen 
Ann,\  lind  him  in  that  style  composing  and  subscribing  one  of  the  most 
witty  Latin  poems  in  that  whole  collection.  Here  he  proceeded  Batch- 
eloui  of  Divinity  :  and  having  an  intimate  acquaintance  with  that  great 
man  Dr.  Usher,  whom  all  men  have  confessed  worthy  of  the  character, 
wherewith  Voetiis  mentions  him,  Vasta  Leclionis  4*  eritditionis  Theologits, 
inq ;  .iutiqnitate  Ecclesiastica  Versatissimxis,  he  had  hereby  an  opportu- 
nity farther  to  advantage  himself  with  the  ancient  monuments  in  King- 
Jam  s'  Library. 

§  3.  B}'  the  head  of  the  houses  he  was  chosen  Heurezi'  professor  ;  but  the 
Vice-Chanceilcur  Dr.  Williams,  preferring  a  kinsman  of  his  own  to  that 
place,  at  the  same  time  he  put  our  Mr.  Chancey  into  the  place  of  Greek- 
pnfessor  ;  and  as  one  well  known  to  be  an  accurate  Grecian,  it  was  he 
that  afterwards  was  the  C.  C.  the  Fir  Doctissimns  <5*  Piissimus,  v.hose 
'eTriKfis-K;^  you  have  at  the  beginning  of  Leigh's  Critica  Sacra  upon  the  .'Veti'- 
Teslamcnt.  He  was  indeed  a  person  incomparably  well  skilled  in  all  the 
learned  languages  ;  especially  in  the  Oriental;  and  eminently  in  the  He- 
hrezc  ;  in  his  obtaining  whereof,  his  conversation  with  a  Jery  for  the  space 
of  a  year,  was  no  little  advantage  to  him.  1  know  that  the  Hebrexv  tongue, 
as  an  exception  to  the  general  rule,  Difficilia  quae  Pvlchra,  is  more  easily 
attained,  than  any  that  I  have  yet  observed  ;  and  hence  we  see  even  our 
English  raomen.  sometimes  in  a  little  -oL^hilc,  and  with  a  little  pains,  grown  as 
expert  at  it  as  the  ladies  Pausa  or  Blasilla,  by  Jerom  therefore  celebra- 
ted ;  and  I  have  wished  that  many  in  the  world,  were  more  moved  by 
those  word"  of  a  worthy  author,  Jii'sijn  spondcre,  illns  quiStndiis  Hcbrai- 


420  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.        [Book  HJ 

cis,  tantuin  Teinporis  Impenderent,  quantum  Tubulo  Nicotiana.  imbibendo, 
(^(juo  nunc  par. i  buna  ktudiosoruin pro  Hydragogo  uli  consuevit)  turn  Mane, 
tuiii  l^e.speri,  i/upcndi  soict^  progessus  in  hujusce  Lingu(E  Cognilione,  haud 
Pu'garts.  brtvi  esscfacturos,  adeo  ul  inirentur,  se  esse  turn  doctos,  anle- 
quain  Diiiic:ri<d.  iMevertheiess,  this  tongue  is  as  easily  forgotten.  But 
beiijg  ofice  attained  and  therewithal  preserved  and  improved,  good  men 
will  iind  as  our  Mr.  Ckancey  did  thnt  the  conjunct  profit  and  pleasure  of 
it  were  inexpressible  ;  and  th;it  the  talents  wherewith  it  would  furnish 
thero  to  do  so  many  services  for  the  Ciiurch  of  God,  were  such  as  to 
miike  theni  join  with  Luther,  in  his  protestation,  That  he  would  not  part 
zviih  his  knozi:'edge  of  tiif  Hebrevr  fur  many  thousands  (f  pounds  ;  or  to 
approve  the  (usual)  modest  words  of  .l/e/a«Ci'/toft.  Scio  me  vix  primis 
Labris  degutas.se  Hebraicus  Literas ;  sed  tamen  hoc  Ipsum,  quod  didici 
quanthiuincunq  ;  est.  propter  Judicium  de  Religione,  Omnibus  Mundi  Reg- 
nis.  t'mniumq;  op.'bus  Lunge  Antepono. 

§  4.  When  he  left  the  university,  he  became  a  diligent  and  eminent 
prraihf-r  of  the  gospel  at  JMaiston;  but  after  some  timo,  he  removed 
hiioisi'lf  to  ^Vare,  where  the  Jutnd  of  the  Lord  was  zcifh  him,  and  many  be- 
lieved, and,  turntd  unto  the  Lord.  Here  it  was  that  the  successes  of  his 
fituf'il  ministry,  in  the  instruction  of  the  ignorant,  and  the  conversion  of 
the  ungodly,  became  a  matter  of  much  observation. 

But  when  Satan  wanted  a  Shibboleth  for  the  discovering  and  extinguish  - 
ing  such  an  holy  ministry,  throughout  the  nation,  the  miserable  Arch- 
Bishop  Laud,  served  him  with  a  licence  for  sports  on  the  Lord^s  day  : 
whereby  the  people  were  after  an  horrid  manner  invited  unto  the  pro- 
flmitioa  of  that  sacred  rest ;  and  indeed  of  every  thing  sacred  with  it. 
Then  it  was  that  our  Mr.  Chancey  hearing  the  drums  beat  for  dances  and 
frol:cks  on  the  Lord's  day,  was,  like  other  good  men,  afraid  that  God 
would  break  the  rest  of  the  kingdom,  and  cause  drums  to  be  beaten  Tip 
(ov  marches  waA  io?/e/s  on  that  very  day.  But  when  he  was  inhibited- 
from  attending  of  other  exercises,  on  the  afternoons  of  the  Lord's  day, 
beset  himself  to  catechise  as  many  as  he  could,  both  old  and  young: 
■which,  as  the  bishop  in  sheeps  cloathing  said,  was  as  bad  as  preuchiv^. 
And  by  such  methods,  he  still  continued  serving  the  interests  of  the  gos- 
pel. 

§  6.  But  about  this  time  there  arose  a  storm  of  most  unreasonable, 
but  irresistible  pe)'secw^^o■'l,  upon  those  ministers,  who  were  well-wish- 
ers to  the  progress  of  the  Protestant  reformation  in  the  kingdom  ;  and  Mr. 
Chincey  was  one  of  those  who  sufl'ered  in  it.  In  Mr.  Rushworth^s  collec- 
tions for  the  year  1629, 1  find  this  passage. 

'  Mr.  Charles  Chancey,  minister  of  Ware,  using  some  expressions  in 
*  his  sermon,  that  Idulati-y  was  admitted  into  the  church  ;  that  the  preaching 
'•  of  the  gospel  xvould  be  suppressed ;  that  there  is  much  Atheism,  Popery, 
*■  Arminianism  and  Heresy,  crept  into  the  church  :  and  this  being  looked 
'  upon  to  raise  a  fear  among  the  people,  that  some  alteration  of  religion 
'  would  ensue  ;  he  was  questioned  in  the  High  Commission  ;  and  by  order 
'of  that  court,  the  cause  was  referred  to  the  Bishop  of  London,  beiiii; 
'  his  ordinary  ;  who  ordered  him  to  make  a  submission  in  Latin. 

This  worthy  man  being  by  the  terrors  and  censures  of  that  infamous 
court,  suddeidy  surprised  unto  a  sort  o£ submission,  which  gave  too  good 
an  acknowledgment  of  the  constitution,  whereinto  the  La udian  faction 
was  then  precipitating  the  Church  o{ England,  he  no  sooner  got  a  little 
out  ofihetemjitation,  but  he  signalized  his  repentance  of  that  submission, 
•with  a  zeal  not  unljke  thai  oi  the  blessed  Crannier  again<:t  hi'?  own  ri"hi 


Book  III.]  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW  ENGLAiND.  4t'l 

hand,  for  subscribing  his  recantation."  Although  he  was  not  long  without 
the  faith  of  his  having  this  his  too  sudden  compliance  with  the  demands 
of  his  persecutors, /orgj'ren  in  Heaven,  yet  he  never  forgave  himself  as 
long  as  he  lived  on  earth  ;  he  would  on  all  occasions  expres;*  himself  ex- 
treamly  dissatistied,  as  well  at  the  ill  things  then  advanced  in  the  Church 
of  England,  as  at  himself  also  forever  in  the  least,  consenting  to  tlio?e 
things.  Those  memorable  Puritans  which  were  driven  into  Jnuricj,  all 
of  them  had  a  dislike  of  the  deformities,  which  they  saw  yet  cieav  .ig  to 
the  Church  of  England  ;  but  1  question,  wheiher  any  disliked  them  with 
such  fervent  expressions  of  indignation,  as  our  iMr.  Chance]],  who  thus 
took  the  revenges  of  a  deep  repentance  upon  his  own  conforiuity  to  them. 
And  few  suffered  for  nnn-conforniity  more  than  he  hy  fines,  by  gools,  by 
necessities  to  abscond,  and  at  last  by  an  exile  from  his  native  country. 
Yea,  though  he  had  lived  a  very  exact  life,  yet  when  he  came  to  die, 
more  than  forty  years  after  this,  he  left  these  words  in  his  last  tt-iVZ  and 
testament.  In  regard  of  corrupt  nature,  I  do  acknozz-ledge  my  self  to  be  a 
child  of  Tcrath,  and  sold  under  sin,  and  one  that  hath  been  polluted  n-ith  in- 
numerable transgressions  and  mighty  sins,  which  as  far  as  I  knorv  and  can 
call  to  remembrance,  I  keep  still  fresh  before  me,  and  desire  noith  mourning, 
and  self  abhorring  still  to  do,  as  long  as  life  shall  last ;  and  especially  my 
so  many  sinful  compliances  with  and  conformity  unto  vile  human  inveyitions, 
and  mill-xsiorship  and  hell-bred  superstition,  and  patcheries  sticht  into  the 
service  of  the  Lord,  (which  the  English  Mass  book,  1  mean,  the  Book  of 
Common  Prayer,  and  the  ordination  of  Priests,  <S,'C.  are  fully  fraught 
■withal.) 

§  6.  There  was  once  a  Parliament  in  England,  whereto  a  speech  of 
no  less  a  man  than  the  Lord  Digby,  made  a  comphunt,  that  men  cf  tha  best 
conscience  were  then  ready  to  fly  into  the  wildermssfor  rdi'^ion  :  and  it  was 
complained  in  an  elegaut  speech  of  Sir  Benjamin  Rudyard's,  A  great  mul- 
titude of  the  King\  subjects,  striving  to  hold  communion  with  us,  but  seeing 
how  far  we  were  gone,  and  fearing  how  much  farther  we  would  go,  were 
forced  to  fly  the  Land,  very  many  into  salvage  wildernesses,  because  the  land 
would  not  bear  them:  do  not  they  that  cause  these  thi7igs,  cast  a  reproach 
upon  the  government.  And  in  a  notable  speech  of  Mr.  Fiennes,  a  certai-. 
number  of  ceremonies  in  the  judgment  of  some  m^n.  unlawful,  and  to  be  re- 
jected of  all  churches,  in  the  judgment  of  all  other  reformed  churciies,  and 
in  the  judgment  of  our  own  church,  but  indifferent,  yet  what  differeiice. 
yea  what  distraction  have  thasc  indififerent  ceremorjies  raised  among  us  . 
Wliat  lu'Jh  deprived  us  nf  so  many  thousands  of  c//r..-'i«ns,  which  chsircd. 
and  in  all  other  respects  deservi'd  to  Iwld  communion  zt'ith  vs ;  I  say,  whaf 
hath  deprived  us  if  them,  and  scattered  them  into  I  knozv  not  rvhat  places  anu' 
corners  of  the  world,  but  these  inditferent  ceremonies  {  It  was  then  that 
3Ir.  Pym,  in  the  name  'f  the  House  oiCommons,  impeaching  A.  B.  Laud, 
before  the  House  of  L  n/s  had  these  expressions.  Yo^i  have  the  King\ 
loyal  subjects  banished  out  of  the  kingdom,  not  as  Ehmelech,  to  seek  for  bread 
in  foreign  countries,  by  re  'son  of  tlu  gr^at  scarcity  which  was  in  Israel  : 
but  travelling  abroad  for  the  bread  of  life,  because  they  could  not  have  it  ar 
home,  by  reason  of  the  spii'itu.il,  fimine  'f  God's  word,  caused  by  this  man. 
and  his  partakers  :  and  by  this  means  you  have  the  industry  of  many  thou- 
sands of  his  majeshfs  subjects  carried  out  of  tlie  land.  And  at  last  the 
whole  House  of  Common*  put  this  article  in  the  remonstranre,  which 
they  then  made  unto  the  King.  The  Bishops  and  their  Courts  did  impov- 
erish many  thousands  ;  and  so  afflict  and  tronhh  others,  that  <rrccil  nun-her<i 


422  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  UL 

to  avoid  their  miseries,  departed  out  of  the  kingdom,  some  into  New-England , 
and  other  parts  of  America. 

But  it  is  now  time  to  tell  my  reader,  that  in  the  transporta'ions,  thus 
reasonably  and  parliamentarily  complained  of,  one  of  the  most  consider- 
able persons  removing  into  America,  was  Mr.  Charles  Chancey  ;  who  ar- 
rived at  Plymouth  in  New-England,  a  few  days  before  the  great  earth- 
quake which  happened /anwfl?-^  1,  1638. 

§  7.  After  he  had  spent  some  time  in  the  ministry  of  the  gospel,  with 
i\Ir.  Reyner  of  Plymouth,  he  removed  unto  a  town  a  little  northward  of 
it,  called  Scituale,  where  he  remained  for  three  and  three  times  three  years, 
cultivating  the  vineyard  of  the  Lord  in  that  place.  Of  this  his  minis- 
try at  Scituate,  let  me  preserve  at  least,  this  one  rememhrance  :  having 
his  ordination  renewed  at  his  entrance  upon  this  new  relation,  he  did  at 
that  solemnity  preach  upon  those  words,  in  Prov.  i::.  3,  Wisdom  hath 
sent  forth  her  maidens ;  and  in  his  discourse,  making  a  most  affectionate 
reflection  upon  his  former  compliances  with  the  temptations  of  the  High 
Commission  Comt.  he  said  with  tears,  Alas,  christians,  1  am  no  maiden  ; 
iny  soul  hath  been  defiled  with  false  xvorship  ;  howwondrous  is  the  free-grace 
nf  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  that  I  should  still  be  employed  among  the  maideiis 
of  wisdom  I 

Afterwai'ds,  upon  an  invitation  from  his  old  people  at  Ware,  to  return 
unto  them,  he  purposed  a  removal  with  his  family  back  to  England  ;  but 
when  he  came  to  Boston  in  order  thereunto,  the  overseers  of  Harvaid- 
Colledge  at  Cambridge,  which  now  wanted  a  President,  by  their  vehement 
importanity,  prevailed  with  him  to  accept  the  government  of  that  socie- 
ty ;  wherein  worthily  chusing  their  -way,  and  sitting  chief,  and  dwelling  as 
a  King  in  the  midst  of  his  army,  he  continued  unto  the  day  of  his  death. 
From  this  time  I  behold  him  as  another  Elijah,  shedding  his  benign  influ- 
ences on  the  school  of  the  prophets  ;  and  with  immense  labours  instructing, 
directing  and  feeding  the  hope  oftheflock  in  the  wilderness.  At  his  instal- 
ment, he  concluded  his  excellent  oration,  made  unto  a  venerable  assembly, 
then  tilling  the  Col'edge-Hall  with  such  a  passage  as  this,  unto  the  students 
there,  Doctiorem,  ccrte  Proesidtm,  S{  hide  Oneri  acStationi  muttis  Modis  Ap- 
iiorem,  v>his  facile  licet  Invenire  sed  Amanfiorem,  Sj-  vcsiri  Boni  Studioaio- 
rem,  non  Invcnietis.  And  certainly  he  was  as  good  as  his  word.  How 
learnedly  he  now  conveyed  all  the  liberal  arts  unto  those  that  sat  at  his 
feet;  how  2t77/?7i/ he  moderated  their  disputations,  and  other  exercises  ; 
how  constantly  he  expounded  the  scriptures  to  them  in  the  CoUtdge-Hall  ; 
hovf  jiiienihj  he  expressed  himself  uuto  them,  with  Latin  of  a  Terentian 
phrase,  in  all  his  discourses  ;  and  how  carefully  he  inspected  their  man- 
Tiers,  and  was  above  all  things  concerned  for  them,  that  they  might  an- 
swer a  note  which  he  gave  them  [When  you  arc  y"ur  selves  interesttd  in 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  his  righteousness,  yon  ivill  befit  to  he  teachers  of 
Others  :  Isaiah  cries.  Now  send  me  !  ichen  his  sins  icre  pardoned  :  but 
u;ithout  this,  yon  are  fit  for  nothing  :]  will  never  be  forgotten  b}'  jnaiiy  of 
our  most  xoorthxj  vii^n,  who  were  made  such  men,  by  their  education  under 
him  :  for  v.e  shall  find  as  many  of  his  disciples  in  our  catalogue  of  gradu- 
ates, as  there  were  in  th:\t  colledge  ofbelieier.'^,  nt  Jerusalem,  whereof  we 
read  in  the  fir.-.t  c'laptcr  of  the  .icts  of  the  Apostles.  But  if  there  were 
any  disadvantages  of  -.xn  h^isty  femper,  sometimes  in  his  conduct,  they  still 
were  presently  so  corrected  with  his  holy  temper,  that  this  did  but  invite 
persons  to  Ihiuk  the  more  of  that  Elias  to  whom  we  have  compared 
bim  ;  and  th(Mcfore,  as  they  were  forgotten  by  every  one,  in  the  ver}' 
day  of  them,  they  arc,  at  Uiis  day.  much  more  to  be  so  :  Mr.  Urian  Oakcs 


iSooK  III.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  423 

that  preached  his  funeral  sermon,  well  said,  The  mention  thereof  Tt'as  to 
he  wrapped  up  in  Elijah's  mantle.  But  if  the  uhole  country  were  sensi- 
ble of  the  blessing  which  all  J\'ezi:-Engla>id  eniojtd  in  our  Chuncey  now 
at  Cambridge ;  the  church  of  Cambridge.,  to  whom  he  now  joined,  and 
preached,  had  a  very  particular  cause  to  be  so.  And  so  indeed  they 
were  ;  by  the  sanae  token,  that  when  he  had  been  above  a  year  or  two 
in  the  town,  the  church  kept  a  whole  day  of  thanksgiving  to  God^ 
for  the  mercy,  which  they  enjoyed  in  his  being  there. 

§  8.  He  was  a  most  indefatigable  student,  which  with  the  blessing  of 
God,  rendered  him  a  most  incomparable  scholar.  He  rose  very  early, 
about  four  a  clock,  both  winter  and  summer ;  and  he  set  the  scholars  an 
example  of  diligence,  hardly  to  be  follovved.  But  Bene  Orasse,  est  Bene 
Studuisse  :  by  interweaving  of  constant  prayers  into  his  holy  studies,  he 
made  them  indeed  holy  ;  and  my  reader  shall  count,  if  he  pleases,  how 
oft  in  a  day  he  addressed  Heaven  with  solemn  devotions,  and  judge 
whether  it  might  not  be  said  of  our  Charles,  as  it  was  of  Charles  the  Great, 
(which  is  indeed  the  way  to  become  great)  Carolus  plus  cum  Deo,  quam 
cum  Hominibus  loquitur;  when  I  have  told,  that  at  his  first  getting  up  in 
a  morning,  he  commonly  spent  near  an  hour  in  secret  prayer,  before  his 
minding  any  other  matter  ;  then  visiting  the  colledge-hall,  he  expounded 
a  chapter,  (which  was  first  read  from  the  Hebrav)  of  the  Old  Testament, 
with  a  short  prayer  before,  and  a  long  one  after  his  exposition  :  he  then 
did  the  like  upon  another  chapter,  with  a prawr  before,  and  after,  in  his 
famil}'  :  about  eleven  a  clock  in  the  forenoon,  he  retired  again  about  three 
qtiarters  of  an  hour  for  secret  prayer.  At  four  a  clock  in  the  afternoon 
he  again  did  the  like.  In  the  evening  he  expounded  a  chapter,  (which 
was  first  read  into  the  Greek)  of  the  Nexs -Testament,  in  the  colledge  hall, 
with  a  prayer  in  like  manner  before  and  after  ;  the  like  he  did  also  in 
his  family  :  and  when  the  bell  rang  for  nine  at  night,  he  retired  for  an- 
other hour  of  secret  prayer  before  the  Lord.  But  on  the  Lord's  days 
morning,  instead  of  his  accustomed  exposition,  he  preached  a  sermon  up- 
on a  text,  for  about  three  quarters  of  an  hour,  in  the  colledge-hall.  Be- 
sides all  this,  he  often  set  apart  whole  days  for  prayer  with  fastirig  alone 
by  himself;  yea,  and  sometimes  he  spent  whole  nights  in  prayer,  before 
the  Heavenly  Father  mho  sees  in  secret.  Many  days  of  prayer  with  fast- 
ing, he  aliio  kept  with  his  religious  consort  :  and  many  such  days  he  also 
kept  with  his  family,  calling  in  the  company  and  assistance  of  three  or 
four  godly  neighbours  :  besides  what  he  did  more  publickly  among  the 
people  of  God.  Behold,  how  near  this  good  man  approached  unto  the 
strictest  and  highest  sense  of  praying  always. 

Chrysostom  tells  us,  that  Christ  and  Paid  commanded  us  to  make  our 
prayers,  Bpa}(^etcct  kui  7rvx.ycc?,  xai  e|  'aPiiyuv  ^'ixXe/.if^ura/v,  short  and  frequent, 
and  with  little  distances  between  thtm.  And  Cassianus  mentions  it,  as  the  uni- 
versal consent  of  ancients,  C/ti7iiis  cense/ji  Breves  Orationes,  sed  creberri- 
mas  fieri.  The  prayers  of  ouv  Chancey  were  such  for  their  fequency. 
whatever  they  might  be  semetimes  for  their  brevity.  Moreover,  'twas 
his  constant  practice,  not  only  on  the  Lord's  days  in  the  evenings,hut  ev- 
ery day,  morning  and  evening,  after  he  had  expounded  a  chapter,  to  ex- 
amine his  children  and  servants  with  some  fit  questions  thereupon.  On 
the  Lord's  days,  once  a  fortnight,  he  preached  publickly  in  the  fore- 
noons :  but  when  he  did  not  so,  he  had  the  morning  sermon  repeated  at 
noon,  and  the  afternoon  sermon  repeated  at  night,  and  both  the  sermon? 
repeated    once  mere  in  the  eveoing,   before   the  next  Lord's  day  ;  af^ 


424  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  lij 

vvhich  times  he  still  took  occasion  to  reinforce  the  more  notable  truths, 
occurring  in  the  sermons,  with  pertinent  applications  of  his  own. 

At  this  rate  this  eminent  person  ran  the  race  that  rcas  set  before  him  : 
and  though  one  would  have  thought,  that  so  laborious  a  race  must  have 
been  quickly  run,  yet  if  that  may  be  an  encouragement  unto  diligent  foU 
lozcers,  let  them  know  that  foxhrscore  years  of  age  dispatched  it  not  ;  he 
continued  -a  green  olive  tree  in  the  hojisc  of  God,  long  after  he  was  gray  head- 
ed fov  age  ;  and  in  his  old  age  he  did  not  leave  oft  to  bring  forth  fruit,  unto 
the  praise  of  God,  I  find  that  the  /aa'  of  redemption,  in  the  last  chapter  of 
Leviticus,  (in  Hos.  3.  2.  alluded  unto)  valued  a  man  above  sixty,  but  at 
fifteen  shekels  ;  whereas  a  man  between  tzccnty  and  sixty,  was  valued  at 
(an  homer  of  barley,  or)  no  less  ihun  fifty  shekels.  But  the  worth  of  our 
Chancey  at  eighty,  continued  much  what  as  it  was  when  he  was  under 
sixty  ;  and  he  was  a  person  of  great  loorth  and  use  untc  the  last.  Indeed 
it  was  his  laudable  ambition  to  be  so.  Whence,  after  age  had  enfeebled 
him,  the  fellows  of  the  colledge  once  leading  this  venerable  old  man, 
to  preach  a  sermon  in  a  winter-day,  they,  out  of  affection  unto  him.  to 
discourage  him  from  so  difficult  an  undertaking,  told  him,  Sir,  you'll  cer- 
tainly die  i7i  the  pulpit.  But  he  laying  hold  on  what  they  said,  as  if  they 
had  offered  him  the  greatest  encouragement  in  the  world,  pressed  the 
more  vigorously  through  the  snow-drift,  and  said,  How  glad  should  I  be, 
if  what  you  say  might  prove  true ! 

§  9.  He  kept  a  diary,  the  loss  of  which  I  cannot  but  mention  with 
regret ;  nevertheless  1  can  report  thus  much  of  it,  that  it  was  methodiz- 
ed under  the  heads  of  sins  and  mercies.  Under  the  head  of  sins,  he  took 
notice  of  his  failings,  as  if  he  had  spoken  a  passionate  word,  or  been 
dull  and  cold  in  his  duties,  and  the  like.  Under  the  head  of  mercies,  he 
took  notice  of  the  special  and  more  signal /aro?<rs,  which  Heaven  bestow- 
ed upon  him.  He  was  also  very  much  in  meditation,  and  in  that  one  im- 
portant kind  and  part  of  it  self-examination ;  especially  in  his  preparations 
for  the  Lord's  table.  From  his  diary  we  have  recovered  a  little  relating 
thereunto  ;  and  for  a  f.pecimen,  the  reader  shall  here  have  a  few  of  hi» 
notes,  which  he  entitled, 

'  SELF-TRIALS  BEFORE    THE   SACRAMENT. 

Trial   of  my  Part  in   Christ. 

1.  I  am  subject  to  the  commandment  of  believing  on  his  person. 

2.  I   rest  and  rely  upon  him  only  for  salvation. 

3.  I  resolve  by  God's  help,  to  leave  all  for  him. 

4.  All  my  hopes  are  in  him,  and  he  is  my  peace. 

5.  By  his  spirit  given  me. 

6.  That  I  walk  7iot  offer  the  flesh,  but  after  the  spirit. 

7.  By  many  tokens  of  his  love  to  me. 

Trials  of  my  Faith. 

1.  By  the  growth  of  it. 

2.  By  the  life  of  it. 

3.  By  the  fruits  of  it. 

Trial  of  my  Repentance. 

By  the  nature  of  it  :  that  is,  change  of  mind,  and  my  purpose  to  turn 
from  all  sin  to  God  ;  dying  daily  to  sin. 


Book  III.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  425 

Trial  of  my  Uprightriess  towards  God. 

1.  My  care  to  keep  his  cuiamandmenfs. 

2.  That  his  commandments  are  not  grievous  to   me. 

3.  Desire  of  union   with  him,  and   cleaving  to  hiia    with  full  purpose 
of  heart. 

Trial  of  my  Brotlierlij  love. 

1.  Not  to  suffer  sin  upon  any  one. 

2.  To  lore  all  the  saints  for  truth's  sake 

3.  Love  of  the  Godly  dead. 

By  reciting  those  qualifications  of  a  christian,  by  which  this  exem- 
plary christian  would  examine  himself,  I  have  described  how  exempla- 
rily  he  himself  was  qualified. 

§  10.  His  coftduci  of  himself  in  his  ministry  ("wherein  he  preached 
over  the  whole  Gospel  of  John,  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  the  three 
Epistles  of  John  and  largely  handled  the  doctrine  of  Self  denial,  Faith, 
Justification,  Adoption,  Sanctificntion,  and  many  other  occasional  subjects) 
will  be  most  exactly  apprehended  from  the  council  which  I  find  him 
writing  to  another  minister,  in  a  letter  dated  Dec.  20,  1665. 

"  In  your  ministerial  worTc  (saith  he)  let  me  give  you  a,  few  directions. 

'  1  Be  much  in  prayer  to  God  :  thereby  you  shall  find  more  succour  and 

*  success,  in  your  ministry,  than  by  all  your  study. 

•  2.  Preach  much  about  the  misery  of  the  state  of  nature,  the  prepar- 
'  atives  to  conversion  ;  the  nature  of  conversion,  or  e^ectual  calling ;  the 
'  necessity    of  union  and  communion  with    Christ  j    the   nature   of  sav- 

*  ing  and  justifying/az<A,aad  the  fruits  thereof  love  and  good  woi-ks,  and 
'  sanctifcation. 

'  3.  Eexplain  the  words  of  your  text  clearly  ;  bring  clear  proof  of 
'  parallel  scriptures  ;  let  your  reasons  be  scripture-reasons  ;  but  be  most 
'  in  application;  which  is  spent  in  five  uses,  refutaiion  of  error,  infor- 
'  mation  of  the  truth,  correction  of  manners,  exhortation  and  instruction 
'in  righteousness.  All  which  you  find  in  2  Ttm.  iii.  16,  17.  And 
'  there  is  a  fifth  use,  viz.  of  comfort,  1   Cor.  xiv.  3. 

'  4.  Preach  not  high  notions.  B.eo.d  A  me  s^  Medulla  ;  and  the  expli- 
'  cation  of  1  Cor.  ii.  1,2  Neither  use  any  dark  Latin  u^ords,  or  any 
'  derived  thence,  which  poo/people  can't   understand,   without  explain- 

*  ing  of  them,  so  that  the  poorest  and  simplest   people  may  understand 
'all. 

'  5.  I  advise  you  being  once  in  office  to  catechise  every  Lord's  day  in 
'  the  afternoon,  so  as  to  go  through  the  ctlechise  once  in  a  year. 

'  Finally,  be  very  careful  of  scripUiral  rules  to  God's  ministers,  'O/i^a- 
'  ftfTv  Tav   Xayoi.  opSovechlv     xxt  sv  iFpoa-crivp^cct?  tsrpoa-x.ecpJtpsT}! 

Thus  d(d  he  advise,  without  occa:^lon  lo  /nr;ke  confession  of  the  poet, 
which  of  all  is  the  most  unhappy  for  the  preacher. 

Monitis  sum,  minor  ipse  meiis. 


He  was,  indeed,  an  exceeding  plain  preacher,  frequently  saying,  Artn 
Vol.  I.  F>'\ 


426  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  HI 

est  Cdarc  Artcm;  and  yet  a  more  learned,  and  a  more  lirehj  preacher 
has  rarely  been  heard.  He  would  theretore  mention  it,  as  a  ptous  and 
prudent  complaint  of  Reverend  Mr.  DoJ,  That  too  many  ministers  deal 
like  xinskitful  archers  ;  tliey  shoot  over  the  heads,  and  much  more  over  the 
hearts  of  their  hearers,  and  miss  their  mark,  ii:hile  they  soar  so  high  by  hand- 
ling deep  points  ;  or  by  usms:  of  obscure  and  dark  expressions,  or  phrases, 
in  their  preaching.  But  ior  the  preaching  of  our  Chancey,  the  same  ac- 
count may  be  given  of  it,  that  Photius,  gives  about  the  preaching  of  Mian- 
osius :  III  Servionibiis  nhique  in  Locutione  Clams  est,  4*  Brevis,  4"  Simplex, 
Acutus  tamcn  ^  jiltus.  4*  Argumentationibus,  omnia  veheinens ,  fyinhis  Tan- 
ta  Libertas,  ut  Admirablis  sit. 

§  II.  In  the  colledge  whereof  he  was  president,  he  did  the  part,  Tk 
<PiXxv6fe}7rn  x,xt  <ptXe6iii  "^xi^ivla.  An  instructor  inspired  rvith  the  love  of  God ^ 
and  itie  love  of  souls.  But  if  the  reader  expect  any  further  account  of 
this  reverend  man,  what  he  ra:as,  what  he  thought,  and  what  he  preached, 
.let  him  give  himself  the  edifying  pleasure  of  reading  what  he  printed. 
But  of  his  printed  composures,  the  more  considerable  were  his. twenty- 
six  sermons  m^oxi  justification,  published  in  the  year  1659.  On  the  mo- 
tive which  he  mentioned  in  the  preface  thereunto.  My  particular  em- 
ployment (saith  he)  wherein  I  hope,  that  my  desire  is  to  serve  the  Lord  in 
truth,  and  to  seek  the  great  benefi  of  youth  and  students,  who  are  to  be  train- 
ed up,  'Ev  vbieTict  r«  Kvpi\5,  that  is,  in  the  doctrine  of  the  Lord,  that  may 
put  a  right  understanding  into  them,  hath  moved  me  to  represent  this  doc- 
trine of  justi^c^tion  as  a  standard  of  truth  and  salvation  to  them;  which 
they  shoidd  holdfast,  and  as  the  Lord  shall  call  them  thereunto  hold  forth, 
in  their  generations.  It  had  been  an  usual  thing  with  him,  solemnly  to 
caution  scholars  against  thos^  doctrines,  which  exalt  man,  and  debase  Christ : 
and  he  thought  particularly  with  Lvther,  Amisso  Articulo  justijicationis ,  4' 
amissa  est  simid  tola  Doctrina  Christiana. 

And  agreeably  to  that  caution,  we  have  him,  in  this  his  most  judicious 
treatise,  maintaining, 

'  That  justification  is  a  judicial  proceeding,  wherein  the  sentence  of 
'  God  absolves,  and  ucgiiits  the  sinner  from  the  guilt  of  sin,  and  accepts 
'  him  as  n  just  person,  unto  eternal  life. 

'  That  the_;usi(^ca(io7j  of  a  sinner  before  God,  in  the  dec7-eeo{"it,  in  the 
'  purchase  of  it,  and  in  the  application  ot  it,  is  to  be  ascribed  unto  the/rt 

*  grace  of  God,  and  yet  there  is  also  a  glorious  concurrence  of  strict  jus- 
'  tice  thereunto. 

'  That  the  Son  of  God  condescending  to  be  the  surety  of  his  chosen,  took 
'  their  debt  upon  himself,  and  by  suffering  ihe  fidl punishment  which  was 
'  due  for  their  sins,  made  that  satisfaction  unto  the  justice  of  God,  where- 
'  upon  we  receive  the  remission  of  sitis,  which  without  such  a  satisfaction 
'  had  been  imposj^ible. 

'  That  none  of  the  affiictiovs  which  befal  the  faithful,  are  proper  pun- 

*  ishments  for  sin,  but  the  corrective  dispeniions  of  a  careful  father,  and 
'  the  soAiahue  dispensations  of  a  prudent /ie(/Zer. 

'  That  yet  vnp.ny  godly  men  smart  for  their  boldness  in  sin  :  and  whea 
'  Paul  writing  to  sairits,  tells  them.  If  you  live  after  thcflesh,  you  shall  die. : 

*  he  speaks  not  only  of  temporal,  hut  of  eternal  death:  for  though  'tis  not 
'  possible  for  s/iints  to  die  eternally,  'tis  as  possible  for  them  to  die  eter- 
'  nally,  as  to  sin  eternally. 

'  That  we  are  not  justified  by  faith,  as  it  is  a  work  in  us,  nor  is  our  ad 
■  of  believing,  any  part  of  the  matter  of  that  righteousness,  wherein  we 
'  sttmd  righieottn  before  God.     Bnt  faith  does  only  justilie  us  relatively^ 


Book  III.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  42-7 

or  as  it  has  reference  to  its  object  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  his  righte- 

*  ojixness,  or  as  it  receives  the  mercy  of  God  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  ; 
'  or  as  the  beggar's  hand  receiving  a  bag  of  gold  enricheth  him  ;  it  is  but  a 
'  passi'^e  instrument  ;  and  the  words  of  James,  That  a  man  is  justified  by 
'  ri'orks,  and  not  by  faith  alone  ;  do  not  oppose  the  other  words  ot  Paul, 
'  but  only  assert,  that  ?i  justifying  fnith,  is  in  this  opposed  unto  a  false  and 

*  a  dead  faith,  it  will  certainly  be  eifectual  to  produce  good  -jsorks  in  the 
'  believer. 

'  That  believers,  notwithstanding  the  /"org^newess  of  their  sins,  ought 
'  often  to  renew  all  the  the  expressions  of  repentance  for  their  sins,  and 
'  still  to  be  fervent  ami  instant   in  prayer  lor  pardon  ;  inasmuch  as  we 

*  have  need  of  having  remission  afresh  applied  unto  us  ;  and  we  alsu 
■  need  the  joijs  and  fruits  of  our  pardon,  and  the  grace  to  make  a  right 
'  use  thereof. 

'  That  the  whole  obedience  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  both  active  and 
'  passive,  belongs  to  that  perfect  righteousness  which  is  required  in  order 

*  to  justification  ;  and  this  righteous7iess  of  God  '\s  conveyed  unto  believers, 

*  by  way  of  imputation  :  it  is  reckoned  and  accounted  theirs,  upon  their 

*  apprehending  of  it  ;  which  imputation  is  a  gracious  act  of  God  the  Fa- 
'  ther,  whereby  as  a  judge,  he  accounts  the  sins  of  the  believer  unto  the 
'  surety,  as  if  he  had  committed  the  same,  and  the  righteousness  of  the 

*  Lord  Jesus  Christ  unto  the  believer,  as  if  he  had  performed  that  obedi- 
'  ence. 

'  That  Siill  it  follows  not,  that  every  believer  is  a  Redeemer,  and  Savioi'r 
'  of  others,  as  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  himself  is  ;  it  is  the  righ  teous^nes 
'  of  the  surety,  and  not  the  suretiship  it  self,  that  is  imputed  unto  the  be- 
"  liever  :  the  suretiship  is  proper  unto  our  Lord,  and  because  the  ver- 
'  tue  which  is  in  the  head,  is  communicated  unto  the  members,  'tis  frivo- 
'  Ups  thence  to  urgue,  that  every  member  is  thereby  made  an  head,  and 
nns  the  influence  of  our  head  upon  the  rest. 

'  That  as  Ada.m  was  the  coimiun  root  of  all  mankind,  and  so  his  first  si/i, 
is  imputed  unto   all  his  posterity  ;  thus   our  Lord  Jesus   Christ  is  the 
common  root  of  all  the  faithful,  and  his  obedience  is  imputed  unto  them 
'  ail.' 

This  was  the  old  faith  of  JVeTi;- England,  about  that  most  important  ar- 
ticle of  justification  ;  an  article  wherein  all  the  duties  and  comforts  of 
our  holy  religion  are,  more  than  a  little  concerned.  And  I  thought  1 
could  not  mak^a  fitter  present  unto  the  sons  of  my  mother,  than  by  thus 
laying  before  trre  scholars  of  Harvard-Colledge,  an  abstract  of  what  the 
venerable  old  Presuignt  of  that  colledge  left  as  a  legacy  unto  them. 

All  that  I  shall  add  upon  it,  is,  that  as  'tis  the  observation  of  our  Dr. 
Owen,  in  his  most  judicious  book  of  justification  :  I  am  not  satisfied  that 
uny  of  those,  zvho  at  present  oppose  this  doctrine,  do  in  holiness  and  righte- 
ousness, and  the  exercise  of  all  christian  graces,  surpass  those  n^ho  in  the  last 
ages,  both  in  this  and  other  nations,  firmly  adhered  unto  it,  and  who  con- 
stantly testified  unto  that  effectual  influence,  which  it  had  irito  their  walking 
before  God  ;  nor  do  I  knoxo  that  any  can,  he  named  amongst  us  in  the  form- 
er ages,  who  were  eminent  in  holiness,  and  many  such  there  were,  who  did 
not  cordially  assent  unto  that,  which  loe  plead  for.  And  it  doth  not  yet  ap- 
pear in  general,  that  an  attempt  to  introduce  a  doctrine  contrary  unto  it,  has 
had  any  great  success  in  the  reformation  of  the  lives  of  men.  So  our  holy 
Chancey  was  an  eminent  instance  to  confirm  something  of  this  observa- 
tioa*^  Albeit  he  were  so  elaborately  solicitous  to  exclude  good  works 
from  any  share  in  the  antecedent  condition  of  our  justification  ;  yet  there 


438  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  HI. 

Avere  few  men  in  the  world,  who  more  practically  and  accurately  ac- 
knowledged the  necessity  oi  £;ood  works  in  all  the  justitied  :  and  so  afraid 
was  he  of  defiling  his  own  soul,  and  of  distur'oing  his  own  peace,  by  the 
admission  of  any  known  sin,  thattiiough  he  made  so  many  stated  suppli- 
cations every  day,  yet  if  he  had  fillen  into  any  misbecoming  passion,  or 
any  sensible  distemper,  or  disorder  of  heart  in  the  day.  it  occasioned  his 
ioimediate  retirement,  for  another  prayer  extraordinary  before  the  Lord. 
§  11.  I  remember,  that  upon  the  ailicle  ia  the  praises  of  a  good  man, 
[Psal.  i.  3,]  Hbbrmgs forth  his  fruit  in  his  season,  there  is  a  notable  gloss 
oi  Jiben  Ezra,  to  this  purpose  ;  Anima  Ratiinalis  plena  Sapienlice,  in  Tem- 
pore Scnedutis  opporlunt),  Hei,aratnr  a  Corpnre,  siait  Frvctus  ah  Aihore,  8f 
nun  moritur  ante  Diem.  Huch  a  tree  was  our  Chanreij,  and  such  was  his 
fate.  This  eminent  suhlier  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  after  he  was  come 
to  be  fourscore  years  of  age,  continued  still  to  endure  hardness  as  a  good 
soldier  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  and  still  professed,  with  the  aged  Poly- 
carp,  That  he  zvas  not  rvilling  to  leave  the  service  of  the  Lord,  that  had 
more  than  fourscore  years  been  a  good  tnaster  to  him.  When  his  friends 
pressed  him  to  remit  and  abate  his  vast  labours,  he  would  reply,  Oportct 
Imperatorem.  Stantem  mori ;  according  he  stood  beyond  expectation,  direct- 
ing in  the  learned  cawp,  where  he  had  been  a  co?mnaw(/er.  At  length 
on  the  commencement  in  the  year  lG71,he  made  a.  furewel  oration, 
wherein  he  took  a  solenm  farewel  of  his  friends,  and  then  sent  for  his 
children,  upon  whom  he  bestowed  a  solemn  blessing,  with  fervent  prayers, 
commending  them  to  the  grace  of  God.  So  like  aged  R.  Simeon,  once 
('tis  by  some  thought)  the  president  of  a  college  at  Jerusalem,  he  kept 
waiting  and  longing  for  his  call,  to  depart  in  peace!  Accordingly  the 
<??idof  this  year  proved  the  end  of  his  days  :  when  illness  growing  upon 
him,  the  reverend  Mr.  Urian  Oakes,  after  his  requested  supplications, 
asked  him  to  give  a  sign  of  his  hopeful  and  joyful  assurances,  if  he^||et 
had  them,  of  his  entering  into  eternal  glory  ;  whereat  the  speechless^W 
man  lifted  up  his  hands,  as  high  towards  Heaven,  as  he  could  lift  them, 
and  so  his  renewed  and  ripened  soul  llew  thither  Feb.  19,  1671,  in  tiie 
eighty-second  year  of  his  age,  and  the  seventeenth  year  of  b.is  president- 
.ship,  over  Harvard-CoUedge.  He  left  behind  him  no  less  than  six  sons  : 
every  of  which  had  received  the  laurels  o{  degrees,  in  the  colledge  ;  and 
some  of  them  from  the  hand  of  their  aged  father.  Their  names  were 
Isaac, Ichahod,  Barnabas,  JVaihanael  and  Elnathan,  (which  two  were  tw-ins) 
and  Israel.  All  of  these  did,  while  they  had  opportunit}',  preach  the 
gospel  ;  and  most,  if  not  all  of  them,  like  their  excelldfr.  father  before 
them,  had  an  eminent  skill  in  physick  added  unto  .their  other  accomplish- 
ments ;  which  like  him,  they  used  for  the  good  of  many  ;  as  indeed  it  is 
well  known,  that  until  two  hundred  years  ago,  physick  in  England,  was 
no  profession  distinct  from  divinity  ;  and  accordingly  princes  had  the  same 
persons  to  be  their  physicians  and  their  confessors.  But  only  two  of  them 
are  now  living  ;  the  ;?rsi  and  the  last :  the  one  in  England,  the  other  in 
NexiJ-KngUrad  ;  Isaac  now  a  pastor  of  a  church  in  London,  and  an  author 
of  several  well  known  treatises  :  hruel  now  a  pastor  of  a  church  in  our 
Stratford,  where  he  is  at  this  day  a  rich  blessing  to  the  colony  of  Connec- 
ticut. The  happj'  mother  of  these  worthy  sons,  was  Catharine  the  daugh- 
ter o( Robert  Eyre,  Esq.  who  dying  a  little  before  her  consort,  had  her 
holy  life  quickly  after  published  ;  namely,  by  the  publication  of  the  di- 
rections for  an  holy  life,  which  her  pious  father  left  as  a  legacy  for  his 
childi-en  :  directions,  whereof  I  shall  say  hut  this,  that  as  they  express  the 
true  spirit  of  Furitanism,  so  they  comprise  the  wisest,  the  fruitfuUest, 


Book  III.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  429 

the  exactest  and  the  holiest  rules  of  living,  that  ever  1  saw  together  in  any 
<short  human  composure  :  and  the  reprinting  of  them  vvouhJ  not  only  give 
a  description  of  the  heavenly  conversation  endeavoured  by  our  great 
Charles  Chancey,  whom  we  have  hitherto  been  considering,  but  also  pro- 
cure the  admiration,  if  not  imitation  of  them  that  read  it 

§  12.  New- England  h^wng  enjoyed  such  ^privilege,  and  such  wpresi- 
ilent  as  our  Chancey,  governing  a  college,  1  will  conclude  this  account 
thereof  with  certain  passages  which  this  reverend  man  published  in  a 
sermon,  on  Amos  ii.  11,  /  raised  up  of  your  sons  for  prophets,  and  of  your 
young  men  for  Nazarites,  preached  at  Cambridge  the  day  after  one  ofthe 
commencements. 

'  God  hath  wonderfully  erected  schools  of  learning,  and  means  of  edu- 
'  cation  for  our  children,  that  there  might  be  continually  some  comforta- 
'  ble  supply  and  succession  in  the  ministry.  Is  it  not  so,  0  ye  people  of 
'  God  in  New-England  !  But  then  let  me  testify  against  you  in  the  Lord's 
'  name,  for  great  unthankfulness  to  the  Lord,  for  so  great  a  mercy.  The 
'  great  blessing  of  a  painful  ministry  is  not  regarded  by  covetous  earth 
'  worms ;  neither  do  the  schools  of  learning,  that  afford  oyl  to  the  lamps, 
'  come  into  their  thoughts,  to  praise  the  Lord  for  them.  Or,  some  little 
'  good  they  apprehend  in  it,  to  have  a  minister  to  spend  the  sabbath,  and 
'  to  baptize  their  children,  and  schools  to  teach  their  children,  and  keep 
'  them  out  of  harm's  way,  or  teach  them  to  write  and  read,  and  cast  ac- 
'  counts  ;  but  they  despise  the  angers  bread,  and  count  it  light  stuj^',  in 

*  comparison  of  other  things,  yea,  there  be  many  in  the  country,  that  ac- 
'  count  it  their  happiness  to  live  in  the  wast  howling  wilderness,  without 
'  any  ministry  OT  schools,  and //ifarjs  of  education  for  their  posterity  ;  they 
'  have  much  liberty,  they  think  by  this  want.  Surely  their  practice  about 
'  their  children,  is  little  better  than  the  merciless  and  unnatural  profiine- 
'  ness  of  the  Israelites,  that  sacrificed  their  sons  and  their  daughters  unto 
'  devils  I  And  many  make  wicked  returns  of  these  blessings,  and  fearfully 

*  abuse  them,  and  seek  what  they  can,  to  weary  out  ministers,  and  pull 

*  down  schools  of  learning,  or  which  is  all  one,  deny  or  withold  mainten- 

*  ance  from  them  ;  as  good  as  to  say.  Rase  them,  rase  them  to  thefonnda- 
^  tions  !  But  how  exceeding  hateful  unto  the  Lord,  is  this  unthankful- 
'  ness  ?  Do  yon  thus  requite  the  Lord,  ye  foolish  people  and  unzvise  ? 

'  But  then  let  scholars  mainly  intend,  labour,  and  study,  for  this  ;  to  be 
'  prophets  and  Nazaritcs  :  and  therefore  let  speaking  to  edification,  exkor- 
'  tation,  and  comfort  be  aimed  at  in  all  your  studies  :  and  behave  your 
'  selves  as  being  set  apart  in  peculiar  manner  for  the  Lord.  To  use  the 
'  vessels  of  the  temple,  to  quaff  and  carouse  in,  was  a  Babylonish  practice. 
'  You  should  have  less  to  do  with  the  world,  and  worldly  delights,  and  be 
'less  cumbred  thsn  others  with  the  affairs  of  this  life.' 

All  that  we  will  add  of  this  good  old  man,  shall  be  the  epitaph,  wliirh 
is  now  to  be  read  on  his  tomb-stone  in  Cambridge . 

Conditum 

hie  est  Corpus, 

Caroli  Chauncei, 

S.  S.    Theologife  Baccalaur. 

ET 

Collegii  Harvardini  Nov-Angl. 

PerXVII.  Annorum  Spacium, 

Frs^sidis  Vjgilantissimi. 


J30  THE  HI8T0RY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  |^ook  lit 

Viri  Plane  lnteg;errimi, 

Concionatons  Eximii, 

Pietatc 

Pariter  ac  Liberali  Euriditione 

Ornatissimi. 

Qui  Obiit  in  Domino,  Feb.  XIX. 
,\n.  Dom.     M.DC.LXX.l. 

Et  Stasis  suas,  LXXX.  11. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

Luoas.     The  Lirt;  of  Mr.  John  Fisk. 

§  1.  Among  the  most  famous  preachers  and  ■writ-rs  of  the  gospel,  with 
which  the  primitive  church  was  blessed,  there  was  Luke,  the  beijved phy- 
sician; of  whom  Jerom  elei^antly  says,  Quomudo  Apostoii  de  Piscutoribus 
piscixun^  Piscatores  Hoininumfacii  sunt^ita  de  Medico  Corportitn  in  JMedi- 
cusn  Versis  est  Animarum  ;  cvj us  Liber  quotiescufiq;  legitur  in  Ecclesiis^  to- 
ties  Jt'Jedicina  non  cessat :  that  blessed  scholar  and  collegue  of  the  Apos- 
tle Paid,  vvlio  (as  Jerom  also  tells  us)  according  to  the  opinion  of  some, 
intends  the  volume  which  had  been  penned  by  this  Luke,  as  often  as  he 
uses  tliat  expression  in  his  epistles,  according  to  my  gospel. 

And  among  the  tii  st  preachers  and  writers,  which  rendered  the  primi- 
itive  times  of  A'tti'  England  hap|ij',  there  was  one  who  might  likewise  be 
caUed,  a  beloved  physician  ;  one  to  whom  there  might  also  be  given  the 
eulogy,  which  the  ancients  think  was  given  to  Luke,  a  brother  whose  praise 
was  in  the  gospel,  thruughout  all  churches. 

This  \vas  Mr.  John  Fisk 

§  2.  Mr.  John  Fisk  was  born  in  the  parish  o^  St.  James,  (called  for  dis- 
tinction, 07ie  of  the  nine  parishes)  in  the  county  oi' Svjfolk,  about  the  year 
1601 ,  of  pious  and  worthy  parents,  yea,  of  grand  jiaren.'s,  wnd  great  grand- 
parents, ennnent  for  zeal  in  the  true  religion.  There  were  six  brothers 
in  the  infamous  reign  of  Q,ucen  .Mary,  whereof  three  were  Papists,  and 
three  were  Protestants,  I  may  say,  Puritans  ;  and  of  the  latter  (whereof 
none  were  owned  by  thuj'onner)  two  viere  sorely  persecuted.  For  one 
of  these  brethren,  the  piirsovant,  having  a  kindness,  gave  him  a  private 
and  previous  notice  of  [sis  coming  with  an  order  to  seize  him  ;  whereup- 
on the  good  man,  lii'st  chilled  his  family  to  prayer,  hastned  away  to  hide 
himself  in  a  ditch,  with  his  i^odly  tvife,  which  had  a  sucking  child  at  her 
breast.  The  pursevant  being  near  at  hand,  a  thorn  in  the  hedge  gave 
such  a  mark  to  the  child's  face,  as  never  went  out ;  whereat  the  child 
beginning  to  roar,  the  mother  presently  clapt  it  to  the  breast,  whereby  it 
was  quieted  at  once,  and  there  was  no  discovery  then,  or  after,  made  of 
these  confessors.  Another  of  these  brethren,  from  whom  our  Fisk  was 
descended,  was  then  (to  avoid  burning)  hid  many  months  in  a  rcood-pilc  : 
and  afterwards,  for  half  a  year  in  a  cellar,  where  he  diligently  employed 
himself  in  profitable  manufactures,  by  candle  light,  after  such  a  manner 
as   to  remain  likewise  nndiscovered  :,  but  his  many  hardships  broughfi 


Book.  III.]  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  431 

that  excessive  bleeding  upon  him,  that  shortntd  his  days,  and  added  untc 
the  cry  of  the  soids  under  the  altar. 

§  3.  Our  John  was  the  eldest  o(fnur  children,  all  of  wliotn  afterwards 
came  to  J\''€w-Engta7id  with  him,  and  left  a  posterity,  with  whom  God  es- 
tablished his  holy  covenant.  His  parents  having  devoted  him  unto  the 
service  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Chri.  t,  they  sent  him  hrst  unto  a  grammar- 
school,  two  miles  from  the  place  of  their  abode,  whitner  his  diligent  soul 
was  instead  of  '<£ings,  every  day  to  carry  him.  His  education  at  the 
school,  naving  fitted  him  for  the  university,  he  went  unto  Cambridge,  where 
he  was  admitted,  into  (as  I  think)  Immanuel  College,  in  which  lie  resided, 
until  he  became  h  graduate.  Some  lime  after  this,  being  both  by  art  and 
by  heart,  well  prepared  for  it,  he  applied  himself  unto  the  worli  to  which 
he  had  been  devoted  ;  namely,  the  preaching  of  the  gospel ;  but  the  si- 
lencers grew  so  hard  upon  him  for  his  non-conformity,  that  upon  the  ad- 
vice of  his  friends,  he  set  himself  to  study  physick,  and  upon  a  thorough 
examination,  he  obtained  a  licence  for  public  practice.  When  he  was 
about  eight  and  twenty  years  of  age,  he  married  a  vertuous  young  gen- 
tlewoman ;  several  hundreds  of  pounds  of  whose  patrimony  were  deni- 
ed her  upon  the  displeasure  of  her  father,  at  her  coming  to  JS'ezv-Eng- 
Jand. 

But  upon  the  death  of  his  father,  who  had  committed  unto  him  the  care 
of  his  mother  and  his  two  sisters,  and  his  youngest  brother,  he  thought 
it  his  duty  to  remove  into  New-England,  where  he  saw  an  opportunity 
of  returning  unto  the  quiet  exercise  of  his  ministry.  He,  and  that  ex- 
cellent man  Mr.  John  Allin,  came  aboard  in  a  disguise,  to  avoid  the  fury 
of  their  persecutors  ;  but  after  they  were  past  the  Lands-End,  they  en- 
tertained the  passengers  with  two  sermons  every  day,  besides  other  agree- 
able devotions,  which  filled  the  voyage  with  so  much  oi religion,  that 
one  of  the  passengers  being  examined  about  his  going  to  divert  himself 
with  an  hook  and  line,  on  the  Lord's-day,  he  protested,  that  he  did  not 
know  when  the  Lord's  day  was ;  he  thought  every  day  was  a  sabbath  day; 
for,  he  said,  they  did  nothing  but  pray  and  preach  all  the  n-eek  long. 

§  4.  Mr.  Fisk  arrived  at  jYew- England  in  the  year  1637,  having  had 
nothing  to  render  the  voyage  uncomfortable,  but  only  that  hia  aged 
mother  died  quickly  after  he  came  aboard,  and  his  only  infant  quickly 
after  he  came  ashore.  He  came  well  stocked  with  servants,  and  all 
sorts  of  tools  for  husbandry  and  carpentry,  and  with  provisions  to  support 
his  family  in  a  wilderness  for  three  years  together;  out  of  which,  he 
charitably  lent  a  considerable  quantity  to  the  country,  which  he  then 
found  in  the  distresses  of  a  war  with  the  Pequot  Indians.  He  now  so- 
journed about  three  years  at  Salem,  where  he  was  both  a  preacher  to 
the  church,  and  a  tutor  unto  divers  young  scholars  (whereof  the  well- 
known  Sir  George  Dowrdng  was  one)  as  he  was  afterwards  unto  his  own 
children,  when  the  want  of  grammar-schools  at  hand  made  it  necessary. 
From  thence  he  removed  unto  a  place  adjoining  thereunto,  which  is  now 
called  Wenham:  where  on  October  8,  1644,  a  church  was  gathered,  of 
which  he  continued  the  pastor,  in  that  place,  for  more  than  twice  seven 
years  :  contented  with  a  very  mean  salary,  and  consuming  bis  own  fair 
estate  for  the  welfare  of  the  new  plantation. 

§  6.  About  the  year  1656,  he  removed,  with  the  major  part  of  his 
church  to  another  new  town,  called  Chelmsford ;  and  there  he  spent  the 
remainder  of  his  days.  Of  the  afflictions  which  now  disciplined  him,  one 
of  the  saddest  was  the  loss  of  his  concordance ;  I  mean,  of  his  godly  and 
worthy  censort^  who  by  her  incomparable  expertness  in  the  scriptures.. 


432  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  III. 

had  rendred  any  other  concordance  of  the  Bible  useless  unto  his  library. 
This  vertaous  -vi'oman  lost  her  sight  for  some  years  before  she  died  ;  un- 
der which  disaster  a  most  exemplary  patience  was  produced  in  her,  by 
her  view  of,  the  Ihings  rchich  are  not  seen  and  are  eternal  :  and  at  length, 
after  many  admonitions  unto  her  friends  to  improve  their  sj"g-/iY  well  whilst 
they  had  it,  she  had  on  February  14,  1671,  her  eyes  opened,  by  their  be- 
ing closed  ;  and  was  by  death  carried  from  faith  unto  immediate  and  ever- 
lasting sight:  after  which  he  married  again. 

§  6.  Twenty  years  did  he  shine  in  the  golden  candlestick  of  Chelmsford  ; 
a  plain,  but  an  able,  painful,  and  useful  preacher  of  the  gospel  ;  rarely, 
if  ever,  by  sickness  hindred  from  the  exercise  of  his  ministry.  As  Mar- 
cilius  Ficinus  having  written  one  book,  De  Sanitate  Tvenda.  and  another 
book,  De  Faletudine  Restituenda,  concluded  his  course  with  writing  his 
book,  De  Vita  Ccelitus  Coinparanda :  thus,  our  Mr.  Fisk,  now  superseded 
his  care  and  skill  of  dispensing  medicines  for  the  body,  by  doing  it  for  the 
sowL  But  although  he  did  in  his  ministry,  go  through  an  exposition  of 
almost  all  the  scripture  in  both  Testaments,  and  unto  his  Lord's  day  ser- 
mons, added  a  monthly  lecture  on  the  ueek-day,  besides  his  discourses  at 
the  private  meetings  of  the  faithful,  and  his  exact  and  faithful  cares  to  keep 
up  church-discipline,  yet  none  of  his  labours  were  more  considerable 
than  his  catechetical.  It  is  by  the  excellent  Owen  excellently  well  ob- 
served. That  unless  a  man  has  some  gi>od  satisfaction  concerning  the  spirit- 
ual condition  of  those  that  are  committed  unto  his  charge,  he  can  never  ap- 
prove himself  among  them,  a  workman  that  needeth  not  to  be  ashamed, 
rightly  dividing;  the  word  of  truth  :  and  the  work  of  the  mi7ustry  is  not  by 
any  means  more  evacuated,  and  rendered  ineffectual^  than  when  men  have 
not  a  certain  design  to  deal  with  their  hearers  according  to  what  they  arc 
pernvnded,  that  their  spiritual  estate  doth  require.  Our  Fisk  therefore, 
did  by  most  laborious  catechising,  endeavour  to  know  the  state  of  his  flock, 
and  make  it  good  :  and  hence,  although  he  did  himself  compose  and  pub- 
lish a  most  useful  catechism,  which  he  entituled.  The  Olive  Plant  watered  ; 
yet  he  chose  the  assembly's  catechism  for  his  publick  expositions,  wherewith 
he  twice  went  over  it,  in  discourses  before  his  afternoon-sermons  on  the 
sabbath. 

§  7.  Towards  the  end  of  his  life,  be  began  to  labour  especially  under 
two  maladies,  either  of  which  were  enough  to  try  the  most  consummate 
patience  of  any  man  living  ;  these  were,  first  the  stone,  and  then  the  gout ; 
which  at  last  were  followed  with  convulsions,  that  brought  his  laborious 
life  unto  an  end  ;  and  gave  him  the  experience  of  Streitbergerus''  motto. 
Qui  non  est  Crucianus  nan  est  Christianus.  Ifea,  for  a  complication  of 
maladies,  his  condition  became  not  unlike  the  blessed  Calvin  s,  of  whom 
the  historian  relates.  That  he  was  troubled  with  as  many  infirmities,  as 
in  different  subjects  might  have  supplied  an  hospital. 

On  the  second  Lord's  day  of  his  continement  by  illness,  after  he  had 
been  many  Lord's  days  carried  unto  the  church  in  a  chair,  and  preached, 
as  in  the  primitive  times  they  still  treated,  sitting,  he  was  taken  with  con- 
vidsions,  which  renewed  so  fast  upon  him,  that  within  a  few  days  he  did, 
on  January  14,  167G,  see  a  rest  from  his  labours:  having  first  after  this 
manner  blessed  his  four  children,  two  sons  and  two  daughters,  who  were 
by  his  bed-side  waiting  for  his  blessing  :  You  are  as  a  shock  of  corn  bound 
up,  or  as  twins  made  beautiful  by  the  covenant  of  grace.  You  have  an  in- 
terest in  the  sure  mercies  of  David  ;  those  you  have  to  live  upon.  Study  to 
emulate  one  another  ;  but  in  the  best,  in  the  best.  Provoke  one  another  to 
love.     The   God  of  your  forefathers  hle?s  you  all.     And  added  unto  his 


boon  III.J         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  43:^ 

younger  son,  the  present  worthy  pastor  of  Braintree,  concerning  his 
wife  and  his  two  children,  then  absent,  The  God  of  Abrahairi.  Isaac,  and 
Jacob,  bless  you,  and  your  posterity  after  you, 

y^e  will  DOW  leave  him  uttering  the  words  of  Welnrichius,  in  his 

EPITAPH. 

Vixi.  >S'  qucni  dederas  cursum  milii.  Chrisite,  per  eg  i  : 
Petcesus  Vita,  suaviter  optoinori. 


CHAPTEPv  XXV. 
Scholasticus.  The  Life  of  Mr.   Thomas  Parker. 

§  1.  It  may  without  any  ungrateful  comparisotis  be  asserted,  that  one 
wf  the  greatest  scholars  in  the  Eitglisk  nation,  was  that  renowned  Robert 
Parker,  who  was  driven  out  of  the  nation  for  his  non  conformity  to  its 
unhappy  ceremonies  in  the  worship  of  God.  It  was  the  honour  of 
that  great  man,  to  be  the  /rt//ifir  of  such  learned  books,  as  that  of  his 
De  Politia  Ecclesiadica,  and  that  Of  the  Cross  ;  as  well  a.?  fostor  father  to 
that  of  Sandford^s  De  Discetis^i  Christi  ad  Inferos;  yea,  to  be  in  some  sort 
the  father  of  all  the  non-conformists,  in  our  age,  who  yet  would  not  call 
any  man  their /ai/ier.  But  let  it  not  be  counted  any  dishonour  unto  him, 
that  he  was  also  the  natural  father  of  our  Thomas  Parker. 

§  2.  This  Mr,  Thomas  Parker  was  the  only  son  of  his  father,  who 
being  very  desirous  to  have  him  a  scholar,  committed  hiiii  unto  perhaps 
a  godly,  but  a  very  severe  master.  Under  this  hard  master,  though 
he  was  well  nigh  discouraged  by  the  didness,  whicii  he  apprehended  in 
his  own  capacity,  yet  the  consideration  of  his  father's  desire,  made 
him,  with  an  early  piety,  to  join  his  prayers  unto  his  pains,  that  he 
might  have  his  education  prospered  ;  and  God  so  prospered  him,  that 
he  arrived  unto  a  desirable  degree  of  knowledge,  both  in  the  tongues, 
and  in  the  arts 

§  3.  He  had  been  admitted  into  Mjgdalen  Colledge,  in  Oxford  ;  but 
after  the  exile  of  his  father,  he  removed  unto  Dublin,  in  Ireland ;  where 
he  found  from  Dr.  Usher  the  same  favourable  aspect,  which  that  emi- 
nent person  did  use  to  cast  upon  young  students  that  were  ingenious  : 
and  from  thence  he  went  after  his  father  into  Holland,  where  Dr.  Ames 
favoured  him  with  his  encouragements  and  assistances,  in  the  prose- 
cution of  his  honest  studies  now  at  Leyden. 

§  4.  As  his  diligence  wasindefatigable,  so  his  proficiency  was  propor- 
tionable :  and  he  was  particularly  considerable  there,  for  his  disputa- 
tions upon  the  points  then  most  considerably  controverted.  It  was  at 
the  age  of  twenty- two,  that  he  drew  up  his  most  judicious  and  approv- 
ed Theses,  De  Traductione  Peccatoris :  which  are  bound  up  with  Dr. 
Ames,  his  Opuscula,  in  some  editions  of  his  answer  to  Grevinchovius. 
Those  most  accurate  Theses,  being  thus  published,  as  the  composure  of 
another,  our  humble  Parker,  though  instigated  thereunto,  did  yet  refuse 
i  to  do  himself  the  justice,  of  publishing  himse'f  some  other  vvay,  to  be 
the  author  of  them.  This  neglect  of  his,  he  said,  Avas,  to  chastize  the 
vanity  of  his   own  young  mind,  rs:Jiich  had  been   too  much  pleased  with  thr 

Vol.   {.  '  r-,n 


434  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND,  [Book  IH. 

accuracy  of  his  otivi  early  performaiice  in  those  theses.  But  the  •author' 
of  the  theses  arteruards  came  to  be  uell  known,  by  the  providence  of 
God,  when  whole  books  catne  to  be  uritten  by  learned  men  upon  them  ; 
whereof  one  was  entituIeH,  Parkerus  Iliustralns. 

But  befoi'e  this  age  of  twerUij-two,  he  proceeded  master,  wiih  the 
general  applause  of  all,  and  the  special  esteem  of  Aiaccovius,  a  man 
renowned  in  the  jB'e/^ftA:  universities.  In  the  difloma  then  given  him, 
they  tcstifie,  Ilium  non  sine  mugnd  Ad  miration  e  andiverimus, — and  Se 
Philnsophiie  Artiumque  libcraliuin  periussiifium  decluraverit. 

§  5.  jMaccovtus  w.)u!d  hereupon  h<ive  h  id  Sibrnndus  Lnhbertus,  the 
moderator  of  the  Classis  there,  to  have  ordained  our  Porker  n presbyter, 
as  an  aclcnowledgment  of  his  exceeding  worth  ;  but  though  Lubbertus 
could  not  but  acknowledge  it,  yet  out  of  a  secret  grudge,  he  would  not 
allow  of  the  ordination.  ^V  hereupon  jMaccovius  rode  unto  the  states 
at  Leodi'ii,  with  complaints  of  Lubbertus  for  so  ill  a  thing,  as  letting  such 
a  person  as  this  Parker  go  away  under  any  cloud  of  disrespect  ;  and 
the  stales  thereupon  wrote  unto  Lubbertus  to  admit  him  :  but  the  hast 
of  his  return  into  England  prevented  it. 

§  6.  Residing  at  JVewberry  in  England,  he  applied  himself  with  an 
invincible  industry  unto  the  study  of  school  divinity  :  in  which  profound 
and  knotty  study,  he  found  such  cnsnarinir  temptations,  that  he  afterwards 
laid  it  all  aside,  for  the  kaoxudedge  of  Jestts  Christ  crucified.  The  wise 
BuUinger  would  with  too  much  reason  say,  Umis  Seneca  plus  sincei-iora 
Theologice  posleritate  reliquit.  quam  omnesfereomnium  Scholasticorum  Libri. 
The  great  Chamier  would  with  a  like  reason  say,  Solere  se  Scholasticos 
consulere,  non  aliter,  quam  si  quis  aliquando  palatiurn  imisens,  post  Aula- 
rum,  cubiculor\(m  »S'  cw7iaculorum  magnificentiain  etiam  Latrinas  non  de- 
dignetur  inspicere,  sed  pavcis,  obfcetorem.  The  learned  Whitaker  would 
say  of  the  school- men.  Plus  habent  Argutiarum  quam  Scientice.  plus  Scientice 
quam  Doctrince,  plus  Doctrince  quam  vsus,  plus  usus  quam  ad  salutem.  Our 
Parker  conversed  indeed  with  the  school-men,  until  he  almost  became  one 
of  them  himself:  but  not  such  an  one  as  Luther  meant,  when  he  said, 
Qui  Theologiim  Scholasticvm  videf,  videt  Septem  peccata  viortalia  :  for  he 
grew  sick  of  all  the  learning  that  he  had  got  from  the  school-men  ;  and  would 
often  say.  All  the  use  I  nozo  make  of  all  my  school -learning  is  this  :  I  have 
so  much  to  deny  for  the  sake  of  my  Lord  Jesiis  Christ.  Nor  wis  he  insensible 
of  what  Sir  Walter  Rau'leigh  observed  concerning  the  school-meji,  that 
^hey  taught  their  followers  rather  to  shift,  than  to  resolve  by  their  dis- 
tiyictions. 

§  7.  From  thence  removing  with  several  devout  christians  out  of 
Wiltshire  into  A"ezo-Eiigla7id,  he  was  ordained  their  pastor,  at  a  town,  on 
his,  and  their  account,  called  Nexa-berry ;  where  he  lived  many  years,  by 
the  holiness,  the  humbleness,  the  charity  of  his  life,  giving  his  people  a 
perpetual  and  most  lively  commentary  upon  his  doctriiie. 

§  8.  The  strains  which  his  immoderate  studies  gave  unto  his  organs  of 
sight,  brought  a  miserable  defluxion  of  rheum  upon  his  eyes  ;  which 
proceeded  so  tar,  that  one  of  them  swelled  until  it  came  out  of  his  head, 
and  the  other  grew  altogether  dim  some  years  bellire  his  death.  Under 
this  extreme  loss  he  would,  after  a  chri?-tian  and  pleasant  manner,  give 
himself  that  consolatTon  :  Well,  thcyll  be  restored  shortly,  at  the  resxirrec- 
tion. 

The  Jews  upon  the  dim  sight  of  EU,  have  an  observation,  that  none 
are  mentioned  in  the  scripture,  as  afflicted  with  failure  of  sight,  but  such 
as  were  afflicted  either  in  their  children,  or  in  the'w pupils.     Our  Parker 


Book  III.]  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  4.35 

had  no  children  to  afflict  him,  and  his  pupils   were   such  as  to   comfort 
him  ;  yet  faihjre  of  si£;ht  was  his  cahimity. 

§  9.  In  the  hitter  part  of  his  life,  he  bent  himself  unto  the  study  of 
ihe  scripture-prophecies ;  being,  as  has  been  said  by  Dr.  Usher,  instigated 
thereunto.  It  was  with  an  assiduous  conjunction  of  meditations,  and  sup- 
plications, that  he  followed  tiiis  delightful  study,  till  he  hsd  written  seve- 
ral volumes,  a  great  part  of  them  in  Latin  ;  whereof  no  part  was  ever 
published,  but  one  U[>on  Daniel ,  whicii  he  wrote  in  English.  If  some  of 
his  expositions  upon  those  difficult  parts  of  the  scripture,  have  been 
since  confuted  by  some  great  authors,  who  disliked  them,  we  may,  on 
more  accounts  than  one,  consider  him,  as  the  Homer  of  J^'enD-England  ; 
and  add, 

JiUquando  Bonus  Dorinit  it  Homerus. 

§  10.  ?Ie  went  unto  the  immortals,  in  the  month  of  Jlpril  1677,  about 
ihe  eighty  second  year  of  his  age  ;  and  after  he  had  lived  all  his  days  a 
single  man.  but  a  great  part  of  his  days  engaged  in  apocalyptical  studies, 
he  went  unto  the  apocahjptical  virgins,  who  foil  on'  the  Lamb  nhithersoever 
he  goes. 

He  was  a  person  of  a  most  extensive  charity ;  which  grain  of  his  tem- 
per, might  contribute  unto  that  largeness  in  his  principles,  about  church- 
government,  which  exposed  him  unto  many  temptations,  amongst  his  neigh- 
bours, who  were  not  so  principled.  He  would,  indeed,  express  himself 
dissatisfied  at  the  edge,  which  there  was  in  the  writings  of  his  father, 
against  the  Bishops ;  and  he  did  himself  write  a  preface  unto  a  book  ; 
whereupon  Mr.  Charles  Chanccy  bestowed  a  short  ansxi;er,  which  begins 
with  thi«  shorter  censure. 

'  Let  it  not  be  an  offence  to  any  christian,  that  there  bath  been  found 
'  one  like  to  Urijuh  the  priest,  that  would  set  up  ihe  altar  of  Damascus 
'  among  us,  to  thrust  out  the  brazen  altar  of  the  Lord's  institution  ;  viz. 
'  Mr.  Thomas  Parker,  who  has  published  a  book,  pleading  for  Episcopacy  ; 
Mvherein  is  found,  n<?Ae5  >iC6li(^m,  a  coll  kicking  against  his  dam. 

Such  a  difference  in  appreoension,  and  in  affection  too,  did  on  that  oc- 
casion discover  it  self,  between  those  good  men,  who  are  now  joyfully 
met,  Ubi  Luthi  Luthero  cum  Zuinglio,  optime  jam  Convenit. 

Yet  the  alienation  between  them,  was  not  so  great  as  that  between 
Theoclus,  and  PoUinis,  who  being  burnt  in  one  funeral  fire,  after  they 
had  killed  one  another,  the  very  flame  of  that  tire  divided  itself;  the 
flame  of  their  funeral  fire  would  not  be  united.  Chancey  and  Parker  are 
united  in  our  church-history  ;  the  funeral  respects  which  are  here  paid 
unto  both  ofthem,  agree  very  well  together.     Now, 

That  which  the  learned,  pious,  and  sweet-spirited  BuchoHzer,  provi- 
ded for  himself,  we  will  now  assign  unto  this  our  sweet-spirited  Parker 
(who  spent  his  life  much  in  chronological  studies,  like  that  great  Buch- 
oltzer.)  for  an 

EPITAPH. 

Hie,  Pie  Christ e !   Tuo  recubat  qucisita  criiore, 
^  Inq;   Tuo  Gremio,  Parvula  dorinit  Ovis. 

Reddidit  luzc  Animam  balanti  Voce  Fidelem  : 
Hnic  Pastor  dicef:,  Intret  Ovile  meum. 


AS6  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  iU 

AN  APPENDIX, 

ContaiDing  Memoirs  of  Mr.  James  Noves. 

When  we  had  thus  finished  our  Memoirs  of  Mr.  Parker,  our  second 
thov<^hls  told  us  that.so/rtc  of  Mr.  Ao?/es  must  accompany  them.  Sending 
therefore  to  my  excellent  friend,  Mr.  JS'icholas  A''oyes,  the  present  minis- 
ter ofSaitn,  for  some  account,  concerning  a  person  so  nearly  related  un- 
to bim,  he  favoured  me  with  the  following  relation.  And  though  he 
were  pleased  m  his  letters  to  tell  me,  '  that  he  had  sent  me  only  a  rude 

*  imixiethodica!  j.imble  of  things,  intending  that  I  should  serve  my  occa- 
'  sions  out  of  them,  for  a  compo.silion  of  my  own.'  Yet  I  find,  that  1  shall 
no"  give  my  readers  a  better  satisfaction,  anyway,  than  by  transcribing 
tbe  words  of  my  friend.  'I'he  account  in  his  own  words,  is  too  elegant, 
and  expressive,  to  need  any  alteration. 

'  Mr  Jp;mi's  JV^yes  was  born,  1G08,  at  Choulderton  in  Wilfshire,  ofgod- 
'  ly  and  »vurLhy  parents.  His  father  was  minister  of  the  same  town,  a 
'  V'jry  learned  man,  the  school-master  of  Mr.  Tkumas  Parker.  His  moth- 
'  er  was  sister  to  the  learned  Mr.  Robert  Parker,  and  he  had  much  of  his 
'  euucntii'>a  and  tutorage  under  Mr.  Thovias  Parker.     He  was  called  by 

*  him,  from  Beuzen-JSose-LoUege  in  Oxford,  to  help  him  in  teaching  the 
'free  school  at  JVewheri-y ;  where  they  taught  scliool  together,  till  the 
'  time  they  came  to  Nc-w  England.  He  was  converted  in  his  youth,  by 
'  the  ministry  of  Dr.  Twiss.  and  Mr.  Thomas  Parker,  and  was  admired 
'  for  his  piety  and  his  vertue  in  his  younger  years.  The  reason  of  his 
'  coming  to  J^ers}- England,   was,  because  he  could  not  comply  with   the 

*  ceremonies  of  the  Church  of  England.  He  was  married  in  England 
'  to  Mrs  Sarah  Broxcn,  the  eld(  st  daughter  of  Mr.  Joseph  BroTvn  oiSouth- 
'  ampton,  not  long  before  he  came  to  JVexc- England,  which  was  in  the 
'year  1G34.  In  the  same  ship  came  Mr.  Thomas  Parker,  Mr.  James 
'  JVoyes.  and  a  younger  brother  of  his,  ]\Ir.  JVicolas  A''oyes,  who  then  was 

*  ■  single  n)an  :   between  which  three,  was  a  more  than  ordinary  erdear- 

*  iUent  of  affection,  which  was  never  shaken  or  broken,  but  by  death. 
'Mr.  Paik,'r  ixud  Mr.  James  J\~oyes,  and  others  that  came  over  with  them, 
'  fasted  and  prayed  together  many  time.*,  before  they  undertook  this  voy- 
'  age  ;  and  on  the  sea,  Mr.  Parker  and  Mr.  Noyes  preached  or  expound- 
'  ed,  one  in  the  forenoon,  other  in  the  afternoon,  every  da\'  during  the 
'  voyage,  unless  some  extraordinary  thing  intervened,  and  w^cre  abund- 
'  ant  in  prayer. 

'  When  they  arrived,  Mr.  Parker  was  at  first  called  to  preach  at  Ips- 
'  wich,  and  Mr.  JS'oyes  at  Mistick,  at  which  places  they  continued  nigh  a 
'  year.  He  had  a  motion  made  unto  him  to  be  minister  at  JVaicrtown  ; 
'  but  Mr  Parker  and  others  of  his  brethren  and  acquaintance,  settling  at 
'  JVewlitrry.  and  gatiiering  the  tenth  of  the  churches  in  the  colony,  and 
'  calling  Mr.  J\'oyes  to  be  the  to  cher  of  it,  he  preferred  that  place  ;  bc- 

*  ing  lothe  to  be  separated  from  Mr.  Parker,  and  brethren  that  had  so  of- 
'  ten  fasted  and  prayed  togetlicr,  both  in  England  and  on  the  Jlllantit: 
'  sea.  So  he  became  the  teacher  of  that  church,  and  continued  painful 
'  and  successful  in  that  station  something  above  twenty  years,  without 
'  any  considerable  trouble  in  the  church.  Notwithstanding  his  princi- 
'  pies  as  to  discipline,  were  something  diO'cring  from  many  of  the  breth- 
'  ren,  there  was  such  condescension  on  both  j>arts,  that  peace  and  order 
'  was  not  interrupted.  He  was  very  much  loved  and  honoured  in  J\'ew- 
'berry;  his  memory  is   precious  there   to  this  day,   and  his   catechism 


Book  III.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-KNGLAND.  437 

'  (which  is  a  publick  and  standing  testimony  of  his  understanding  and  or- 
'  ihodoxy  in  the  principles  of  religion)  is  pubhckly  and  privately  used  in 
'  that  church  and  town  hitherto.  He  was  very  well  learned  in  the 
'  tongues,  and  in  Greek  excelled  most.  He  was  much  read  in  the  fathers 
'  and  the  schohncn.  And  he  was  much  esteemed  by  his  brethren  in  the 
'  ministry.  Twice  he  was  called  by  Mr.  Wilson  and  others,  to  preach, 
'  in  the  time  when  the  Antinomian  principles  were  in  danger  of  prevail- 
'  ing  ;  which  he  did  with  good  success,  and  to  the  satisfaction  of  those 
'thiit  invited  him.  Mr.  Wilson  dearly  loved  him  ;  and  it  so  happened 
'  once  at  Xewberry,  that  he  preached  in  the  forenoon  about  holiness  so 
'  holi/y  and  ably,  that  Mr.  Wilson  was  so  affected  with  it,  as  to  change  his 
'  own  text,  and  pitch  upon  Mr.  J\'oyes\  for  the  afternoon  ;  prefacing  his 
'  discourse,  with  telling  the  auditory,  that  his  brother  Aoyes'  discourse 
'  about  holiness  in  the  forenoon  had  so  much  impression  upon  his  mind, 
'  he  knew  not  how  in  the  afternoon  to  pursue  any  other  argument.     His 

■  conversation  was  so  unquestionably  godly,  that  they  who  differed  from 
'  him  in  smaller  matters  as  to  discipline  held  a  most  amicable  correspond- 
'  ence  with  him,  and  had  an  high  estimation  of  him.     Although  he  was 

*  very  averse  to  the  ceremonies  of  the  Church  of  England,  accounting 
'  them  needless,  many  ways  offensive  and  hurtful  at  the  best,  and  the 
'  rigorous  imposition  of  them  abominable  and  intolerable,  so  that  he  left 

*  England  for  their  sake  ;  yet  he  was  not  equally  averse  to  Episcopacy, 
'  but  was  in  opinion  for  Episcopvs  Prases,  though  not  for  Episcoptis 
'  Princeps.     His  own  words  testify  this,  for  so  he  wrote  ;    It  siemeih  he 

*  tliatii;as  called,  Antistes  Prospositus,  the  Bishop,  in  a  Presbytery,  by  pro- 
cess of  time  xras  only  culled  Bishop,  though  all  elders  are  also  according 

■  10  their  office  essentially  Bishops,  and  differing  only  in  gradual  jurisdic- 
lion.      He  no  ways  approved  of  <x  governing  vote,  in  the  fraternity,  but 

■  took  their  consent  in  a  silential  way.     He  held  Ecclesiastical  conncils  so 

*  far   authoritative  and   binding,    that  no   particular   elder,  or  society, 

*  might  seem  to  have  independency  and  sovereignty,  or  the  major  part  of 
'  them  have  lil^>erty  to  sin  with  impunity.     He  was  equally  afraid  of  ccr- 

■  emnnies  and  oi  schism  ;  and  when  he  fled  from  ceremonies  he  was  afrai.l 
'of  being  guilty  of  schism.  For  that  reason  he  was  jealous  (if  not  too 
'  jealous)  of  particular  church-covenants  ;  yet  he  accounted  them  adjuncts 
.^  o{  the  covenant  of  grace.     He  held  profession  offiilh,  an<l   repentance, 

*  and  subjection  to  the  ordinances,  to  be  the  rule  of  admission  into  ciiurch- 
'  fellozcship  ;  and  that  such  as  show  a  willingness  to  repent,  and  be  bajjfised 
'  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  without  known  dissimulation,  are  to  be 
'  admitted  thereto  ;  and  that  it  depended  more  on  God's  providence,  than 

*  his  ordinances,  to  render  charch  members  sound  in  the  faith  ;  and  that 

*  God  took  into  covenant  some  that  were  vessels  of  wrath,  as  for  other 
'  ends,  so  to  facilitate  the  conversion  of  their  elect  children,     ife  was  as 

*  religious  at  home  as  abroad,  in  his  family  and  in  secret,  as  he  was  pub- 

*  lickl)'  ;  and  they  that  best  knew  him,  niost  loved   and    esteemed  him 

*  Mr.  Parker  and  he  kept  a  private  fast  once  a  month,  so  long  as  they 
'  lived  together,  and  Mr.  Parker  after  his  own  death,  till  liis  own  depar- 

*  ture.      Mr,  A'oyes  bitterly  lamen'ed  the  death  of  K.  Charles  I.  and  both 

*  he  and  Mr.  Parker  too  h-dd  too  great  expectations  of  K.  Charles  II.    but 

*  Mr.  Parker  lived  to  see  his  expectntions  ofCharles  the  second  fiustra- 
'  ted.      He  had  a  long  and  tedious  sickness,  wliich  he  bore  patiently  and 

*  chearfuiiy  ;  and  he  died  joyfully  in  the  forty-eighth  year  of  his  age, 

*  October  2-.',  1656.  He  left  six  sons  and  two  daughters,  all  of  xvhich 
'  lived  to  be  married,  aud  have  children,  though  since  one  son  and  one 


438  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.       [Book  HI, 

'  daughter  be  dead.    He  hath  now  living  fifty-six  children,  grand-children, 

*  and  great-grand -children.     And  his  brother  that  came  over  with  him  a 

*  sii>gi8  man,  is  through  the  mercy  of  God,  yet  living;  and  hath  of  chil- 

*  dren,  grand-children,  and  great-grand-children,  above  an  hundred  ; 
♦which  is  an  instance  of  divine  favour,  in  mailing  the  families  of  his  ser- 

*  vants  in  the  wilderness  like  a  flock.  There  was  the  greatest  amity,  inti- 
'  macy,  unanimity,  yea,  unity  imaginable  between  Mr.  Parker,  and  Mr. 
'  A'oyes.     So  unshaken  was  their  friendship,  nothing  but  death  was  able 

*  to  part  them.  They  taught  in  one  school ;  came  ever  in  one  ship  ;  were 
'  pastor  and  teacher  oi  nm:  church  ;  and  Mr.  Parker  continuing  always  in 
'  celibacy,  they  lived  in  one  house,  till  death  separated  them  for  a  time  ; 

*  but  they  are  both  now  together  in  one  Heaven,  as  they  that  best  knew 

*  them  have  all  possible  reason  to  be  persuaded.     Mr    Parker  cnntinu- 

*  ed  in  his  house,  as  long  as  he  lived  ;  and  as  he  received  a  great  deal 
'  of  kindness  and  respect  there,  so  he  showed  a  great  deal  of  kindness 
'  in  the  educating  of  liis  children,  and  was  very  liberal  to  that  family  du- 
'  ring  his  life,  and  at  his  death.  He  never  forgot  the  old  friendship,  but 
'  shewed  kindness  to  the  dead,  in  shewing  kindness  to  the  living. 

'  Mr.  Parker  and  Mr.  JVoyes,  were  excellent  singers,  both  of  them  ;  and 
'  were  extraordinary  delighted  in  singing  of  psafnis.  They  sang  fouF 
'  times  a  day  in  the  publick  worship,  and  always  just  after  evening-prayer 

*  in  the  family,  where  reading  the  scripture,  expounding,  an«l  praying, 
'  were  the  other  constant  exercises.  Mr.  Parker  and  Mr.  A'oyes,  were 
'  of  the  same  opinion  with  Dr.  Owen,  about  the  S'ibbath;  yet  in  practice, 
'  were  strict  observers  of  the  evening  sifter  it.  Mr.  Parker,  whose  prac- 
'  tice  I  myself  remember,  was  the  strictest  observer  of  the  sabbath,  that 

*  ever  I  knew.     1  once  asked  him.  seeing  his  opinion  was  otherwise,  as 

*  to  the  evening  belonging  to  the  sabbath,  why  his  practice  differed  from 
'  his  opinion  !  He  answered  me,  Because  he  dart,  not  depart  from  thcfoot- 
'  steps  of  the  flock,  for  his  private  opinion. 

'  Being  got  into  some  passages  of  Mr.  Parker's  life  before  I  am  aware, 
'  I  will  insert  a  few  more  :  and  you  may  make  what  use  of  them  you 
'  please.  He  kept  a  school,  as  well  hs  preached,  at  A'ewbury  in  A'eiji:- 
^England.  He  ordinarily  had  about  twelve  or  fourte«^n  scholars.  He 
'  took  no  pay  for  his  pains,  unless  any  present  were  freely  sent  him.  He 
'  used  to  say,  He  lived  for  the  churches  sake,  and  begrulched  no  pains  that 
'  were  for  its  benefit  ;  and  by  his  good  will  he  was  not  free  to  teach  any 
'  but  such  as  were  designed  for  the  ministry  by  their  parents  ;  for  he 
^  would  sa}',  He  could  not  bestow  his  time  and  pains  unless  it  were  for  the 
'  benefit  nf  the  church.  Though  he  were  blind,  yet  such  was  his  memory, 
'  that  he  could  in  his  old  age,  teach  Latin,  Greek  and  Hebrew,  very  arti- 
'  ficiall3^  He  seldom  corrected  a  scholar,  unless  for  lying  and  flghting, 
'  which  Avere  unpardonable  crimes  in  our  school.  He  promoted  learn- 
'  ing  in  his  scholars,  by  something  an  unusual  way  ;  encouraging  them  to 

*  learn  lessons,  and  make  verses,  besides  and  above  their  stinted  tasks, 
'  for  which  they  had  pardons  in  store,  that  were  kept  on  record  in  the 
'  school,  and  were  for  lesser  school-faults,  such  as  were  not  immoralities, 
'  and  sins  against  God,  crossed  out  ;  but  he  always  told  them,  they  must 
'  not  think  to  escape  unpunished  for  sin  against  God,  by  reason  of  them  ; 
'  though  for  some  lesser  defects  about  their  lessons,  they  were  accepted. 

*  I  heard  him  tell  Mr.  Millar  the  minister,  that  the  great  changes  of  his 
'  life  had  been  signified  to  him  before-hand  by  dreams.     And  I  heard  him 

*  say,  that  before  a  fiery  temptation  of  the  devil  befel  him,  he  had  a  ver}-^ 
'  terrible  representation  in  a  dream,  of  the  devil  assaulting  of  him.  and 

*  he  wrestled  with  him,  and  had  more  than  once  like  to  have  prevailed 


BooKiil.]  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.  43B 

'  against  him  ;  but  that  when  he  was  raost  likely  and  most  near  to  ho 
'  overcome,  he  was  afresh  animated  and  strengthened  to  resist  him  ;  till 
'  at  length  the  devil  seemed  to  break  abroad  like  a  flash  of  lightning, 
'  and  then  disappeared  ;  and  that  not  long  after,  the  most  dismal  tempta- 
'  tion  of  Satan  befel  him  that  ever  he  was  sensible  of,  and  that  all  the  pas- 
'  sages  of  that  temptation  answered  the  forementioned  representation  ; 
'  and  that  the  hazards  of  it,  and  his  fre^h  sijpplies  when  almost  vanquish- 
'  ed,  and  his  deliverance  was  so  remarkable,  that  every  day  he  had  lived 
'  since  that  time,  he  had  given  thanks  to  God  particularly  for  his  assist- 
'  ance  of  him  in  that  temptation,  and  his  deliverance  out  of  it  :  though  it 
'  were  twenty  years  before  the  time  of  his  now  telling  me  concerning  it. 
'Mr.  Parker  excelled  in  liberty  of  speech,  in  praying,  preaching,  and 
'  singing,  having  a  most  delicate  sweet  voice  ;  yet  he  had  all  along  an  im- 
'  pulse  upon  his  spirit,  that  he  should  have  the  palsey  in  his  tongue,  before 
'  he  died.  His  voice  held  extraordinarily,  until  very  old  age  ;  and  I  think 
'  the  more,  because  his  teeth  held  sound  and  good  until  then  ;  his  custom 
'  being  to  wash  his  mouth,  and  rub  his  teeth  every  morning.  Some  few 
'  years  before  his  deatii,  he  began  to  complain  of  the  tooth-ache,  and  then 
'  he  quickly  began  to  lose  his  teeth;  and  now  he  said.  The  daughters  of 
'  his7nusif:k  began  to  fail  him.  And  about  a  year  and  half  before  he  died, 
'  that  which  he  had  long  feared  befel  him,  viz.  the  palsey  in  his  tongue  ; 
'  and  so  he  became  speechless,  and  thus  continued  until  death  ;  having 

*  this  only  help  left  him,  that  he  could  pronounce  tetters,  but  not  syllables 
'  or  rn'or (Is.  He  signified  his  mind,  by  s^e/Zd/zg-  his  words,  which  was  in- 
'  deed  a  tedious  vvay,  but  yet  a  mercy  so  far  to  him  and  others.  Dur- 
'  ing  that  time,  which  was  in  our  first  Indian  n-ar,  when  the  Indians  broke 

*  in  upon  many  towns,  and  committed  horrible  outrages,  and  tormented 
'  such  as  they  took  captives,  one  night  he  fell  into  a  dreadful  tentation. 
'  lest  the  Indians  should  break  in  upon  Kexsabury,  and  the  inhabitants 
'  might  generally  escape  by  fighting  or  flying,  but  he  being  old  and  blind, 
'  and  grovvn  decripit,  he  must  of  necessity  fall  into  their  hands  ;  and  that 
'  being  a  minister,  they  would  urj;e  him  by  torture  to  blaspheme  Christ, 
'  and  that  he  should  not  have  grace  to  hold  out  against  the  tentation  of 
'  Indian  tortuie  ;  and  with  the  very  fear  of  this,  he  was  for  the  most  part 
'  of  the  night  in  such  agonies  of  soul,  that  he  was  on  the  very  brink  of 
'  desparation  ;    but  at  length,  God  helpt  him,  by  bringing  to  his   mind, 

'  two  places  of  scripture  :  that  in  Isa.  li.  12,  13,  /,  even  I,amhe  that  com- 
'  forts  thee  ;  tf/io  art  thov.,  that  thoxi  shouldest  be  afraid  of  a  man  that  shall 
'  die,  and  for gett  est  the  Lord  thy  Maker!  And  that  in  Rom.  viii.  35,36, 
'  Who  shall  separate  us  from  the  love  of  Christ  ?  Sliall  tribulation  or  dis- 
'  tress,  or  persecution,  or  famine,  or  nakedness,  or  peril,  or  sxicord? For 

*  thy  sake  xt-e  are  killed  all  the  day  long  ; J\~ay  in  all  these  things,  rce  are 

'  7nore  than  conquerors  through  him  that   hath  loved   us.     Sleep  departed 

*  from  him  that  night,  by  reason  of  the  horrour  of  that  tentation  ;  and  the 
'  joy  that  came  towards  morning  he  was  wonderfully  affected  with  ;  and 

*  in  the  morning  early,  he  pronounced  all  this  to  me  letter  by  letter, 
'and  glorified  God.  Once  hearing  some  of  us  laughing  very  freely, 
'while,  I  suppose,  he  was  better  busied  in  his  chamber  above  us,  he 
'  came  down,  and  gravely  said  to  us,  Cousins,  I  nonder  you  can  be  so  mer- 
'  ry,  unless  yov.  are  sure  of  your  salvation  !  He  was  a  very  holy  and  hea- 
'  venly-minded  man,  and  as  much  mortified  to  the  world,  as  almost  any 

*  in  it.  He  scarce  called  any  thing  his  ott-w.  but  his  hooks  and  his  cloaths. 
'  When  he  was  urged,  to  vindicate  himself  to  be  the  author  of  the  The- 
'  ses  de  Traductinne  Peccatoris  ad  Vitam.  he  utterly  refused  it  ;  saying.. 


440  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  Hi 

'  being  young  at  the  time  when  he  made  them,  he  was  afraid  he  had  not 
'  so  fully  aimed  at  the  glory  of  God,  as  he  ought  to  have  done.  But  a 
'  while  after,  one  unbeknown  to  him  in  Holland,  reprinted  them,  with 
'  the  name  of  the  author,  and  set  him  forth  with  more  advantage,  than 
'  would  have  been  modest  or  proper  for  himself  to  have  done  ;  giving 
'  liim  his  parental  as  well  ns personal  honour  ;  and  saying,  that  his  father 
^  WdS,  Pater  dignics  tali  Filio  ;  and  that  he  v;as,  Filius  dignus  lali  Poire. 
'  Thus  he  that  hurnbleth  himself  shult  be  exalted. 

'  3Ir.  Wilson  once,  on  occasion  of  his  caHbacy,  said  to  him,  That  if 
'  there  could  be  anger  in  Heaven,  his  father  would  chide  him,  when  he 
'  came  there,  because  he  had  not,  like  him,  a  son  to  follow  him.  But  he 
'  had  many  spiritual  children,  that  were  the  seals  of  his  ministry  :  he  was 
'  also  a  father  to  the  fatherless  ;  and  many  scholars  were  little  less  be- 
'  holden  to  him  for  their  education,  than  they  were  to  their  parents  for 
'  their  generation. 

'  The  occasion  of  his  celibacy  was  this  :  at  the  time  that  he  meditated 
'  marriage,  he  was  assaulted  with  violent  temptations  to  i  tiji  del  it  y,  which 
'  made  him   regardless   of  every  thing,  in  comparison  of  confirming  his 

*  faith,  about  the  truth  of  the  scriptures.  This  occasioned  his  falling  in- 
'  to  the  study  of  the  prophecies,  which  proved  a  means  of  confirming  his 
'  faith  ;  but  he  fell  so  in  love  with  that  study,  that  he  never  got  out  of 
'  it,  until  his  death  :  and  the  church  had  doubtless  had  much  benefit  by 
'  his  profound  studies  in  that  kind,  could  the  bishops  have  been  perswa- 
'  ded  to  license  his  books  ;  which  they  refused,  because  he  found  the 
'  Pope  to  be  prophesied  of,  where  they  could  not  understand  it.     His 

'  whole  life,  besides  what  was  necessary  for  the  support  of  it,  by  food, 
'  and  sleep,  was  prayer,  study,  preaching,  and  teaching  school.  1  once 
'  heard  him  say,  he  felt  the  whole  frame  of  his  nature  giving  way,  which 

■  threatened  his  dissolution  to  be  at  hand  :  but  he  thanked  God,  he  teas  not 
'  amazed  at  it. 

'  To  conclude,  all  I  intend  concerning  Mr.  Parker,  or  Mr.  JVoyes,  I 
'  shall  give  you  Mr.  Parker's  character  of  Mr.  JVoyes,  who  best  knew 
'  him,  and  whose  testimony  of  him  is  very  credible.' 

'  Mr.  James  J\'oyes,  my  worthy  collegue  in  the  ministry  of  the  gospel, 
'  was  a  man  of  singular  qualifications,  in  piety  excelling,  an  implacable 
'  enemy  to  all  heresie  and  schism,  and  a  most  able  warriour  against  the 

■  same.  He  was  of  a  reaching  and  ready  apprehension,  a  lai'ge  inven- 
'  tion,  a  most  profound  judgment,  a  rare,  and  tenacious,  and  comprehen- 

*  sive  memory,  fixed  and  unmovable  in  his  grounded  conceptions  ;  sure 
'  in  words  and  speech,  without  rashness  ;  gentle  and  mild  in  all  expres- 
'  sions,  without  all  passion,  or  provoking  language.  And  as  he  was  a  no- 
'  table  disputant,  so  he  never  would  provoke  his  adversary,  saving  by 
'  the  short  knocks,  and  heav}'  weight  of  argument.  He  was  of  so  loving, 
'  and  compassionate,  and  humble  carriage,  that  I  believe  never  any  were 
'  acquainted  with  him,  but  did  desire  the  continuance  of  his  society  and 
'  acquaintance.     He  was  resolute  for  truth,  and  in  defence  thereof,  had 

*  no  respect  to  any  persons.  He  was  a  most  excellent  counsellor  in 
'  doubts,  and  co\iid  strike  at  an  hair's-breadth,  like  the  Benjamites,  and 
'  expedite  the  entangled,  out  of  the  briars.  He  was  courageous  in  dan- 
'  gers,  and  still  was  apt  to  believe  the  best,  and  made  fair  weather  in  a 
'  storm.  He  was  much  honoured  and  esteemed  in  the  country,  and  his 
'  death  was  much  bewailed.  1  think  he  may  be  reckoned  among  thegreat- 
-  est  worthies  of  this  aje." 


Book  HI.]  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  441 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 

The  Life  of  Mr.  Thomas  TniciiEn. 

Virtutem  Virtus pariat ;  De  lumine  Lumen  prodcat. 

§  J.  Athanasius  writing  the  life  cf  his  Antonius,  describes  him  as 
propounding  to  hi?  own  observation  and  irnitition.  the  various  excellencies 
of  the  good  men  whom  he  cooveified  withal  :  thero  x.'^pnv.  or  good  carriage 
of  one  ;  the  ra  Trpoi  TXi  "evx*?  (rvvlovov,  OT  prciyerfidness,  of  another  ;  the 
TO  otopyypev,  OT  lenit'i,  vS  a  '  li  nj  ;  the  to  <pi>M\&puzrot.  or  humanity  of  a  fourth; 
att-  '  !  'i-;  to  onf  rS  'w/pvTTvavTi  or  keeping  of  his  Ti-atchfulness  ;  to  anoth- 
er ra  ^iXoXoyiilt,  or  ioviug  of  learning  :  r'^marking  of  one,  rev  'ev  Knpleptx, 
in  his  patience  ;  of  another  rov  'ev  utisstxiixxi  ^xf^uvnotti,  in  hi?,  fa  stings  iiwd. 
hardships:  regarding  the  t«v  TpxaTtrx.  or  inan<vtude.  of  one  ;  the  rspt 
fMxpo6vf4.ixv.  or  longanimity  of  .uK-t'ier  :  but,  TraivTut  o/*«  t-<;v  'e/j  t«v  xP'^T"* 
''svre^nai',  KXt  tt-.v  Trpei  'aAA^jPi.:?  'xyecTn^v.  the  piety  ol  tUem  ail,  toward  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  and  the  c/i«rfY// of  them  all,  towards  one  onother. 

Such  exrellencies  of  good  men  have  been  set  before  my  reader,  in  the 
Lives  that  we  have  written  of  several  such  good  men,  who  were  the 
excellent  on  the  earth.  But  if  my  reader  would  see  a  many  of  those  ex- 
cellencies meeting  together  in  one  man,  there  are  not  many,  in  whom  I 
could  more  hopefully  promise  him  such  a  sight,  than  in  our  excellent  Mr. 
Thomas  Thacher:  who  is  now,  therefore,  to  be  considered, 

§2.  Mr.  TJiomas  Thacher  was  hoTxiMay  1,  1620,  the  son  of  Mr.  Peier 
Thacher,  a  reverend  minister  at  Salisbury,  in  England  :  one.  whom,  in  a 
1  letter  of  Dr.  Trtm  to  Mr.  Mede,  at  the  end  of  his  works,  we  find  joined 
1  with  famous  Mr.  White  of  Dorchester,  in  a  conversation,  wherein  the 
I  learned  exercises  of  that  great  man,  made  a  grateful  entertainment. 
And  because  it  may  be  some  satisfaction  unto  good  men,  to  see  instances 
multiplied,  for  the  confirmation  of  a  matter  mentioned  by  3Ir  Baxter,  in 
his  proof  of  j«ya?ii  baptism,  where  he  says,  .^5  large  experience  as  I  have 
hadin  my  ministry,  of  the  state  of  souls ,  and  the  way  of  conversion,  I  dare 
say,  I  have  met  not  with  one  of  very  many,  that  zvould  say,  that  they  knew 
the  time  when  they  were  converted  :  and  of  those  that  would  say  so,  by 
reason  that  they  then  found  some  more  remarkable  change,  yet  they  discov- 
ered such  stirriiigs  and  workings  before,  that  many,  I  had  cause  to  think, 
were  themselves  mistaken.  /  was  once  in  a  meeting  of  very  many  chris- 
tians, the  most  eminent  for  zeal  and  holiness  of  most  in  the  land,  of  whom 
divers  zvere  ministers,  and  some  at  (his  day  asfamoiis,  and  as  much  followed 
as  any  I  know  in  England  ;  and  it  was  (here  desired,  that  every  one. 
I  should  give  in  the  manner  of  their  conversion,  that  it  might  be  observed, 
what  was  God''s  ordinary  way  ;  and  (here  was  but  one,  that  1  rememher,  of 
them  all,  that  could  conjecture  af  (he  time  of  their  first  conversion.  It  shall 
here  be  noted,  that  this  was  the  experience  of  our  Thacher.  The  re- 
generating and  verticordious  grace  of  heaven,  took  advantage  from  his 
religious  education,  insensibly,  as  it  were,  to  steal  into  the  heart  of  this 
young  disciple. 

He  afterwards  affirmed,  that  he  was  never  able  to  determine  the 
time,  when  the  spirit  of  God  first  began  to  convince  him,  and  renew  him  ; 
only  he  could  say  with  the  reverend  blind  man.  I  was  blind,  but  now  I 
see.  When  Thacher  was  a  child,  the  Lord  loved  him,  and  this  child  also 
loved  the  Lord  :  he  was  an  Mijah,  that  v;hile  he  was  a  child,  had  many 
Vol.   L  aC> 


442  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.        [Book  HI. 

good  things  inhini  toroards  the  Lord  God  of  his  father;  he  was  a  Timothy, 
that  while  he  was  a,  child,  kne-jo  the  holy  scriptures  :  he  was  a  Samuel,  that 
in  his  childhood  was  visited  by  the  Holy  Spirit  :  he  was  a  Josiah,  that 
while  he  was  yet  young,  sought  after  (he  Lord  :  and  so  much  remarked 
was  his  early  piety,  that  while  he  was  in  bis  ear/jcA^  mmonV?/,  they  would 
say  of  him,  There  goes  a  Puritan.  It  might  indeed  be  said  of  him,  as  they 
report  of  St.  J^icliolas,  that  he  led  a  life,  Sanctissimc,  ah  ipsis  Incuna  bvlis 
Inchoatam.  And  it  might  be  said  by  him,  as  it  was  by  the  blessed  ancient 
in  his  confessions,  Doniine,  puer  cwpi  rogare  te  Auxilium^  Refugium  me- 
uni,  ^  rogavi  parvus,  non  parvo  affectu. 

§  3.  Having  been  well  educated  at  the  grammar  school,  he  had  the 
offer  of  his  father  to  perfect  his  education  at  the  university,  either  of 
Cambridge  or  Oxford.  But  considering  the  impositions  of  things,  to  him 
appearing  umxarrantahle,  whereto  he  then  must  have  exposed  hin)self, 
he  conscientiously  declined  his  father's  offer,  and  chose  rather  to  venture 
over  the  Mlantic  ocean,  and  content  himself  with  the  meannesses  of 
America,  than  to  wound  his  own  conscience  for  the  academical  priviledges 
of  England. 

When  his  parents  discerned  his  inclination,  they  permitted  his  remo- 
val to  JVer(!;-£nof/a?u/ :  intending  themselves,  within  a  year  or  two,  with 
their  family,  to  have  removed  thither  after  him  :  which  intention  was 
prevented  by  the  death  of  his  mother,  before  it  could  be  effected. 

He  arrived  at  Boston,  June  4,  1635.  In  which  year  he  was  won- 
derfully preserved  from  a  shipwreck,  with  his  uncle,  wherein  a  wor- 
thy minister,  one  Mr.  Avery,  lost  his  life,  as  elsewhere  we  have  related. 
A  day  or  two  before  that  fatal  voyage  from  JVewberry  to  Marblehead,  our 
young  Thacher  had  such  a  strong,  and  sad  impression  upon  his  mind,  about 
the  issue  of  the  voyage,  that  he,  with  another,  would  needs  go  the  jour- 
ney by  land,  and  so  he  escaped  perishing  with  some  of  his  pious  and 
precious  friends  by  sea. 

§  4.  'Tis  well  known,  that  in  the  early  days  of  Christianity,  there  were 
no  colledgcs,  (except  we  will  say  the  Cat echetick  Lecture  at  Alexandria  was 
one)  for  the  breeding  of  young  ministers  ;  but  the  bishop  of  every  church 
took  the  care  to  educate  and  elevate  some  young  men,  who  might  be  pre- 
pared thereby  to  succeed  in  their  place,  when  they  should  be  dead  and 
gone.  And  in  the  early  days  of  New- England,  they  were  for  a  little 
while  obliged  unto  such  a  method  of  providing  young  men  for  the  ser- 
vice of  the  churches.  Thus  our  Thacher,  by  the  good  providence  of 
God,  was  now  cast  into  the  family,  and  under  the  tuition  of  that  rever- 
end man,  Mr.  Charles  Chancey ;  who  was  afterwards  the  President  of 
Harvard-Colledge,  in  our  Cambridge.  Under  the  conduct  of  that  emi- 
nent scholar,  he  became  such  an  one  himself;  and  his  indefatigable  stu- 
dies were  so  prospered,  that  he  became  Aliquis  in  Omnibus,  without  the 
blemish  usually,  but  sometimes  unjustly  annexed  unto  it,  Nullus  in  Singu- 
lis. He  was  not  unskilled  in  the  tongues,  especially  in  the  Hebrew, 
whereof  he  did  compose  a  Lexicon  ;  but  so  comprized  it,  that  withio 
one  sheet  of  paper,  he  had  every  considerable  word  of  the  language. 
And  he  was  as  well  skilled  in  the  arts,  especially  in  logic,  whereof  he 
gave  demonstration,  in  his  being  a  most  irrefragable  disputant,  on  some 
great  occasions.  || 

Moreover,  it  was  his  custom,  once  in  three  or  four  years  time,  at  sub-  \y 
cesive  hours,  to  go  over  the  tongues,  and  arts,  at  such  a  rate,  that  his  good  i 
skill  in  them  continued  fresh  unto  the  last.  And  to  all  his  other  accom-  ii 
plishments,  there  was  this  added,  that  he  was  a  most  incomparable  scribe 


Book  III.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  443 

he  not  only  wrote  all  the  sorts  of  hands  in  the  best  copy-books  then  ex- 
tant, with  a  singular  exactness  and  aciiteness,  but  there  are  yet  extant 
monuments  ofSijriac,  and  other  oriental  characters  of  his  writing,  which 
are  hardly  to  be  itnitr.ted.  He  had  likewise  a  certain  mechanic  genius, 
which  disposed  him  in  his  recreations  unto  a  thousand  curiosities,  espe- 
cially the  ingenuit}'  of  clock-u-ork,  wherein  at  his  leisure,  he  did  things  tn 
admiration. 

§  5.  On  May  1 1,  1G43,  he  was  married  unto  the  daughter  of  that  ven- 
erable man  Mr.  Ralph  Partridge,  the  minister  of  Duxbury.  The  con- 
sort, whom  \.h.&  favour  of  Heaven,  thus  bestowed  upon  him,  was  a  per- 
son of  a  most  amiable  temper  ;  one  pious,  and  prudent,  an<l  every  way 
worthy  of  the  man  to  whom  she  became  a  glory.  By  her  he  received 
three  sons  nn(\  one  daughter  ;  and  when  she  had  continued  three  sevens  of 
years  with  him,  she  weni  after  a  very  triumphant  manner  to  be  for  ever 
-joiththe  Lord,  June  2,  1664,  uttering  those  for  her  dying  words.  Come, 
Lord  Jesus,  come  quickly  :  'Zi.-hy  arc  thy  chariot-wheels  so  lo7ig  a  coining  ? 

§  6.  Having,  as  a  candidate  of  the  ministry,  by  his  most  commendable 
preaching  and  living,  abundantly  recommended  himself  unto  the  service 
of  the  churches,  he  was  invited  by  the  church  of  Weymouth  to  take  the 
pastoral  charge  of  them  ;  whereto  he  was  ordained,  Jan.  2,  16  J4  And 
here  he  did  for  many  yeais  fulfil  his  ministry,  not  only  with  elaborate 
and  affectionate  sermons,  twice  every  Lord''s  day,  and  in  a  lecture  once  a 
fortnight ;  but  also  in  catechising  the  lambs  of  his  flock,  for  which  he  like- 
wise made  a  Catechism.  These,  also,  he  would  at  fit  seasons  call  to  an 
account  concerning  ih&'iv  prujiciency  under  the  means  of  grace  ;  and  such 
as  he  found  ripe  for  an  admission  unto  the  highest  mysteries,  at  the  table 
of  the  Lord,  he  would  encourage  to  put  themselves  upon  the  publick  and 
usual  probation,  in  order  thereunto,  but  such  as  he  found  short,  he  would 
suitably,  faithfully,  and  fervently  advise  unto  the  preparations,  wherein 
they  appeared  hitherto  defective.  And  God  crowned  these  methods  and 
labours  of  his  holy  servant,  with  observable  successes  ;  which  were  seen 
in  the  great  growth  of  the  church,  whereof  he  had  the  oversight.  But 
one  excellency  that  shined  above  the  other  glories  of  his  ministry,  was 
thit  excellent  spirit  (f  prayer,  which  continually  breathed  in  him.  It  has 
been  used  among  the  arguments  for  men  to  be  much  in  prayer,  that  the 
dignity  of  the  person  praying  is  thereby  much  augmented  ;  and  Chrysos- 
tom,  in  his  book,  De  Deo  Orando,  says,  The  very  angels  cannot  but  hon- 
our him,  whom  they  see  familiarly ,  and  frequently  to  be  admitted  unto  the 
audience,  and  as  it  were,  discourse  with  the  Divine  MajeMy.  Now,  though 
this  honour  have  all  the  saints,  yet  our  Thacher  had  more  than  ordinary 
share  of  this  honour  ;  he  was  a  person  much  in  prayer,  and  as  he  was 
much  inparyer,  so  he  had  an  eminency  above  most  men  living,  for  his  co-> 
pious,  hisjluent,  his  fervent  manner  of  performing  that  sacred  exercise. 

It  was  an  Heaven  upon  earth,  to  be  present  at  the  notable  salleys  of  a 
raised  soul,  a  lively  faith,  and  a  tongue,  toucht  with  a  coal  from  the  altar, 
with  Vv'hich,  in  his  prayers,  he  did  Ctclum  Tundere,  4"  Misericordiam  Ex- 
torquere. 

§  7.  After  the  death  of  his  first  wife,  he  married  a  second  in  Boston^, 
which,  with  a  concurrence  of  many  obliging  circumstances,  occasioned 
ills  removal  thither.  And  it  was  afterwards  found,  that  He  who  holds  the 
stars  in  his  right  hand,  had  a  purpose  of  service  to  be  done  for  his  name, 
in  that  populous  town,  by  the  talents  of  this  his  good  and  faithful  servant. 
For  in  the  month  of  May,  1669,  a  third  church  swarming  out  from  the 
J^rst  in  Boston,  which  afterwards  made  one  of  the  most  considerable  con- 


444  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  HI. 

gregations  m  the  colony,  this  worthy  person  was  chosen  the  pastor  of 
that  church:  and  installed  in  the  pastoral  charge  thereof,  Feb.  16,  1669> 
wherein  he  continued  until  he  died.  From  this  time,  1  behold  him  in  the 
metropolis  of  the  Engli^^h  America, x\q\.  only  dispensingboth  light  and  uarinth 
unio  his  own  particular  tlock,  but  also  as  he  had  opportunity,  expressing 
^care  oj  .a  the  churches.  And  for  the  comfort  of  those  worthy  ministers, 
who  commonl}'  have  their  spirits  bvff'eted  with  strong  tempiatiuns  and  sore 
dcjeciitins,  before  their  performing  any  special  service  of  their  ministry, 
I'll  menuon  one  piissage,  that  may  a  little  describe  how  this  worthy  man 
became  so  useful  :  he  would  say  to  his  sou  ;  Sori,  I  ntver  preach  a  ser- 
mon, till  I  cannot  preach  at  all! 

§  8.  As  he  was  in  his  whole  behaviour  a  serious,  holy,  and  useful  man, 
so  in  his  government  of  ins  family,  he  so  well  ruled  his  own  house,  as  to 
give  particular  demonstrations  of  his  abilities  to  take  cure  of  the  Church 
of  God.  His  domesticks  both  loved  him,  and  jeared\i\ni  ;  and  he  was 
most  conscientiously  and  exemplarily  careful,  about  their  interiour  as 
well  as  ti^uiporal  welfare  This  appeared  especially  in  the  management 
oih\^  family  worship  ;  wherein  he  usually  read  a  portion  of  the  scriptures, 
both  morning  and  evening,  and  he  would  raise  doctrines  from  every  verse 
with  h  lief  confirmations,  and  close  applicntiuns  thereof  as  he  went  along. 
Yea,  soineiimes  one  might  hear  from  him  thus,  in  one  family  exposition, 
as  enteriaiainc;  a  variet}'  of  truth,  notably  and  pungeiitly  expressed,  as  in 
sece.ral  pubiick  sermons :  and  he  has  told  his  worthy  son,  for  his  encour- 
agement uato  such  exercises,  that  he  hrnd  found  as  much  advantage  by 
them,  as  by  most  of  his  other  studies  of  divinity ;  adding  that  he  looked 
upon  it  as  the  Lord's  graciotis  accomplishiueut  of  that  word,  Shall  I  hide 
any  thing  from  Abraham  ?  I  knon.'  Abraham,  that  he  ti-'itl  teach  his  house .' 

^  9.  He  was  one  very  rcaiciful  over  the  souls  of  his  people,  and  care- 
ful to  preserve  them  from  errors  as  well  as  vices :  but  of  all  erross,  he 
discovered  an  antipathy  unto  none  more,  than  that  sink  of  all  errors, 
Quakerism.  It  was  in  his  time,  namely,  about  the  year  1652,  that  there 
appeared  a  new  sect  of  people  in  the  Avorld,  which  from  the  odd  motions 
of  their  bodies,  that  attended  especially  their  i\r<t  perversion,  were  call- 
ed Quakers  ;  and  it  was  not  long  after  their  first  appearance,  that  J\'ew- 
England  began  to  be  troubled  with  them.  Their  spirit  of  the  hat,  and 
their  fopperies  of /Aoii  and  ihcc,  in  their  language  to  a  single  person,  were 
the  least  of  those  things  which  gave  our  Thuchcr  a  dissatisfaction  at  them  ; 
that  which  caused  him  to  empioy  a  most  fervent  zeal  against  those  here- 
ticks,  was  the  horrible  e.'i.'Z  of  their  heresies,  to  lead  men  into  a  pit  of 
darkness,  under  a  pretence  of  the  light,  and  aiimhilatc  all  the  sensible  ob- 
jects of  our  holy  religion,  under  a  pretence  of  advancing  the  spiritual; 
so  that  we  must  liave  no  Bible,  no  Jesus,  no  Baptism,  no  Eucharist,  no 
ordinances,\>n\,  what  shall  be  evaporated  into  dispensations,  allegories,  and 
meer  mystical  notions :  when  he  ?aw  that  quite  contrary  to  the  tendency 
and  character  of  every  truth,  which  is  to  abuse  the  creature,  the  main  de- 
sign of  Cluateristn  is  to  exalt  man,  and  find  that  in  inan  himself,  which 
may  be  instead  oi' Saviour,  Scripture .  Heaven,  righteousness  and  all  institu- 
tions  unto  him,  he  could  not  but  adore  the  justice  and  vengeance  of  God, 
in  permitting  such  a  spfiriiaal  plague  to  be  inflicted  on  places,  where  the 
gospel  had  been  more  eminently  sinned  against  ;  but  he  set  himself  with 
the  more  of  i\  pastoral  diligence  to  defend  his  own  llock  from  the  conta- 
gion :  and  hence,  when  he  heard  of  any  books  left  by  the  Quakers  in  any 
houses  of  his  neighbourhood,  he  would  r^roscntly  repair  to  the  houses, 
and  obtain  those  venonious  pamphlets  fiom  them :  for  which,  that  th© 


Book  III.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  445 

ziiolves  barked  more  at  him  than  at  many  other  men,  and  would  sometimes 
come  with  their /aces  hideously  blacked,  and  iheir  garments  fearfully  torn, 
into  his  congregation,  whereby  the  neighbours  were  frighted  unto  the 
danger  of  their  lives,  is  not  at  all  to  be  wondred  at.  In  this  his  pasto- 
ral care,  he  met  with  some  experiments,  that  were  extraordinary  ;  where- 
of one  shall  here  be  related.  It  has  here  sometimes  been  remarked, 
that  a  very  sensible  possession  of  the  devil,  has  attended  the  first  arrest  of 
Quakerism,  on  the  minils  of  men,  and  the  seducers,  have  with  a  real  and 
proper  zcitchc raft,  by  certain  ceremonies  conveyed  it  unto  them.  Agree- 
ably hereunto,  and  inhabitant  of  IVeijmouth  having  bought  certain  Bibles 
at  Boston,  lodged  the  night  following  at  a  tavern,  where  two  Q;/a/:ers  lodg- 
ed with  him.  The  Quakers  fell  to  disgracing  and  degrading  the  Bibles, 
wherewith  he  had  furnished  himself,  as  a  dead  letter,  and  advised  him  to 
hearken  to  the  light  Tn-ithin,  which  would  sufficiently  direct  him  to  Heav- 
en ;  and  the  effect  of  their  enchantmcuts  was,  that  before  morning,  the 
poor  man  was  as  very  a  Quaker  as  the  best  of  them.  In  the  morning  he 
was  carrying  back  his  Bibles  to  the  book-sellers,  as  books  now  become 
altogether  useless  ;  and  resolving  to  keep  no  dead  letter  any  longer  in  his 
hands  ;  but  in  the  way,  he  was  met  by  Mr.  Thacher,  who  seeing  the  man 
look  wild  and  strange,  and  of  an  energumcn  countenance,  over-per- 
swaded  him  to  go  aside  with  him,  that  he  might  enquire  a  little  further 
to  his  condition.  He  carried  the  poor  man  into  a  neighbour's  house, 
and  privately  there  talked  with  him,  and  praj'cd  with  him,  and  by  the 
wonderful  blessing  of  Heaven,  immediately  recovered  him  from  the  er- 
ror of  his  -vi-ay :  the  man  was  never  any  more  a  Quaker,  but  ever  after 
this,  wonderfully  thankful  unto  God,  and  unto  this  his  servant,  for  his 
recovery. 

§  10  The  last  that  I  shall  mention  of  the  excellencies  that  signalized 
this  worthy  man  shall  be  his  claim  to  the  accomplishments  of  an  excellent 
physician.  He  that  for  his  lively  ministry  was  justly  reckoned  among 
the  angels  of  the  churches,  might  for  his  medical  acquaintances,  experien- 
ces, and  performimces,  be  truly  called  a  Raphael.  Ever  since  the  days 
of  Luke  the  evangelist,  skill  in  physick  has  been  frequently  professed  and 
practised,  by  persons  whose  more  declared  business  was  the  study  of  di- 
vinity. To  say  nothing  of  such  monks  as  JEgidius  Jtheniensis,  or  Lonstan- 
tinus  Afer,  or  Johannes  Damascenus,  or  Trusianus  Florentiaus,  and  to  say 
nothing  of  Henry  Bochelt,  a  Bishop,  or  of  Albicus,  an  Arch  Bishop,  or  of 
Ludovicus  Patavinus,  a  Cardinal,  or  of  John  xxir,  a  Pope,  all  of  whom  were 
notable  physicians,  our  English  nation  has  commonly  afforded  eminent 
piliysicians,  who  were  also  ministers  of  the  gospel. 

But  I  suppose  the  greatest  frequency  of  the  angelical  conjunction,  has 
been  seen  in  these  parts  of  America,  where  they  are  mostly  the  poor  to 
whom  the  gospel  is  preached,  by  pastors  whose  compas.'^ion  to  them  in 
their  poverty,  invites  them  to  supply  the  want  of  able  physicians  among 
them,  and  such  an  universally  serviceable  pastor  was  our  Thacher. 
They  were  the  priests  of  Egypt,  of  Greece,  and  of  Rome,  who  reserved  in 
the  archi-jes  of  their  temples  the  stories  and  methods  of  the  cures,  wrought 
on  the  recovered  persons,  who  brought  thither  their  thankful  sacrifices; 
and  by  the  priests  were  directions  hence  communicated  unto  such  as 
wanted  cures  for  the  like  distempers.  As  the  art  of  healing  was  first 
brought  into  some  order  by  the  hands  of  officers  that  have  been  set 
apart  for  the  care  of  souls  :  thus,  that  art  has  been  pappily  exercised  by 
the  hands  of  church-officers  in  all  ages,  who  have  administred  unto  the 
tovls  of  people  the  more  effectually,  for  being  able   to  administer  unto 


446  THE  HISTORY  OF  KEW-ENGLANI).         pJooK  llf. 

their  bodies.  And  a  singular  artist  herein  was  our  Thacher  ;  who,  know- 
ing that  every  rank  o^ generous  men  had  at  some  time  or  other  afforded 
p^r^^ons  eminent  tor  sk\\\  in  physick :  yea,  that  it  had  been  studied  by 
no  less  than  such  crozcncd  heads  as  Mithridates  and  Hadriamis,  and  Con- 
stantinvs  Pogonaius,  he  thought  it  no  ways  misbecoming  him,  to  follow 
the  exami)le.  How  many  hundreds  in  this  way  fared  the  better  for  him, 
I  cannot  say  ;  but  this  I  can  say,  that  as  King  Zamolxes  of  Thracia,  who 
was  of  old  a  renowned  physician,  would  give  this  as  the  reason  why  the 
Greeks  had  the  diseases  amon^them,  so  much  uncured,  because  they  neg- 
lected their  noids,  the  chief  thing  of  all :  so  our  Thacher  was  blessed  of 
God  in  his  faithful  endeavours  to  make  natural  and  spiritual  health  ac- 
company each  other  in  those  that  were  about  him. 

§  II.  Bat,  Cont7-a  Vim  Mortis Nothing  will  exempt  from  1  he  ar- 
rest of  death.  It  happened  that  this  excellent  man  preached  for  my  fa- 
ther, a  sermon  on  the  1  Pet.  iv.  18,  The  righteous  scarcely  saved ;  the  last 
words  of  whioh  sermon  were,  When  a  saint  cnmes  to  die,  then  often  it  is 
the  hour  and  poxcer  of  darkneess  with  him  ;  then  is  the  last  opportunity  that 
the  devil  has  to  vex  the  pcple  of  God  ;  and  hence  they  then  sometimes  have 
the  :^reatcs.t  of  their  distresses.  Do  not  think  him  no  godly  inan,  that  then 
meets -with  doubts  and  fears;  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  then  cries  out.  My  God, 
my  God,  why  hast  thou  forsaken  me  ?  God  help  vs,  that  as  tee  live  by  faith, 
so  a-e  inrnj  walk  in  it.  And  these  proved  the  last  words  that  ever  he  ut- 
tered in  any  sermon  whatsoever.  For  visiting  a  sick  person,  after  hrs 
going  out  of  the  as-^em-Jy,  he  got  some  harm,  which  turned  into  h  fever, 
whereof  he  did,  witiioiit  any  hour  and  power  of  darkness  upon  his  own 
holy  mind,  expire  on  October  15,  1678.  He  left  behind  him  two  wor- 
thy sons,  Mr.  Peter  Thacher,  who  is  at  this  time  the  pastor  of  the  church 
at  Milton,  and  one  from  whose  pious  labours,  not  the  English  only,  but 
even  the  Indians  also  receive  the  glad  tydings  of  salvation ;  and  Mr. 
Ralph  Thacher,  minister  of  the  word  at  Matha^s  Vineyard  And  he  like- 
vase  left  one  printed  f}ff-spring  of  his  mind  ;  for  as  the  reverend  prcfa- 
ccr  thereto  observes,  IVlten  the  Lord  knew  that  Boston,  yea,  that  New- 
England  Would  have  cause  Jor  many  day^  of  humiliation,  he  therefore  stirred 
up  the  heart  of  his  servant  aforuiand  to  give  instructions  and  directions, 
concerning  the  acceptable  performance  of  so  great  a  duty,  he  did  in  the 
year  1674,  preach  on  the  n-iture  of  a  sacred  yosil;  and  some  of  his  hear- 
ers, who  wrote  after  him,  when  he  preached,  afterwards  published  it 
under  the  title  of,  J  fast  of  God's  chusing.  , 

§  12.  The  church  of  this  worthy  man  at  Weymouth,  has  been  enter- 
tained with  one  curiosity,  which  by  way  of  appendix  to  his  life,  is  not  un- 
worthy to  be  related. 

One  .Matthew  Prat,  v,  hose  religious  parents  had  well  instructed  him  in 
his  minority,  when  he  was  twelve  years  of  age,  became  totally  deaf 
through  sickness,  and  so  hath  ever  since  continued.  He  v.'as  taught  af- 
ter this  to  write,  as  he  had  been  before  to  read;  and  both  his  reading 
and  his  writing;  he  retaiiieth  perfectly,  but  he  has  almost  torgotten  to 
speak  ;  speaking  but  imperfectly,  and  scarce  inielligibly,  and  very  seldom. 
He  is  yet  a  very  judicious  christian,  and  being  admitted  into  the  com- 
munion of  the  church,  he  has  therein  for  many  years  behaved  himself, 
unto  the  extream  SrUisf.ictiou  of  good  people,  in  the  neighbourhood.  Sa- 
rah Prat,  the  wife  of  this  man,  is  one  also  who  was  altogether  deprived 
of  her  hearing,  by  sif.kness,  when  she  was  about  the  third  year  of  her  age  ;, 
but  having  utterly  lost  her  hearing,  she  has  utterly  lost  her  sptech  also,. 
and  no  doubt,  all   remembrance  of  every  thing  that  refers  to  language;:: 


Book  Ilf.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-EiNGLAND.  447 

Mr.  Thacher  made  an  essay  to  leach  hor  the  use  ofletttrs,  hut  it  succeed- 
ed not  :  however,  she  has  a  most  quick  apprehension  of  ihinu''',  by  her 
eye,  and  she  discourses  hy  iig)ts,  whereat  some  ol  her  friends  aje  so  ex-^ 
pert,  as  to  maintain  a  conversation  with  her  upon  any  point  whatever, 
with  as  much  freedom  and  fulness,  as  if  she  wanted  neither  to}ii:;iic,  nor 
ear.  for  conference.  Her  children  do  learn  her  signs  from  the  breast  : 
and  speak  sooner  by  her  eyes  and  hands,  than  by  their  li/>s.  From  her 
infancy,  she  was  very  sober  and  modest  ;  but  she  had  no  knowledge  of  a 
Deity,  nor  of  any  thing  that  concerns  another  life,  and  world.  Never- 
theless, God  of  his  infinite  mercy  has  revealed  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  ni)i\ 
the  great  mysteries  of  salvation  by  him,  unto  her,  by  a  more  extraordinary 
and  immediate  operation  of  his  own  spirit  upon  her.  An  account  of  her 
experiences  was  written  from  her,  by  her  husband  ;  and  the  elders  of  the 
church  employing  her  husband,  with  two  of  her  sisters,  who  are  not-uily 
skilled  in  her  way  of  communicalion,  examined  her  strictly  hareabout  ,• 
and  they  found  that  she  understood  the  unity  of  the  divine  essence,  the 
^nviiXi/ of  persons  in  the  Godhead,  ih.^  personal  urdon  in  our  Lord,  the 
mystical  union  between  our  Lord  and  his  church ;  and  that  she  was  ac- 
quainted with  the  impressions  of  grace  upon  a  regenerate  soul.  She  was 
under  great  exercise  of  mind,  about  her  internal  and  eternal  state  ;  she 
expressed  unto  her  friends  desire  of  help  ;  and  she  made  use  of  the  Bible, 
and  other  good  books,  and  with  tears,  remarked  such  passages  as  were 
suitable  to  her  own  condition.  Yea,  slie  once,  in  her  exercise,  wrote 
with  a  pin  upon  a  trencher,  three  times  over,  Ah,  poor  soul .'  and  there- 
with before  divers  persons,  burst  into  tears.  At  a  sermon  s^^he  would  en- 
quire after  the  text,  which  being  shewn  her,  she  would  look  and  muse 
upon  it  :  and  she  strangely  knows  the  names  of  those  with  whom  she  is 
acquainted  ;  insomuch  that  if  they  be  names  found  in  the  scripture,  she 
will  turn  and  tind,  and  point  them  there.  It  seems  that  written  words  are 
a  sort  o{  hieroglyphicks  unto  her. 

She  was  admitted  into  the  church  with  the  general  approbation  of  the 
faithful,  nor  would  the  most  judicious  casuists  in  the  world,  a  Ijuther,  a 
Melancthon,  a  Gerhard,  an  Alting,  a  Baldwin,  have  scrupled  her  admis- 
sion to  the  sacred  mysteries  :  and  her  carriage  is  that  of  a  grave,  gracious, 
holy  woman. 

The  wonderful  circumstances  of  this  couple,  may  justly  be  added 
unto  the  entertainments  for  the  curious,  which  we  have  in  the  young 
man  and  maid,  mentioned  by  Camerarins,  who  though  deaf  and  dumb, 
could  read  and  write,  and  cypher,  and  know  a  man's  meaning  by  the 
motion  of  his  lips.  And  the  person  mentioned  by  Platerus,  who  though 
born  deaf  as  well  as  dumb,  yet  could  express  his  thoughts  in  a  table-book . 
and  comprehend  what  was  written  by  others  in  it,  and  with  edification 
attend  upon  the  ministry  of  Oecolan-padius  :  and  both  Mr.  Crisp  of  Lon- 
don, and  Gennet  Lowes  of  Edinburgh,  who  though  naturally  deaf,  and 
by  consequence  dumb,  could  yet  see  what  people  spoke,  by  seeing  them 
when  they  spoke  :  and  in  a  word,  the  exquisite  sence  of  the  mutes  in 
the  Ottoman  Court,  related  by  Rycaut,  in  his  history  of  that  empire. 

An  Epitaph  must  now  be  sought  for  this  worthy  man  :  and  because 
tlje  nation  and  quality  of  the  author,  will  make  the  composure  to  be- 
come a  curiosity,  I  will  here,  for  an  Epitaph,  insert  an  elegy,  which 
was  composed  upon  this  occasion,  by  an  Indian  youth,  who  was  then  a 
student  of  //^rrorfZ-Colledge.     (Hi?  nnme,  wns  Eleazar.) 


448  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  HI. 

In  obitumViri  vere  Reverendi. 

D.  Thom^  Thacheri, 

Q,ui   Ad 

f  Dom.  ex  hac   Vita  migravit,  18,8,   1678. 

Tentabo  Illustrem,  tristi  memorare  dolore, 

Quem  Lacrymis  repetitnt  Tempora,  nostra,  Virum. 
IMemnona  sic  Mater,  Mater  ploravit  Achillem, 

Justis  cum  Lacrymis,  cvmque  Dulore  gravi. 
Mens  stupet,  (»^a  silent,  justiim  nttnc  palmo  recnsat 

Officium  :  Qtiid  ?  Opem  Tristis  Apollo  ntgat  ? 
Ast  Thachere  Thus  conabur  dicere  laudes, 

Laudes  Virtutis,  quce  super  Astra  volat. 
Consultis  Reriim  Dominis,  Gentiqua  togatce 

JVota  fuit  virtus,  ac  tua  Sancta  fides. 
Vivis  post  Funus ;  Foilix  post  Fata  ;  Jaces  Tu  ? 

Sed  Stellas  iiiter  Gloria  nempe  Jaces. 
Mens  Tua  jam  ccelos  repetit ;  Victoria  parta  est : 

Jam  Thus  est  Christus.  quad  meruitque  tuum. 
Hie  Finis  Cruris  ;  ma£norvm  hcec  meia  malorum  ; 

Ulterius  nan  quo  progrediatur  erit. 
Crux  jam  cassa  manes ;  requiescunt  ossa  Sepulchro  ; 

Mors  moriiur  ;  Vifce  Vita  Beala  redit. 
Quum  tuba  per  Densas  sonitum  dabit  ultima  JVubes. 

Cunt  Domino  Rediens  Ferrea  Sceptra  geres. 
Cosies  turn  scand.es,  ubi  P atria  Vera  piorum  ; 

PrcEViins  hanc  Patriamnunc  tihi  Jesus  adit, 
lllic  vera  Quies  ;  illic  sinejine  volupfas  ; 

Gaudia  8^  Humanis  non  referenda  sonis. 

KXetvov  'ev   '^nf^.erspoig  x.    eaof^veto-t  ;tjpeve/5' 
'irvj^tl  0       CK  peSsav  Trlct/Ltevf},   jSv  ^apotvov  utTrsivv, 
Mi^Seic-''  eifixyxlct;  7rv£iviu.a<''iv  ccSxvetroK;' 

Eleazar,  Judus  Senior  Sophista. 


CHAPTER:  XXVII. 

The  Life  of  Mr.  Peter  Hobart. 

^  1.  It  was  a  saying  of  Alphonms  (whom  they  sir-named,  the  rcise,  King 
of  Arragon)  that  among  so  many  things  as  are  by  men  possessed  or  pursued, 
iTh  the  course  of  their  lives,  all  the  rest  are  baubles,  besides,  old  rs'ood  to 
burn,  old  wine  to  drink,  old  friends  to  converse  with,  and  old  books  to 
read.  Now  there  having  been  Protestant  and  reformed  colonies  here 
formed,  in  a  new  world,  and  those  colonies  now  growing  old,  it  will  cer- 
tainly be  no  unwise  thing  for  them  to  converse  with  some  of  their  old 


Booii  111.]        THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  449 

friends,  among  which  one  was  Mr.  Peter  Hobart,  whom  therefore  a  new 
book  shall  now  present  unto  my  readers. 

§  2,  Mr.  Peter  Hobart  was  born  at,  or  naar  Hingham,  a  market  town, 
in  the  county  of  Norfolk,  about  the  latter  end  of  the  year  1604.  His 
parents  were  eminent  for  piety,  and  even  from  their  -^oniti  feared  God 
above  many ;  wherein  their  zeal  was  more  conspicuous,  by  th»  impiety 
of  the  neighbourhood,  among  whom  there  were  UijI  iaree  or  four  in  ihe 
whole  town,  that  minded  serious  religion,  and  these  were  sufhciiMitly 
maligned  by  the  irreligious  for  their  Puriianism.  These  purenis  of  our 
Hobart,  were  such  as  had  obtained  each  otiier  fro.n  tlie  God  of  Heaven, 
by  Isaac-Vike  prayers  unto  him,  and  such  as  aftervvards  besieged  Heaven 
with  a  continual  iinportanity  for  a  blessing  upon  their  vhiidi  ^a  :  v/hereof 
the  second  was  this  our  Peter.  Thi^  ihdu  sou  was  like  anolher  Saranel  fnjna 
his  mf  mcy  dedicated  by  them  unto  the  aunisiry  and  m  or.ier  thereunto, 
sent  oetimes  unto  a  grammer  school  ;  whereto,  such  was  his  iesire  of 
learning,  that  he  went  sevcr-d  miles  on  foot,  every  morning,  and  bv  his 
early  appearance  there,  still  shamed  the  sloth  of  others  He  went  af- 
terwards unto  the  free-school  at  Lyn,  from  whence  when  he  was  by  his 
master  judged  fit  for  it,  he  was  admitted  into  a  colledge  in  the  Universi- 
ty of  Cambridge  ;  where  he  remained,  studied,  proiited,  until  he  proceed- 
ed Batchellor  of  Arts  ;  giving  all  along  an  example  of  sobriety,  gravitv, 
aversion  from  all  vice,  and  inclination  to  the  service  of  God. 

§  3.  Retiring  then  from  the  university,  be  taught  a  grammar  school ; 
but  he  lodged  in  the  house  of  a  conformist  minister,  who  thongii  he  were 
no  friend  unto  Puritans,  yet  he  employed  this  our  young  Hobart  some- 
times to  preach  for  him,  and  when  asked,  fVhat  his  opinion  of  this  young 
man  was?  He  said,  /  do  highly  approve  his  abilities  ;  he  will  make  an  able 
preacher :  but  I  fear  he  will  be  too  precise.  When  the  time  for  it  came,  he 
returned  unto  the  university,  and  proceeded  Mnster  of  Arts  :  but  the 
rest  of  his  time  in  England^  was  attended  with  much  unsettlement  of  his  con- 
dition. He  was  employed  here  and  there,  as  godly  people  could  ootain 
permission  from  the  parson  of  the  parish,  who  upon  any  littie  disgust 
would  recal  that  permission  :  and  yet  all  this  while,  by  the  blessing  of 
God  upon  his  own  diligence  and  discretion,  and  the  frugality  of  his  ver- 
tuous  consort,  he  lived  comfortably.  The  last  place  of  his  residence  ia 
England,  was  the  town  o(  Haverhil,  where  he  was  a  lecturer,  laborious 
and  successful  in  the  vineyard  of  our  Lord. 

§  4.  His  parents,  his  brethren,  his  sisters,  had  not  without  a  great 
affliction  to  him,  embarked  for  Neix)- England  ;  but  some  time  after  this, 
the  cloud  of  prelatical  impositions  and  persecutions  grew  so  black  upon 
him,  that  the  solicitations  of  his  friends,  obtained  from  him  a  resolution 
for  New-England  also,  where  he  hoped  for  a  more  settled  abode,  which 
was  most  agreeable  to  his  inclination.  Accordingly  in  the  summer  of  the 
year  1635,  he  took  ship,  with  his  wife  and  four  children,  and  after  a  voy- 
age by  constant  sickness  rendred  very  tedious  to  him.  he  arrived  a  Charles- 
town,  where  he  found  his  desired  relations  got  safe  before  him.  Several 
towns  now  addressed  him  to  become  their  minister  ;  but  he  chose  with 
his  father's  family,  and  some  other  christians,  to  forma  new  plantation, 
which  they  called  Hingham  ;  and  there  gathering  a  church,  he  continued 
a  faithful  pastor,  and  an  able  preacher,  for  many  years.  And  his  old  peo- 
ple at  Hixverhil  indeed,  in  some  time  after,  sent  most  importunate  letters 
unto  him,  to  invite  his  return  for  England:  and  he  had  certainly  return- 
ed, if  the  letters  had  not  so  miscarried,  that  before  his  advice  to  them, 
there  fell  out  some  remarkable,  and  invincible  hindrances  of  his  removal. 
Vor..  I.  hi 


450  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  IJL 

§  6.  Not  long  after  thi«,  he  had  (a?  his  own  expression  for  it  was)  his  heart 
rent  out  of  his  breast,  by  the  death  oi  his  cons*»rt  ;  but  his  cl'risiian,  patient, 
and  submissive  resignation,  was  rewarded  by  iiis  marriage  to  a  second, 
that  proved  a  rich  blessing  unto  him.  His  house  was  also  edified  and 
beautified  with  many  cliihlren,  on  whom,  when  he  looked,  he  would  say 
sometimes  with  much  thankfulness  ;  Behold,  thus  shall  the  man  be  blessed^ 
that  feareih  the  Lord!  and  for  whom  he  employed  many  tears  in  his  pray- 
ers to  Giod,  that  they  might  bo  happy,  and  like  another  Job,  oiTered  up 
his  daily  supplications. 

His  love  to  learning,  made  him  strive  hard  that  his  hopeful  sons  might 
not  go  without  a  learned  education  ;  and  accordingly  we  find  four  or  five 
of  them  wearing  laurels  in  the  cotalogue  of  our  graduates  ;  and  several 
of  tliem  are  at  this  day,  worthy  preachers,  of  the  gospel  in  our  churches. 

§  7.  He  was  mostly  a  morning  student,  not  meriting  the  name  of 
Homo  Lectissinius,  as  he  in  tlic  witty  epigrammatist,  from  his  long  lying 
abed;  and  yet  he  would  improve  the  durkness  of  the  evening  also,  for 
solemn,  fixed,  and  illuminating  meditations.  He  was  much  admired 
for  zi-ell-stiidied  sermons  ;  and  even  in  the  raidst  of  secular  diversions 
and  distractions,  his  active  mind  would  be  busie  at  providing  materials 
for  the  composure  of  them.  He  much  valued  that  rule,  s.'!«/j/  standing ; 
and  until  old  age,  and  weakness  compelled  him,  he  rarely  would  study 
silting  :  which  practice  of  his  he  would  recommend  unto  other  students, 
as  an  excellent  preventive  of  that  Flagelhun  Studioaorum,  the  Stone. 
And  when  he  had  an  opportunity  to  hear  a  sermon  from  any  other  min- 
ister, he  did  it  with  such  a  diligent  and  reverent  attention,  as  made  it 
manifest  that  he  worshipped  God  in  doing  of  it  :  and  he  was  very  care- 
ful to  be  present  still,  at  the  beginning  of  the  exercises,  counting  it  a 
recreation,  to  sit  and  wait  for  the  worship  of  God. 

Moreover,  his  heart  was  knit  in  a  most  sincere  and  hearty  love  to- 
wards pious  men,  though  they  were  not  in  all  things  of  his  ownperswa- 
sion.  He  would  admire  the  grace  of  God  in  good  men,  though  they 
were  of  sentiments  contrary  unto  his  ;  and  he  would  say,  /  can  carry 
themin  my  bosmne  :  nor  was  he  by  them  otherwise  respected. 

§  8.  There  was  deeply  rooted  in  him  a  strong  antipathy  to  all  pro- 
fanities, whereof  he  was  a  faitliful  reprover,  both  in  publick  and  in  pri- 
vate ;  and  \vhen  his  reproofs  prevailed  not,  he  would  iceep  in  secret  places. 
Dri7iking  to  excess,  and  mispence  of  precious  time, in  tipling  or  talking 
with  rain  persons,  which  he  saw  grown  too  common,  was  an  evil  so  e.\- 
tremely  offensive  to  him,  that  he  would  call  it.  Sitting  at  meat  in  an  idors 
temple  ;  and  when  he  saw  that  vanity  grow  upon  the  more  high  profes- 
sors of  religion,  it  was  yet  more  distastful  to  him,  who  in  his  own  beha- 
viour was  a  great  example  of  temperance. 

Pride,  expressed  in  a  gaiety,  and  bravery  of  apparel,  would  also  cause 
him  with  much  compassion  to  address  the  young  persons  with  whom  he 
saw  it  budding,  and  advise  them  to  correct  it,  with  more  care  to  adorn 
their  souls  xvith  such  things  as  were  of  great  price  before  God  :  and  here 
likewise  his  own  example,  joined  handsoviness  with  gravity,  and  a  moder- 
ation that  could  not  endure  a  show.  But  there  was  no  sort  of  men  from 
whom  he  more  turned  away  than  those,  who  under  a  pretence  of  zeal 
for  church  discipline,  were  very  pragmatical  in  controversies,  and  furiously 
set  upon  having  all  things  carried  their  ri'ay,  which  they  would  call  the 
rule ;  but  at  the  same  time,  were  most  insipid  creatures,  destitute  of  the 
life  and  power  of  godliness,  and  perhaps  immoral  in  their  conversations. 


Book  III.]  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  451 

To  these  he  would  apply  a  sajiug  of  Mr.  Cotton's,  That  some  men  are  all 
church,  and  wi  Christ. 

§  9.  He  WAS  a  person  that  met  with  many  temptations  and  afflictions, 
which  are  better  ibrgotten  than  remembered  ;  but  he  was  internally, 
and  is  now  eternally  a  gainer  by  thera.  It  is  remarked  of  the  Pati'iarch 
Jacob,  that  when  he  was  a  very  old  man,  and  much  older  than  the  most 
that  lived  after  hira,  he  complained,  Fexn'  and  evil  have  been  the  days  of 
the  years  nf  my  life  :  in  which  complaint,  the feza  is  explained  by  the  evil; 
his  days  were  winter-diys,  and  spent  in  the  darhiess  of  sore  calamity. 
Winter-days  are  twenty  four  hours  long  as  well  a"*  other  days  ;  yea,  long- 
er, if  the  eqrmfionnftime  should  be  mathematicall_y  considered  ;  yet  we 
count  them  the  shorter  days.  Thus  although  our  Hobart  lived  unto  old 
age,  he  night  call  his  days/cw,  because  they  had  been  evil.  But  Mark 
this  perfecr  man,  and  behold  this  upright  one  ;  fur  the  end  of  this  man  was 
peace.  In  the  spring  of  the  year  1670.  he  was  visited  with  a  sickness  that 
seemed  the  messenger  of  death  ;  but  it  was  his  humble  desire,  that  by 
having  his  life  prolonged  a  little  further,  he  might  see  the  education  of 
his  own  younger  children  perfected,  and  bestow  more  labour  also  ujjon 
the  conversion  of  the  young  people  in  his  congregation  :  I  have  travelled 
in  the  ministry  in  this  place,  thirtij-five  years,  a>id  might  it  please  God  so  far 
to  lengthen  out  my  days,  as  to  make  it  up  forty,  1  should  not,  I  think,  desire 
any  more.  Now  the  Lord  heard  this  desire  of  his  praying  servant,  and 
added  no  less  than  eight  years  more  unto  his  days.  The  most  part  of 
which  time,  except  the  last  three  quarters  of  a  year,  he  was  employed 
in  the  publick  services  of  his  ministry. 

Being  recovered  from  his  illness,  he  proved  that  he  did  not  flatter 
with  his  lips,  in  the  vows  that  he  had  made  for  his  recovery  ^  for  he  now 
set  himself  with  great  fervour  to  gather  the  children  of  his  church,  under 
the  saving  wings  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  ;  and  in  order  thereunto  he 
preached  many  pungent  sermons,  on  Eccl  xi.  9,  10,  and  EccL  xii.  1,  and 
used  many  other  successful  endeavours. 

§  10.  Though  his  labours  were  not  without  success,  yet  the  success  was 
not  so  general,  and  notable,  but  that  he  would  complain,  Alas,  for  the 
barrenness  of  my  ministry  !  And  when  he  found  his  lungs  decay  by  old  age, 
Sind  fever,  he  would  clap  his  hands  on  his  breast  and  say,  The  bellows  are 
burnt,  the  founder  has  melted  in  vain  !  At  length  infirmities  grew  so  fast 
upon  this  painful  servant  of  our  Lord,  that  in  the  summer  of  the  year 
1678,  he  seemed  apace  drawing  on  to  his  end  ;  but  after  some  revivals 
he  again  got  abroad  ;  however,  he  seldom,  if  ever  preached  after  it,  but 
only  administered  the  sacraments.  In  this  time  his  humility,  and  conse- 
quently all  the  other  graces  which  God  gives  unto  the  humble,  grow  ex- 
ceedingly, and  observably  ;  and  hence  he  took  delight  in  hearing  the 
commendations  of  other  men.  though  sometimes  they  were  so  unwisely 
uttered,  as  to  carry  some  diminutions  unto  himself ;  and  he  set  himself 
particularly  to  put  all  respect  and  honour  upon  the  ministers  that  came 
in  the  time  of  his  weaknesses  to  supply  his  place.  After  and  under  his 
confinement,  the  singing  of  psulms  was  an  exercise  wherein  he  took  a 
particular  delight  ;  saying,  That  it  was  the  work  of  Heaven,  which  he  was 
willing  to  anticipate.  But  about  eight  weeks  before  his  expiration,  he  did 
with  his  aged  hand  ordain  a  successor  ;  which  when  he  had  performed 
■with  much  solemnity,  he  did  afterwards  with  an  assembly  of  ministers, 
and  other  christians,  at  his  own  house,  joyfully  sing  the  song  of  aged 
Simeon.  Thy  servant  now  lettest  thou  depart  in  peace.  He  had  now  noth- 
ing to  do,  but  to  die  ;  and  he  spent  his  hours  accordingly,  in  assiduous  pre- 


452  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.        [Book  HI. 

paratioDS  ;  not  without  some  dark  intervals  of  tempiation  ;  but  at  last 
with  lig^t  arising  in  darkyiess  unto  him.  While  his  exteriour  was  decay- 
ing, hi&  iiiteriour  was  renewing,  every  day,  until  the  twentieth  day  of  Jan. 
1678.  when  he  quietly  and  silently  resigned  his  holy  soul,  unto  its  faith' 
Jul  Creator. 

EPITAPHIUM 

D.  Petri  Hobarti, 

Ossa  sub  hoc  Saxo  Latitant  defossa  Sepulchro^ 
Spirilus  in  Lvelo,  carcere,  missus  agit. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

J  man  of  God,  and  an  honovrahle  man. 

The  Life  of  Mr.  Samuel  Whiting. 

Hi  mihi  Dociores  semper  placuere,  docenda 
Quifaciunt,  plus,  quam  quifacienda  doceni, 

§  1.  When  the  miserable  .SawZ  applied  himself  to  the  Witch  oi  Endor^ 
for  the  invoking  of,  and  consulting  with,  s^ome  spirit  in  the  invisible  world, 
he  rhose  that  the  spirit  should  rather  appear  in  the  shape  of  the  venera- 
ble Samuel^  than  in  any  other.     A    dispute    is    raised    among    learned 
men,  on  the  occasion  of  the  spirit  thus  raised  ;  rvho  it  should  be?  for 
while  some  think,  that  beyond  the  expectation,  and  unto  the  astonish- 
ment of  the  Witch,  it  was  the  true  Samuel,  which   now  appeared  ;  in  as 
much  as  the  apparition  is  five  times  over  called  by  the  name  of  Sam- 
nel,    and    the   apocryphal   Ecclesiasticiis  a&wm^  oi  Samuel,  WidX  after  his 
death  he  prophesied  :    and  several  of  the  fathers  and    of  the  school-men^ 
herein  followed  by  Alendozn,  Delrio,  Dr.  More,  Mr.  Glanvil,  and  others, 
are  of  this  opinion  :  they  imagine  with  Lyra,  that  God  then  sent  in  the 
real  Samuel,  uvlooked  for ,  as  he  came  upon  Balaam,  when  employed  about 
his  magical  impostures  :  there  are  more,  who  judge  that  it  was  a   spirit 
of  the  same  kind  with  that,  which  is  described  by  Porphyrins,  7r«v7«A*'»?- 
^«v  Tf  KC6I  JsroMl  poTTov  changiiig  themselves  into  multifarious  forms,  one  while 
acting  'he  parts  of  ucemonb,  another  while  of  angels,  and  another  while  the 
souls  of  the  deceased :   of  which  opinion  was  TertuUian,  and  the  author  of 
the  Quest.  ^  Rcsp.  ascribed  unto  Justin  Martyr,  and  the  generality  of  Pro- 
testants :  who  cannot   perswade  themselves,  that  the  Lord  would  have 
so  far  countenanced  Necromancy^  or  Psycomancy,  as  to  have  let  the  real 
Samuel  come,  upon  the  solicitations  of  an  enchantress  ;  and  that  the  real 
Samuel  would  not  have  discoursed  at  the  rate  of  the  spectre  now  exhib- 
ited. 

Let  the  disputants,  upon  this  question,  wrangle  on  ;  while  we  by  a 
very  lawful  and  laudable  art,  will  fetch  another  Samticl  from  the  dead  : 
and  by  the  happy  ?nag/cA- of  our  pen,  roader,  we  will  bring  into  the  view 
of  the  world,  a  venerable  old  man,  a  Samuel  who  shall  entertain  us  with 
none  but  comfortable  and  profitable  tidings. 


Book  III.]  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.  458 

§  2.  Mr.  Samuel  Whiting  drew  his  first  breath  at  Boston,  in  Lincolnshire, 
Nov.  20,  A.  D.  1597.  His  father  a  person  of  good  repute  there,  the 
eldest  son  among  many  brethren,  an  alderman,  and  sometimes  a  mayor  of 
the  town,  had  three  sons  ;  the  second  of  these  was  our  Samuel,  who  had 
a  learned  education  by  his  father  bestowed  upon  him,  first  at  Boston 
school,  and  then  at  the  university  of  Cambridge.  He  had  for  his  compan- 
ion in  his  education,  his  cosen  german.  the  very  renowned  Anthovy 
Tuckney,  afterwards  doctor,  and  master  of  St.  Johns  Co  Hedge  ;  they 
were  sc/iooi-fellows  at  Boston,  and  chamber  mates,  at  Cambridge  ;  they 
both  belonged  unto  Lnmaniiel-C oWeAge ,  and  they  continued  an  intimate 
friendship,  when  they  left  the  seats  of  the  muses,  which  indeed  was  not 
quenched  by  the  many  xi-aters  of  the  Atlanlick.  when  they  were  a  thousand 
leagues  asunder.  It  was  while  he  was  thus  at  the  university,  that  the 
good  Spirit  of  God  made  early  impressions  of  grace  upon  his  young  soul  ; 
and  the  cares  of  his  pious  tutor,  (1  think  Mr.  Yates}  Xo  instruct  him  in 
matters  of  religion,  as  well  as  of  literature,  were  blessed  for  the  im- 
buing of  his  mind,  with  a  tincture  of  early  piety  ;  which  was  further  ad- 
vanced by  the  ministry  of  such  preachers  as  Dr.  Sibs,  and  Dr.  Preston  : 
so  that  in  his  age  he  would  give  thanks  to  God  for  the  divine  favours 
which  he  thus  received  in  his  youth,  and  when  he  was  entering  into  his  rest, 
where  he  expected  the  most  intimate  communion  with  our  glorious  Im- 
manuel,  and  with  the  spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect,  he  could  with  joy  re- 
flect upon  the  anticipations  of  it,  which  he  enjoyed  in  the  retired  n-alk  of 
Jmmanuel-  Colled ge . 

§  3.  H.Hv\v.g  proceeded  Master  of  Arts,  he  removed  from  Cambridge, 
and  became  a  chaplain  to  Sir  JVathanael  Bacon,  and  Sir  Roger  Tomnsend, 
where  he  did  for  three  years  together,  with  prayers,  with  sermons,  with 
catechi'  iiig,  and  with  a  grave  and  wise  deportment,  serve  the  interest  of 
religioii,  in  a  family,  which  had  no  less  than  /ao  knights  ani  five  ladies  in 
it.  He  next  removed  unto  Ly7i,  in  the  county  of  Norfolk,  and  spent  an 
other  ihree  years,  as  a  collegue  in  the  ministry  of  the  gospel,  with  a  rev- 
erend nnd  excellent  man,  Mr.  Price.  But  the  great  content  which  he 
took  in  his  present  scituation,  and  society,  and  service,  was  ioterrupteU 
at  length  by  complaints  made  unto  the  Bishop  of  Nor&'kh,  for  his  non- 
conformity nnio  those  rites,  which  never  were  of  any  '.  e  in  the  church 
of  God,  but  only  to  be  tools,  by  which  the  worst  of  men  might  thrust  out 
the  best  from  serving  it.  Being  f:A.^<\  unto  the  High  ^'ommissio?i  Court,  he 
expected  that  he  should  lose  the  most  of  his  estate ,  for  his  being  a  no7\- 
conformifit ;  but  before  the  time  for  his  appearance,  according  to  the  cita- 
tion, came.  King  James  died  ;  and  so  his  trouble  at  this  time  was  divert- 
ed. The  Earl  of  Lincoln  afteT-wards  interceding  for  him,  the  Bishop 
was  willing  to  promise,  that  he  would  no  farther  -worry  I'im.  in  case  he 
would  be  gone  out  of  his  diocess,  where  he  could  not  roach  him  ;  and 
therefore  leaving  Lyii,  he  exercised  his  ministry  at  Skirbick,  near  Bos- 
ton in  Lincolnshire,  for  a  considerable  t/:/»7e.  with  no  inconsiderableyVw'f  ; 
refreshed  with  the  delightful  neighbourhood  of  hie  old  fiends,  and  espe- 
cially those  eminent  persons  Mr.  Cotton-  and  Mr  Tucki.e'"  to  both  of  whom 
he  had  some  affinity,  as  from  both  of  them,  no  little  atj.^ction. 

§  4.  Having  buried  his  first  vvife.  by  whom  he  had  three  children,  two 
sons,  who  died  in  England,  and  one  daughter,  afterwards  matched  with 
one  Mr.  Thomas  Weld,  in  another  land  ;  he  married  the  daughter  of  Mr, 
•  Oliver  St.  John,  a  Bedfordshire  gentleman,  of  an  honourable  family,  near- 
ly related  unto  the  Lord  St.  John  of  Bletso.  This  Mr.  -S^.  John.,  was  x\ 
person   of   incomparable  breeding,  vertue  and  piety  ;  euch.  that  BIr, 


454  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.       [Book  HI. 

Cotton,  who  was  well  acquainted  with  him,  said  of  him,  He  Zi-as  one  of  the 
tompleatesl  gent/einen,  'j^'ithout  affectation,  that  ever  he  knew.  And  this  his 
daughter  was  a  person  of  singular  piet}'  and  gravity  ;  one  who  by  her 
discretion  freed  her  husband  from  all  seaiJar  avocations  ;  one  who  up- 
held a  daily  and  constant  communion  with  God,  in  the  devotions  of  her 
closet;  one,  who  not  only  -sroie  the  sermons  that  she  heard  on  the  Lord's 
days  with  much  dexterity,  but  lived  them,  and  lived  on  them  all  the  week. 
The  usual  phras(^  for  an  excellent  -woman,  among  the  ancient  Jews  was, 
one  who  deserves  to  marry  a  priest :  even  such  an  excellent  woman,  was 
now  married  unto  Mr.  Whiting.  This  gentlewoman  having  stayed  with 
her  worthy  consort  forty-seven  years,  went  in  the  seventy-third  year  of 
his  age,  unto  him  to  whom  her  said  had  been  some  scores  of  years  espous- 
ed. Mr.  JVhiiiag  had  by  her  four  sons  and  two  daughters.  'J  hree  of 
the  sons  lived  unto  the  estate  and  stature  of  men  ;  and  had  a  learned  edu- 
cation. Samuel  is  at  this  day  a  reverend,  holy  and  faithful  minister  of 
the  gospel,  in  the  .Hcw-English  town  of  Billcricu  :  John  was  intended  for 
a  physician,  but  became  n  preacher,  tirst  at  Bultcrwich,  then  at  Ltverton 
in  Lincolnshire  where  he  died  ei  godly  conformist :  Joseph  is,  at  this  day, 
a  worthy  and  painful  minister  of  the  gospel,  at  Southavipton  upon  Long- 
Island. 

§  5.  After  he  had  abode  several  years  at  Skirbick,  soon  after  Mr.  Cot- 
ton's removal,  he  fell  into  such  trouble,  for  his  non- conformity  to  the  ra- 
nites,  which  men  had  received  by  tradition  from  their  Y'o^'ish  fathers,  and 
this  through  the  complaint  of  the  same  unhappy  man,  it  is  said,  who  pro- 
cured the  trouble  of  Mr.  Cotton,   that  he  found   he  must   be  gone :  but 
J^''ezi}- England  offered  it  self  as  the  most  hopeful  and  quiet,  and  indeed 
the  only  place  that  he  could  be  gone  unto       The   ecclesiastical   sharks 
then  drove  this  Whiting  over  the  Atlantic  sea,   unto  the  American  strand. 
Let  it  not  be  a  matter  of  wonder,  that  persons  of  a  conscience  rightly  in- 
formed and  inclined,   chose  rather  to  undergo   an    uncomfortable    exile 
from  the  best  island  under  Heaven,   to   as   hard   a  desart  as  any  upon 
earth,  rather  than  to  conform  to  the  ceremonies  of  the  English  Liturgy, 
If  the  things  had  been  as  lawful  in  the  judgment  of  the  sufferers,  as  they 
were  in  the  pretences  of  the  impossrs.  they  were  not  so  fond  of  miseries 
as  to  have  refused  conformity.      But  it  was  of  old   observed,  that  when 
siiful  things   were  commanded,  AyUl  obstinacius   Christiano,    nothing  is 
more  obstinate  than  a  christian  dissenter  ;  and  it  is  a  commendable  obsti- 
nacy .'     I'he  faithful  in  Tertultian''s  time,  would  undergo  any  thing  rath- 
er than  use   the  ceremonies  of  idolaters,   though  they   might  have   used 
them  to  another  end,  and  with  another  inind  than  they.     The  first  planters 
of  A''ew-England  knew,   that  the  ceremonies  retained  in  the  Church   of 
England,  had  been  first  invented  and  practised  by  idolaters:  and  know- 
ing that  all  the  abominations  of  the  Popish  J\Iass,  originally  sprang  from 
an  imposed  Liturgy,  they  thought  it  no  nicety  to  have  declined  all  compli- 
ance with  such  a  thing,  though  they  should  not  have  had  as   they   had, 
numberless  objections  against  it.     The  very  words  used  in  the  7-ites  then 
required,  were  feared  by  those  good  men,  as  dangerous  ;  after  they  read 
those  words  of  the  Rhemists,  While  they  say,  ministers,  let  us  say,  priests  ; 
•when  they  call  it,  a  communion  table,  let  us  call  it,  an  altar.     Let  us  keep 
our  old  words,  and  we  shall  keep  our  old  things,  our  religion.      But  much 
more  did  these  good  men  fear  the  rites  of  things  themselves  ;  especially 
when  they  saw  them  to  be  not  only  unscriptural  and  uninstituied,  but  al- 
so of  pernicious  consequence  to  the  very  vitals  of  religion.     For  this  they 
had  the  example  of  Peter  Martyr,  who  wished,  that  the  reformed  church- 


Book  III.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  453 

es,  keeping  up  these  things  would  be  sensible,  Evangelium  Us  manentibus, 
noil  autis  cssefirmuin;  that  the  gospel  cannot  be  secure,  while  the  cere- 
7no7iies  continue  :  they  had  the  example  o[  .Martin  Bjicer,  who  complain- 
ed, that  the  ceremonies  and  the  preaching  of  the  "ji'ord,  mutually  expel  one 
another.  Where  knozvledge  through  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  prevails, 
there  the  love  ofthese  withers,  and  where  the  love  ofihese  prevails,  there 
knowledge  decays  :  they  had  the  example  of  the  divines  of  Hamburgh, 
who  looked  upon  such  ceremonies  to  be  the  Cuniculi,  the  secret  m.ines  by 
which  the  Papists  would  convey  themselves  under  our  foundations,  and 
overthrow  our  churches.  And  if  they  did  then  entertain  Austin's  fear, 
In  Multitudine  Cei  emoniaruin periclitatur  Fides ;  I  wish  the  event  had  less 
confirmed  it.  It  is  very  certain,  in  the  English  na'ion,  they  served  only 
as  Gileadites,  to  keep  the  passages  of  the  church,  so  that  no  minister,  how 
able  or  worthy  soever  could  pass,  unless  he  could  pronounce  that  Shib- 
boleth. And  if  the  man  of  Bern,  mentioned  by  Melancthon,  who  would 
rather  be  martyred  than  observe  one  fast  in  the  Popish  manner,  were  to 
be  commended  for  his  fidelity  to  Christ,  though  it  seemed  such  a  little 
matter,  these  good  men  must  not  be  vpruached  for  this,  that  they  would 
rather  be  exiled  than  to  conform  to  those  things,  which  were  like  the 
pretended  indifferent  things,  imposed  in  the  old  German  instrument  call- 
ed the  Interim,  namely  Semina  Corrvptclcc,  the  seeds  of  Romish  corrup- 
tion. It  is  time  for  me  now,  without  any  further  observation,  to  add 
concerning  our  Whiting.  His  vertuous  consort  was  far  from  discourag- 
ing him,  through  any  unwillingness  in  her  to  forsake  her  native  country, 
or  expose  her  own  person  first  unto  the  hazards  of  the  ocean,  and  then  unto 
the  sorrows  of  a  wilderness :  but  though  some  of  her  friends  were  miich 
against  it,  yet  she  rather  forwarded  than  hindred  her  husband's  inclina- 
tion for  America.  When  he  j-hipped  himself,  he  took  with  him  all  that 
he  had  ;  and  whereas  he  might  have  reserved  his  lands  in  England, 
Avhich  would  have  yielded  him  a  considerable  annual  revenue,  and  nota- 
ble accession  to  the  small  salary,  which  he  was  afterwards  put  off  with- 
al ;  yet  judging  that  he  never  should  return  to  England  any  more,  he 
sold  all,  saying,  /  am  going  into  the  wilderness  to  a  sacrifice  unto  the  Lord^ 
and  I  will  not  leave  an  hoof  behind  me. 

He  took  shipping  about  the  beginning  of  April,  1636,  and  arrived  May 
26,  after  he  had  been  so  very  sick  all  the  way,  that  he  could  preach  but 
one  sermon  all  the  while  ;  and  he  would  say,  that  he  had  much  rather  have 
undegone  six  weeks  imprisonment  for  a  good  cause,  than  to  undergo  six 
weeks  of  such  terrible  sea-sickness  as  he  had  now  been  tried  withal. 

But  in  a  sermon  after  his  arrival,  he  thus  expressed  his  apprehen- 
sions and  consolations  : 

'  We  in  this  country  have  left  our  near  and  our  dear  friends  :  but  if 
'  we  can  get  nearer  to  God  here,  he  will  be  instead  of  all,  and  more  than 
'  all  unto  us  :  He  hath  all  the  fulness  of  all  the  sweetest  relations  bound 
'  up  in  him.  We  may  bike  out  of  God,  which  we  forsook  in  father,  mo- 
'  ther,  brother,  sister,  friends  that  hath  been  as  near,  and  as  dear  as  our 
*  own  soul.' 

§  6.  When  he  came  ashore,  his  friends  at  the  jYezv-Enghsh  Boston, 
with  many  of  whom  he  had  been  acquainted  in  Lincoln  shire,  let  him 
know  how  glad  they  were  to  see  him  ;  and  having  lodged  about  a  month 
with  his  kinsman,  Mr.  Adderton  Haugh,  he  removed  unto  Lijn,  the  church 
there  inviting  him  to  be  their  pastor  ;  and  in  the  pastoral  care  of  that 
flock,  he  spent  all  the  rest  of  his  days.  The  year  following  Mr  Thomas 
Cobbet  followed  him  ;  and  soon  after  his  arrival  at  New-England,  be- 


456  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW -ENGLAND.        [Book  Ih 

came  his  coUegue,  in  the  service  of  the  church  at  Lyn.  Great  was  the 
love  that  sweetned  the  labours,  and  whole  conversation  and  vicinity  of 
these  fellow -labourers  ;  the  rays  with  which  they  illuminated  the  house 
of  God,  sweetly  united;  they  were  almost  everyday  together,  and  thought 
it  a  long  dayi(  they  were  not  so  ;  one  rarely  travelling  abroad  without 
the  other  :  and  these  two  angehck  men  seemed  willing  to  give  one  ano- 
ther as  little  jostle,  as  the  angels  upon  Jacobus  ladder  did  unto  one  anoth- 
er, while  one  was  descending,  and  another  ascending  there.  How  little 
stipends  these  great  servants  of  the  church,  were  oppressed,  but  yet  con- 
tented withal,  may  be  gathered  from  this  one  story. 

The  ungrateful  inhabitants  of  Lyn,  one  year  passed  a  town  vote,  that 
they  could  not  allow  their  ministers  above  thirty  pounds  apiece,  that 
year  for  their  salary  :  and  behold,  the  God  who  will  not  be  mocked, 
immediately  caused  the  town  to  lose  three  hundred  pounds,  in  that  one 
specie  of  their  cattel,  by  one  disaster. 

However,  Mr.  Whiting  found  such  a  blessing  of  God  upon  his  little, 
that  he  would  cheerfully  say.  He  questioned  whether,  if  he  had  abode  in 
England,  where  Jds^^means  were  much  more  considerable,  he  could  have 
brought  up  three  sons  at  the  university  there,  as  he  did  at  HaxnTd-Colledgc 
here.  But  after  they  had  lived  about  a  score  of  years  together,  Mr.  Cob- 
bet  was,  upon  the  death  of  Mr.  Rogers,  translated  unto  Ipswich  ;  from  this 
time  was  Mr.  Whiting  mostly  alone  in  his  ministry  ;  and  yet  not  alone,  be- 
cause  the  Heavenly  Father  was  with  him.  And  as  he  drew  near  his  end, 
he  had  his  youngest  son  for  his  assistant. 

In  the  sixty  third  year  of  his  age,  A  D.  1659,  he  began  to  be  visited 
with  the  grinding  and  painful  disease  of  the  stone  in  the  bladder,  with 
which  he  was  much  exercised,  [and  the  reader  that  knows  any  thing  of 
it,  will  say  it  was  exercise  enough]  until  he  came  to  be,  where  the  weary 
are  at  rest.  He  bore  his  aflfliction  with  incomparable  patience  ;  and 
he  had  one  favour  which  he  much  asked  of  God,  that  though  small 
stones,  with  great  pains,  often  proceeded  from  him,  and  he  scarce  enjoy- 
ed one  day  of  perfect  ease,  after  this,  until  he  died  ;  yet  it  is  not  re- 
membred,  that  he  v/as  ever  hindred  thereby  one  day  from  his  publick 
services.  And  whereas  it  was  expected,  both  by  himself  and  others, 
that  as  he  grew  in  j^ears,  the  torments  of  his  malady  would  grow  upon 
him,  it  proved  much  otherwise  ;  the  torments  and  complaints  of  his 
distemper  abated,  as  his  age  increased-  At  length  a  senile  atrophy  came 
upon  him,  with  a  wasting  /)iarr/iffa,  which  brought  Lj/n.  into  darkness, 
December  11,  1679,  ia  the  eighty  third  year  of  hh  peregrination. 

§  7.  For  his  learning  he  was  many  ways  well  accomplished  :  especially 
he  was  accurate  in  Hebrew,  in  which  primitive  and  expressive  language, 
be  took  much  delight ;  and  he  was  elegant  in  Latin,  whereof  among  other 
demonstrations  he  gave  one,  in  an  oration  at  one  of  our  commencements  : 
and  much  of  his  vacant  hours  he  employed  in  history  :  history,  which 
oade  good  unto  him  her  ancient  character  ; 

Omnis  nunc  nostro  pendet  Prudentia  Sensv, 
Riteque  nil,  nostra,  qui  caret  Arte,  sapit. 

History,  whose  great  votary  Polybius,  truly  asserts,  JVidla  hominibusfa' 
cilior  ad  Vitce  institutionem  viva  est,  quam  Rerum  ante  gestarum  Cognitio, 
And  he  was  no  less  a  man  of  temper,  than  of  learning  :  the  peculiar 
sweetness  and  goodness  of  his  temper,  must  be  an  essential  stroke  in  his 
character  ;  he  was  wonderfully  happy  in  his  meek,,  his  composed,  his 


IJooK  III.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  457 

peaceable  disposition  :  and  his  meekness  of  wisdom  out-shone  all  his 
other  attainments  in  learning  ;  for  there  is  no  humane  literature  so  hard- 
ly attained,  as  the  discretion  of  a  man  to  regulate  his  anger.  His  very 
countenance  had  an  amiable  smile  continually  sweetning  of  it  :  and  his 
face  herein  was  but  the  true  image  of  his  mind,  which  like  the  upper 
regions  was  marvellously  free  from  the  storms  of  passions. 

In  prosperity  he  was  not  much  elated,  in  adversity  he  was  not  much 
dejected  ;  under  provocations  he  would  scorn  to  be  provoked.  When 
the  Lord  would  not  express  himself  unio  Elijah  in  the  wind,  nor  in  the 
earthquake,  nor  in  the  tire,  but  in  the  still  voice,  1  suspect,  lest  one  t!ung 
intended  among  others,  might  be  an  admonition  unto  the  prophet  him- 
self, to  beware  of  the  boisterous,  uneven,  intlaaied  efforts,  whereto  his 
natural  constitution  might  be  ready  to  betray  him. 

This- worthy  man,  as  taking  that  admonition,  was  for  doing  every  thing 
with  a  still  voice.  He  knew  himself  to  be  born,  as  all  men  are,  with  at 
least  a  dozen  passions  ;  but  being  also  nezn  born,  he  did  not  allow  himself 
to  be  hagridden  with  the  enchantmenls  thereof  The  philosopher  of  old, 
called  our  passions,  by  the  just  name  of  unnurtured  dogs  ;  but  these  dogs  do 
often  worry  the  children  of  God  themselves  ;  even  a  great  Luther,  who 
removed  the  foulest  abominations  out  of  the  house  of  God,  could  not 
hinder  these  dogs  from  infecting  of  his  own  heart  :  however,  this  excel- 
lent (because  cool,  therefore  excellent)  spirited  person,  kept  these  dogs 
with  a  strong  chain  upon  them  ;  and  since-  man  was  created  with  a  do- 
minio  nover  the  beasts  of  the  tield,  he  would  not  let  the  ^--}/»«  rhg  ■<pvx^?, 
hold  him  in  any  slavery.  He  lived  as  under  the  eye  and  awe  of  the  great 
God ;  and  as  Basil  noted.  Potest  Miles  coru/n  Rege  suo  non  irasci,  oh  solum 
Regice  majestatis  Erainentiam:  thus  the  fear  of  God  still  restrained  him 
from  those  ebullitions  of  wrath  which  other  men  are  too  fearless  of.  As 
virulent  a  pen  as  ever  blotted  paper  in  the  English  nation,  pretends  to 
observe,  Tnat  some  men  will  pray  with  the  ardonrs  of  an  angel,  love  God 
with  ruptures  of  joy  and  delight,  be  transported  zcith  deep  and  pathetick  de- 
votions, talk  of  nothing  but  the  unspeakable  pleasures  of  communion  with 
the  Lord  Jesus,  be  ravished  with  devout  and  seraphick  meditations  of  Heaven, 
and  like  the  blessed  spirits  there,  seem  to  relish  nothing  but  spiritual  delights 
and  entertainments:  who  when  they  return  from  their  trayisjigu ration,  to 
their  ordinary  converse  with  men,  are  churlish  as  a  cynick,  passionate  as 
an  angry  wasp .  envious  as  a  studious  dunce,  and  insolent  as  a  female  tyrant  ; 
proud  and  haughty  in  their  deportment ;  peevish,  petulant,  and  self-willed, 
impatient  of  contradiction,  implacable  in  their  anger,  rude  and  imperious 
in  all  their  conversation,  and  made  up  of  nothing  but  pride,  malice  and 
peevishness.  But  if  any  have  ever  given  occasion  for  this  observation, 
there  was  none  given  by  our  IVhiting,  who  would  have  thought  himself 
a  tish  out  of  his  element,  if  he  had  ever  been  at  any  time  any  where 
but  in  the  Pacifick  Sea.  and  from  this  account  of  his  temper,  I  may  now 
venture  to  proceed  unto  hi^  vertue  ;  by  v»hich  I  intend  the  holiness  of 
his  renewed  heart  and  life,  and  the  change  made  by  the  supernatural 
grace  of  Christ  upon  him,  without  which  all  vertue  is  but  a  name,  a  sham, 
a  fiction.  He  was  a  very  holy  man  ;  as  the  ancients  hath  assured  us, 
Ama  Scientiam  Scripturarum  4*  Vitia  Carnis  non  .imabis  :  thus  by  reading 
daily  several  chapters  in  both  test;tm?nts  of  the  scriptures,  with  serious 
and  gracious  reflections  thereupon,  which  he  still  followed  with  secret 
prayers  he  grew  more  holy  continually,  until  in  a  flourishing  old  age,  he 
was  found  fit  tor  transplantation. 

Vol.   f  SR 


45»  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  HL 

His  worship  in  his  family,  was  that  which  argued  him  a  true  child  oi 
Abraham;  and  his  counsel  to  his  children,  was  grave,  watchful,  useful, 
savoury,  and  very  memorable.  And  if  meditation  (which  was  one  of 
Luther''s  great  things  to  make  a  divine)  be  a  thing  of  no  little  consequence 
to  make  a  Christian,  this  must  be  numbered  among  the  exercises  whereby 
our  IVliiting  became  very  much  improved  in  Christianity.  Meditation 
(which  is  Mentis- Dilatio)  daily  enriched  his  mind  with  the  dispositions 
of  Heaven  ;  and  having  a  -walk  for  that  purpose  in  his  orchard,  some  of 
his  flock  that  saw  him  constantly  taking  his  turns  in  that  walk,  with  hand, 
and  eye,  and  soul,  often  directed  heavenward,  would  say,  There  does 
our  dear  pastor  -walk  with  God  everxj  day. 

In  fine,  as  the  Apostle  Peter  says,  They  that  obey  not  the  word,  yet  with 
fear  behold  the  chast  conversation  of  them  who  do.  And  as  Ignatius  de- 
scribes the  pastor  of  the  Trallians,  for  one  of  such  a  sanctity  of  life,  that 
the  greatest  Atheist  would  have  been  afraid  to  have  looked  upon  him  :  even  so 
the  natural  conscience  in  the  worst  of  men,  paid  an  homage  of  reverence 
to  this/io/y  man,  where  ever  he  came. 

§  8.  Though  he  spent  his  time  chiefly  in  his  beloved  study,  yet  he 
would  sometimes  visit  his  flock  ;  but  in  his  visit,  he  made  conscience 
of  entertaining  his  neighbours  with  no  discourse  but  what  should  be 
grave,  and  wise,  and  profitable  ;  as  knowing  that,  Qt<o?  sunt  in  Ore  Popitli 
A''iigie,  sunt  in  Ore  Pastoiis  Blasphcmice.  And  sometimes  an  occasional 
word  let  fall  by  him,  hath  had  a  notable  efi'ect  :  once  particularly,  in  a 
journey  being  at  an  inn  upon  the  road,  he  over-heard  certain  people  in 
the  next  room,  so  merry,  as  to  be  too  loud  and  rude  in  their  7nirth  ; 
wherefore,  as  he  passed  by  the  doer,  he  looked  in  upon  them,  and  with 
a  sweet  majesty,  only  dropt  those  words  :  Friends,  if  you  are  sure  that 
your  sins  are  pardoned,  you  may  be  wisely  merry.  And  these  words  not 
only  stilled  all  their  noise  for  the  present,  but  also  had  a  great  eflect  af- 
terwards upon  some  of  the  company.  Indeed,  his  conversation  preach- 
ed where-ever  he  was  ;  as  being  sensible  of  the  Jewish  proverb,  Pro- 
pheta  qui  transgreditur  Prophetiam  suam propriam  Mors  ejus  est  in  Mart' 
ibus  Dfi :  but  in  the  pulpit  he  laboured  especially  to  approve  himself  a 
preacher.  In  his  preaching  his  design  was,  Prodesse  magis  q^tam  pla- 
cere :  and  his  practice  was,  JVon  aha  sed  apta  proferre.  But  what  a 
proper  and  useful  speaker  he  was,  we  may  gather  from  what  we  find  him, 
when  a  writer. 

There  are  especially  two  books,  wherein  we  have  him  yet  living 
among  us.  In  the  fate  and  fire  of  Sodom,  there  was  a  notable  type  of 
the  conflagration,  that  will  arrest  this  polluted  world  at  the  day  of  judg- 
ment :  and  the  famous  prayer  of  Abraham,  (who  as  R.  Bechai  imagines, 
had  some  hope,  when  he  deprecated  that  mine  for  the  sake  of  ten  right- 
eous ones,  that  Lot,  and  his  wife,  and  the  four  daughters  which  traditioa 
hath  assigned  him,  and  his  four  sons-in-law,  would  have  made  up  the- 
number)  on  that  occasion,  is  indeed  a  very  rich  portion  of  scripture. 
Now  our  Whiting  published  a  volume  of  sermons  upon  that  prayer  of 
Abraham  ;  wherein  he  does  raise,  confirm,  and  apply  thirty-two  doctrines, 
which  he  offered  unto  the  publick  (as  he  says  in  his  preface)  as  the 
words  of  a  dying  man  ;  hoping,  that  as  Constanline  the  Great  would 
stoop  so  low,  as  to  kiss  Paphnutius^  maimed  eye,  so  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  would  condescend  to  put  marks  of  his  favour,  on  (that  which  he 
humbly  calls.)  a  maimed  work.  But  that  which  encouraged  him  unto  this 
publication,  was  the  acceptance  which  it  had,  before  this,  been  found 
by  another  treatise  of  his  upon  the  day  of  judgment  it  self.     In  the  ffty- 


Book  III.]  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  4S9 

eighth  chapter  of  Isaiah,  the  Lord  promises  a  time  of  wondrous  light 
and  joy,  unto  his  restored  people,  and  the  consolations  of  a  lasting 
sabbatism  :  things  to  be  accomplished  at  the  second  coming  of  onv  Lord. 
Now  to  prepare  for  that  blessedness,  those  very  things  be  required 
which  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  afterwards  mentioned,  in  the  izn-enty-Jiffh 
chapter  of  AJatthew,  as  the  qualitications  of  those  whom  he  will  admit 
into  his  blessed  kingdom.  There  seems,  at  least,  a  little  reason  for  it, 
that  at  the  second  coming  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  one  of  the  first 
things  will  be  a  glorious  translation,  wherein  the  members  of  christian 
churches  will  be  called  before  him,  and  be  examined,  in  order  to  the  dc' 
termination  of  their  state  under  the  JVew  Jerusalem,  that  is  to  follow  : 
either  to  take  their  part  in  the  glories  of  that  city,  and  kingdom,  for  the 
thousand  years  to  come,  and  by  consequence  what  ensues  thereupon  ;  or  to 
be  exiled  into  the  confusions  of  them  that  are  to  be  without.  Now  though 
'tis  possible,  that  whole  discourse  of  our  Lord,  may  nextly  refer  to  no 
more  than  this  transaction,  yet  inasmuch  as  the  generality  of  inter- 
preters have  carried  it  unto  the  more  general  and  ultimate  proceedings 
of  the  last  judgment,  our  Whiting  did  so  too  ;  and  he  has  given  us  forty- 
two  doctrines  thereupon,  so  handled  as  to  suit  the  edification  of  all  read- 
ers. The  notes  are  short,  and  but  the  concise  heads  of  what  the  author 
prepared  for  his  weekly  exercises;  nevertheless  Mr.  Wilson,  and  ^Iv.Mitch- 
el,  observe  in  their  preface  thereunto  :  That  the  reader  by  having  viuch  in 
o,  little  room,  is  the  better  furnished  with  variety  of  matter,  worthy  of 
meditation,  for  want  of  which  many  a  man  does  digest  little  of  what  he 
reads.  They  say,  'It  is  a  good  saying  of  one,  that  the  reading  of  many 
'  diverse  heads,  without   some  interlaced  meditation,    is  like  eating  of  mar- 

*  row  without  bread.  But  he  that  shall  take  time  to  pause  upon  what 
'  he  reads  (where  great  truths  are  but  in  few  xcords  hinted  at)  with  in- 
'  termixed  meditations  and  ejaculations,  suitable   to  the   matter  in  hand, 

*  will  find  such  truths  concisely  delivered,  to  be  like  marrow  and  fat- 
'  ness,  whereof  a  little  does  go  far,  and  feed  much. 

jBut  a  little  poetry  must  now  wait  upon  the  memory  of  this  worthy  man. 


UPON    THE    VERY     REVEREND 

SAMUEL  WHITING. 

Mount  fame,  the  glorious  chariot  of  the  sun  ; 
Through  the  world's  cirque,  all  you,  her  heralds,  run^ 
And  let  this  great  saint's  merits  be  reveal'd. 
Which,  during  life,  he  studiously  conceal'd. 
Cite  all  the  Levites,  fetch  the  sons  of  art. 
In  these  our  dolours  to  sastain  a  part. 
Warn  all  that  value  worth,  and  every  one 
Within  their  eyes  to  bring  an  Helicon. 
For  in  this  single  person  we  have  lost 
More  riches,  than  an  India  has  engrost. 

When  Wilson,  that  plerophory  of  love, 
t)id  from  our  banks,  up  to  his  center  move. 
Rare  Whiting  qnotes  CoJumbus  on  this  coast, 
Producing  g-ems,  of  which  a  King  might  boast. 


466  THE  HIS-^^ORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  ill. 

More  sple.ndid  f.'.r  than  ever  Aaron  u'ore, 

Wiihiu  iiis  breast,  this  sarred  Father  bore. 

Sound  doctrine  Urim.  in  his  holy  cell, 

And  ail  perfections  Thummim  there  did  dwell. 

Hia  holy  vesture  was  his  innocence. 

His  speech  embroideries  of  ciiriaus  sence. 

S;]ch  awful  gravitij  this  doctor  us'd, 

As  if  an  angel  every  word  infus'd. 

No  turj^ent  stue,  but  Asiatic  store  ; 

Conduits  were  almost  full,  seldom  run  o're 

1  he  ba7iks  of  Time  :  come  visit  when  yon  will. 

The  streams  of  nectar  were  descending  still : 

Much  like  Septemflnous  jYj'/tfs,  rising  so. 

He   watered  rhnstiiins  ronnd.  and  made  them  grow. 

His  modest  ic'/u'spers  conM  the  conscience  rewch, 

As  well  as  whir'zsinds,  which  some  others  preach  : 

No  Boanerges,  yet  could  touch  the  heart, 

And  clench  r.is  doctrine  by  the  meekest  art. 

His  learning  and  his  language,  might  become 

A  province  not  inferiour  to  Rome. 

Glurious  was  Europe's  heaven  when  such  as  these 

Stars  of  his  size,  shone  in  each  diocess. 

Who  writ'st  the  fathers  lives,  eitlicr  make  room, 
Or  with  his  name  begin  your  second  tome. 
Ag'd  Polycnrp,  deep  Origen,  and  such 
Whose  worth  your  qvills ;  your  xcits  noi  them,  enrich  ; 
Lac>antius,  Cyprian,  Basil  too  the  great, 
i^uaint  Jerom,  Austin  of  the  foremost  seat, 
With  i?m6rose,  and  more  of  the  highest  class, 
lo  Christ  s  great  school,  with  honour,  1  let  pass  ; 
And  humbly  pay  my  debt  to  [r/«>{??o-'s  ghost, 
Of  whom  both  Englands,  may  with  reason  boas':. 
JSMiions  foi  men  of  lesser  worth  have  strove, 
To  have  Xhefamc,  and,  in  transports  of  love^ 
Built  temples,  or  tixed  statues  of  pure  gold. 
And  their  vast  worth  to  after-ages  told. 
His  modesty  forbad  so  fair  a  tomb. 
Who  in  ten  thousand  hearts  obtain'd  a  room 

What  sw  eet  composures  in  his  angel's  face  / 
What  soft  affections  melting  gleams  of  grace  '■ 
How  mildly  pleasant  !  by  his  closed  lips, 
Ilhefoiick''s  bright  body  sullers  an  eclipse. 
Should  half  his  sentences  be  truly  numbred. 
And  weighed  in  wisilom's  scales,  'twould  spoil  'dLombard  . 
And  churches  homilies,  but  homily  be, 
If  venerable  V.  hiting,  set  by  thee. 
Profoundest  jHf/o^/nen^  with  a  meekness  rare, 
Preferr'd  him  to  the  m"derator''s  chair  j 
Where  like  truth's  champion,  with  his  piercing  eye. 
He  eilenc'd  errors,  and  made  Hectors  fly. 
Soft  ansxvcrs  quell  hot  passions  ;  ne'er  too  soft 
Where  solid  Judgment  is  enthron'd  aloft. 


Book  III.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  461 

Church  doctors  nre  my  witnesses,  that  here 

.Affections  always  kept  thew proper  sphere, 

\v  ithout  those  wilder  eccentricities. 

Which  spot  the  fairest  fields  of  men  most  wise. 

In  pleasant  places  fall  that  peoples  line. 

Who  have  but  shadows  of  men  thus  divine. 

Much  more  their  presence,  and  heaven-piercing  proj/e?v. 

Thus  many  years  to  mind  our  soul-afiairs. 

A  poorest  soil  oft  has  the  richest  mine  ; 

This  weighty  oar,  poor  Lyn  was  lately  thine. 

O  wondrous  mercy  !  but  this  glorious  light 

Hath  left  thee  in  the  terrors  of  the  night. 

JVexc-Eng/and,  didst  thou  know  this  mighty  one, 

His  weight  and  worth,  thou'dst  think  thyself  «7i(ioHe  r 

One  of  thy  golden  chariots,  which  among 

The  clergy,  rendered  thee  a  i/toiisa?7f/ strong  : 

One,  who  tor  learning,  wisdom,  grace,  and  years, 

Among  the  Levites  hath  not  many  peers  : 

One,  yet  with  God  a  kind  of  heavenly  band, 

Who  did  whole  regiments  ofwoes  withstand  : 

07ie,  that  pevail'd  with  Heaven  ;  one  greatly  mist 

On  earth  ;  he  gain'd  of  Christ  whate'er  he  list  : 

One  of  a  world  ;   who  was  both  born  and  bred 

At  ■wisdom'' s  feet,  hard  by  ihe  fountain^ s  head. 

The  loss  of  such  an  one,  would  fetch  a  tear, 

From  JViobe  her  self  if  she  were  here. 


What  qualifies  our  grief,  centers  in  this, 
Be  our  loss  near  so  great,  the  gain  is  his. 


B.   'FuOKtso.^ 


We  will   now  leave  him,  with  such  a  distich,  as  JViaandus  provider; 
for  his  oxvn 

EPITAPH. 

InChristo  Vixi,Morior,  Vivoq;  Whiti.vgvs  ; 
Do  Sondes  Alorti,  catera,  Christe,  Tibi. 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

The  Life  @f  Mr.  John  Sherman. 

Vetustas  judicavit  Honestum,  nt  Mortui  Laudarentur.     Thucid 

§  1.  That  great  Athanasius,  whom  some  of  the  ancients  iu.-tly  called. 
Fropugnaculvm  Veritatis,  others  Lumen  Ecclesiw,  others,  Orbis  Oraculum, 
is  in  the  funeral  oration  of  Gregory  Kazianzen,  on  him  so  set  forth  :  To 
/;omme/ici  Athanasius,  is  to  praise  vertue  it  self.  My  pen  is  now  falling  up- 
on the  memory  of  a  person,  whom,  if  I  should  not  commend  unto  the 
church  of  God,  I  should  refuse  to  praise  vertue  itself,  with  learning,  ■wis- 
dom, and  all  the  qualities  (hat  would  render  any  person  amiable.  1  shall 
proceed  then  with  the  endeavour  of  my  pen,  to  imw.ortalize  ]\\?  memory.. 


4lfe  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  HI 

that  the  signification  of  the  name  ^thanasius,  may  belong  unto  him,  as 
much  as  the  grace  for  which  that  great  man  was  exemplary. 

§  2.  Mr.  John  Sherman  was  born  of  godly  and  worthy  parents,  Dec. 
26,  1613,  in  the  town  of  Dedham,  in  the  county  of  Essex.  While  he 
was  yet  a  child,  the  instruction  of  his  parents,  joined  with  the  ministry 
of  the  famous  Rogers,  produced  in  him,  that  early  remembrance  of  his 
Creator,  which  more  than  a  little  encouraged  them  to  pursue  and  expect 
the  good  eft'ects  of  the  dedication,  which  they  had  made  of  him,  unto  the 
service  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  in  the  work  of  the  gospel.  His  educa- 
tion at  school  was  under  a  learned  master,  who  so  much  admired  his 
youthful  piety,  industry  and  ingenuity,  that  he  never  bestowed  any  chas- 
tisement upon  him  ;  except  once  for  his  giving  the  heads  of  sermons  to  his 
idle  school-mates,  when  an  account  thereof  was  demanded  from  them. 
So  studious  was  he,  that  next  unto  communion  with  his  God,  he  delighted 
in  communion  with  his  tool  nad  he  studied  nothing  more,  than  to  be  an 
exception  unto  that  ancient  and  general  complaint,  Quern  mihi  dabis,  qui 
Diem  (Bstimet  ? 

§  3.  Early  ripe  for  it,  he  went  into  the  university  of  Cambridge, 
where  being  admitted  into  hnmanuel-Colledge ,  and  instructed  successive- 
ly by  two  very  considerable  tutors,  his  proficiency  still  bore  proportion 
to  his  means,  but  out-went  the  proportion  of  his  years.  When  his  turn 
came  to  be  a  graduate,  he  seriously  considered  the  subscription  required 
of  him  ;  and  upon  invincible  arguments,  became  so  dissatisfied  therewith- 
al, that  advising  with  Mr.  Rogers,  Dr.  Preston,  and  other  eminent  persons, 
who  commending  his  con'scieiitious  consideration,  counselled  his  remove, 
he  went  away  under  the  persecuted  character  of  a  Colledge- Puritan. 
The  same  that  occasioned  his  removal  from  the  colledge,  in  a  little  time 
occasioned  also  his  removal  from  the  kingdom  ;  for  upon  mature  deliber- 
ation, after  extraordinary  addresses  to  Heaven  for  direction,  he  embark- 
ed himself,  with  several  famous  divines,  who  came  over  in  the  year 
1634,  hoping  that  by  going  over  the  water,  they  should  in  this  be  like 
men  going  under  the  earth,  lodged  where  the  wicked  would  cease  from 
troubling  and  the  weary  be  at  rest. 

§  4.  So  much  was  religion  the  ^rst  sought,  of  the  first  come,  into  this 
country,  that  they  solemnly  offered  up  their  praises  unto  Him  that  inhab- 
its the  praises  of  Israel,  before  they  had  provided  habitations,  wherein  to 
offer  those  praises.  A  day  nf  thanksgiving  was  now  kept  by  the  christians 
of  a  new  hive,  here  called  Water-Town,  under  a  tree ;  on  which  thanks- 
giving, Mr.  Sherman  preached  his  first  sermon,  as  an  assistant  unto  Mr. 
Philips  :  there  being  present  many  other  divines,  who  wondred  exceed- 
ingly to  hear  a  subject  so  accurately  and  excellently  handled  by  one  that. 
had  never  before  performed  any  such  publick  exercise. 

§  6.  He  continued  not  many  weeks  at  Water-Town,  before  he  remov- 
ed, upon  mature  advice,  unto  JVew- Haven  ;  where  he  preached  occasion- 
ally in  most  of  the  towns  then  belonging  to  that  colony  :  but  with  such 
deserved  acceptance,  that  Mr.  Hooker,  and  Mr.  Stone  being  in  an  assem- 
bly of  ministers,  that  met  after  a  sermon  of  our  young  5/»erm«?i,  pleasantly 
said.  Brethren,  we  must  look  to  our  selves,  and  our  ministry  ;  for  this  young 
divine  will  out-do  us  all.  ' 

Here,  though  he  had  an  importunate  invitation  unto  a  settlement  iti 
Milford,  yet  he  not  only  declined  it  out  of  an  ingenuous  jealousy,  lest 
the  worthy  person  who  must  have  been  his  collegve.  should  have  thereby 
suffered  some  inconveniences,  but  also  for  a  little  while,  upon  that,  and. 
Some  other  siirh  account.=  ,  he  wholly  suspended  the  exercise  of  his  min*. 


Book  III.]        THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  463 

istry.  Hereupon  the  zealous  affection  of  the  people  to  him  appeared, 
in  their  chusing  him  a  magistrate  of  the  colony  ;  in  which  capacity,  he 
served  the  publick,  with  an  exemplary  discretion  and  fidelity,  until  a 
fresh  opportunity  lor  the  exercise  of  his  ministry,  within  two  or  three 
years,  offered  it  self;  and  then  all  the  importunity  used  by  the  govern- 
our  and  assistants,  to  fisten  him  among  themselves,  could  not  prevail  with 
him  to  look  back  from  that  plorv. 

Our  land  has  enjoyed  the  influences  of  many  accomplished  men,  who 
from  canditates  of  the  ministry,  have  become  our  magistrates ;  but  this 
excellent  man,  is  the  only  example  among  us,  who  left  a  bench  of  our 
magistrates,  iohecovae  a  painful  servant  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  iue 
work  of  the  ministry.  Nevertheless,  he  that  beholds  Joseph  oi  Arima- 
?/iffa,  a  counsellour  of  state,  Ambrose  the  consul  of  Jlft7/atH,  George  i\\e 
Prince  of  Anhalt,  Chrysostom,  a  noble  Antiochean,  John  a  Lasco,  a  noble 
Polonian.aM  becoming  the  plaiii preachers  of  the  gospel,  will  not  think 
thit  Mr.  Sherman  herein  either  suffered  a  degradation,  or  was  without  a 
pattern. 

§  6.  Upon  the  death  of  Mr.  Philips  at  Watertown,  Mr.  Sherman  was  ad- 
dressed by  the  church  there,  to  succeed  him  ;  and  he  accepted  the 
charge  of  that  church,  although  at  the  same  time,  one  of  the  churches  at 
Boston,  used  their  endeavours  to  become  the  owner  of  so  well  talented  a 
person,  and  several  churches  in  London  also,  by  letters  much  urged  him 
to  come  over  and  help  them.  And  now,  being  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Cambridge,  he  was  likewise  chosen  a  fellow  o(  Harvard  Colledge  there  ; 
in  which  place  he  continued  unt©  his  death,  doing  many  good  offices  for 
that  society.  Nor  was  it  only  as  a  fellow  of  the  colledge,  that  he  was  a 
blessing,  but  also  as  he  was  in  some  sort  Rpreacher  to  it :  for  his  lectures 
being  held  for  the  most  part  once  a  fortnight,  in  the  vicinage,  for  more 
than  thirty  years  together,  many  of  the  scholars  attending  thereon,  did 
justly  acknowledge  the  durable  and  abundant  advantage  which  they  had 
from  those  lectures. 

§  7.  His  intellectual  abilities,  whether  natural  or  acquired,  were  such 
as  to  render  him  afrst-rate  scholar  ;  the  skill  of  tongues  and  arts,  beyond 
the  common  rate  adorned  him.  He  was  a  great  reader,  and  as  Athanasius 
reports  of  his  Antonius,  w^sc-fTjjjfv  '«7<y  f^"  'ecvayvao-et,  a^  ju.ijS'sv  rat  ytypaiK.- 
fuvut  a.7r  '«yr«  TrtTrleit  j(^Ufaii,  Trxvjec  ge  KcClexfiiv,  xxt  Xot-rov  ''tcvlm  "])?>  yvufJivft  avli 
^iSxtm  yive^xi  :  He  read  with  such  intention,  as  to  lose  nothing,  but  keep  ev- 
ery thing,  of  all  that  he  read,  and  his  mind  became  his  library  :  even  such 
was  the  felicity  of  our  Sherman  ;  he  read  with  an  unusual  dispatch,  and 
whatever  he  read  became  his  own.  From  such  a  strength  of  invention 
and  memory  it  was,  that  albeit  he  was  a  curious  preacher ;  nevertheless, 
he  could  preach  without  any  preparatory  notes,  of  what  he  was  to  utter. 
He  ordinarily  wrote  but  about  half  a  page  in  octavo,  of  what  he  was  to 
preach  ;  and  he  would  as  ordinarily  preach,  without  writing  of  one  word 
at  all.  And  he  made  himself  wonderfully  acceptable  and  serviceable 
unto  his  friends,  by  the  homelistical  accomplishments ,  which  were  produ- 
ced by  his  abilities,  in  his  conversation.  For  though  he  were  not  a  man 
Qi  much  discourse,  but  ever  thought,  h  TroXvX^yix  ^erli  TroXviMtfiioc :  and  when 
9ome  have  told  him,  that  he  had  learned  the  art  of  silence,  he  hath,  with  a 
Tery  becoming  ingenuity,  given  them  to  understand,  that  it  was  an  art, 
which  it  would  hurt  none  of  them  to  learn,  yet  his  discourse  had  a  rare 
<tOnjunction  o? profit  and  pleasure  in  it. 

He  was  witty  and  yet  wise,  and  grave,  carrying  a  majesty  in  his  very 
^ounlenanpe  ;  afld  much  visited  for  council,  in  weighty  cases  ;  and  when 


464  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  IH. 

he  delivereil  his  ju(^gment  in  any  matter,  there  was  little  or  nothing  to  bo 
spoken  by  others  after  him. 

§  8.  It  is  a  remark,  which  Melchior  Adam  has  in  the  life  of  his  excel- 
lent Pitiscus  ;  lllud  mirandum,  quod  Homo  Theologus,  in  Mathematum 
studiis^  mdlo  nisi  se  Magistro,  eo  usrj;  progresses  est,  ut  Editis  Scriptis. 
DisciplincR  illius  Gloriain,  magnis  Maihcseos  Professoribus  pru-ripuerit  : 
and  it  might  be  well  applied  unto  our  eminent  Sherman,  who  though  he, 
were  ?i  consummate  divine,  and  a  continual  preacher,  yet  making  the  math- 
ematicks  his  divci-sion,  did  attain  unto  such  an  incomparable  skill  therein, 
that  he  was  undoubtedly  one  of  the  best  mathematicians  that  ever  lived 
in  this  hemisphere  of  the  world,  and  it  is  great  pity  that  the  world  should 
be  deprived  of  the  astronomical  calculations,  v;hich  he  has  left  in  manu- 
script behind  him.  It  seems,  that  men  of  great  parts  may,  as  it  is  ob- 
served by  that  great  instance  thereof,  Mr.  Boyle,  successively  apply  them- 
selves to  more  than  one  study.  Thus  Copernicus  the  astro7iomer,  eterni- 
zed like  the  very  siars,  by  his  new  sijstetn  of  them,  was  a  church-man  : 
and  his  learned  champion  Lansbergivs,  was  a  minister.  Gussendiis  whs  a 
doctor  of  divinity  ;  Clavius  too  was  a  doctor  of  divinity  ;  nor  will  the 
names  of  those  English  doctors,  IVallis,  JVilkins,  and  Barrow,  be  forgot- 
ten so  long  as  that  learning  which  is  to  he  called  real,  has  any  friends  in 
the  English  nation  :  and  Ricciolus  himself,  the  compiler  of  that  vokimin- 
OHS  and  judicious  work,  the  Almagestum  JVovvm,  was  a  professor  of  The- 
ology. 

Into  the  number  of  these  heroes,  is  our  Sherman  to  be  admitted  ;  who. 
if  any  one  had  enquired,  how  he  could  tind  the  leisure  for  his  mathemat- 
ical speculations  ?  would  have  given  the  excuse  of  the  famous  Pitiscus 

for  his  answer, Alii  Schacchia  Ludunt,  4'  Talis  :  Ego  Regnala  4*  Cir- 

cino,  si  quando  Ludere  datur. 

And  from  the  view  of  the  effects,  which  the  mathematical  contempla- 
tions of  our  57ier/nfl^(,  produced  in  his  temper,  I  cannot  but  utter  the  wish, 
of  the  noble  Tijcho  Brache  upon  that  blessed  Pitiscus,  Optarem  phtres  ejus- 
viodi  Concionatores  reperiri,  qui  Geometrica  gnavitur  caUerent  :  forte  plus 
esset  in  Us  Circumspecti  4'  sulidi  Judicii,  Rixarurn  inaniuia  4*  Logomachia- 
rum  minus :  for  among  other  things  very  valuable  to  me,  in  the  temper 
of  this  great  man,  one  was  a  certain  largeness  of  soul,  which  particularly 
disposed  him  to  embrace  the  Congregational  way  of  church  government , 
without  those  rigid  and  narro'jj  principles  of  uncharitable  separation, 
where  with  some  good  men  have  been  leavened. 

§  9.  But  as  our  mentioned  Pitiscus,  when  his  friends  congratulated  un- 
to him  the  glory  of  his  mathematical  excellencies,  with  an  humble  and  ho- 
ly ingenuity  replied.  Let  us  rejoice  rather  that  our  names  be  written  in 
Heaven.  Thus  our  Sherman  was  more  concerned  for,  and  more  employ* 
cd  in  an  acquaintance  with  the  heavenly  seats  of  the  blessed,  than  with 
the  motions  of  the  L\  ivenly  bodies.  He  did  not  so  much  use  a  Jacob''s 
staff  in  observations,  as  he  was  in  supplications  a  true  Jacob  himself. 
He  was  a  person  of  a  most  heavenly  disposition  and  conversation  ;  heaven- 
ly in  his  words,  heavenly  in  his  thoughts,  heavenly  in  his  designs  and  de- 
sires ;  few  in  the  world  had  so  much  of  Heaven  upon  earth.  He  was  a 
most  practical  commentary  upon  those  words  of  the  psalmist,  Aline  eyes 
are  ever  towards  the  Lord  :  and  those  of  the  apostle,  Keep  yourselves  in 
the  love  of  God. 

As  the  scriptures  are  ihe  ft  rmament ,  which  God  hath  expanded  over  the 
spiritual  world,  so  this  good  man  usually  spent  an  hour  every,  morning, 
in  entertaining  himself  \rith  the  ??>/V<f  that  are  shining  there.     Besides 


Book  III.]  TPIE  HKTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  465 

thi«,  with  meditations  on  God,  Christ,  and  Heaven,  he  fell  asleep  at  night ; 
and  with  the  like  meditations  he  woke  and  rose  in  the  morning  ;  and 
prayer  was  therefore  the  first  and  last  of  his  daily  vvorks  Yea,  had  any 
one  cast  a  look  upon  him,  not  only  abroad  in  company,  but  also  in  his 
closest  retirement,  they  would  have  seen  scarce  a  minute  pass  him,  with- 
out a  turn  of  his  eye  towards  Heaven,  whereto  his  heaven-touch'' d  heart 
was  carrying  of  him,  with  its  continual  vergencies.  And  as  the  stars, 
they  say,  miy  be  seen  from  the  bottom  of  a  well,  when  the  day  light  in 
higher  places  hinders  the  sight  thereof;  so  this  worthy  man,  who  saw 
more  not  only  of  the  stars  in  Heaven  but  also  of  the  Heaven  beyond  the 
stars,  than  most  other  men,  was  one,  who,  in  his  humility,  laid  himself 
low,  even  to  a  fault ;  and  he  had  buried  himself"  ia  the  obscurity  of  his 
recesses  and  retirements,  if  others  that  knew  his  worth,  had  not  some- 
times fetched  him  forth  to  more  publick  action. 

The  name  Descentius.  which  I  found  worn  by  an  eminent  person, 
among  the  primitive  christians,  I  thought  proper  for  this  eminent  person, 
when  I  have  considered  the  condescension  of  his  whole  deportment. 
And,  methought  it  was  an  instance  of  this  condescension,  that  this  great 
man  would  sometimes  give  the  country  an  ahn-anack,  which  yet  he  made 
an  opportunity  to  do  good,  by  adding  at  the  end  of  the  composures  those 
holy  .efirctions,  which  taught  good  men  how  to  recover  that  little,  but 
spreading  thing,  the  almanack,  from  that  common  abuse,  of  being  an  era- 
gine  to  convey  only  silly  iinpertinencies,  or  sinful  superstitions,  into  al- 
most every  cottage  of  the  wild:^rness.  One  of  those  reflections  I  will  re- 
cite, because  it  lively  expressed  the  holy  sence  of  death,  in  which  the 
author  daily  lived  : 

Let  me  intreat  one  thin^  of  thee,  and  I  wiH  adventure  to  promise  thee  a 
good  year;  the  request  is  in  it  self  reasonable,  and  may  to  thee  be  eternally 
profitable.  It  is  only  this  :  duly  to  prize,  and  diligently  to  improve,  time, 
for  obtaining  the  blessid  end  it  was  given  for,  and  is  yet  graciously  continu- 
ed unto  thee,  by  the  eternal  God.  Of  three  hundred  sixty  five  days,  alloz^ed 
by  the  making  up  of  this  year,  which  shall  be  thy  last,  thou  knowest  not ;  but 
that  any  of  them  may  be  it,  thou  oughtest  to  know,  and  so  consider,  that  thou 
mayest  pass  the  time  of  thy  sojourning  here  with  fear. 

§  10.  Behold  him  either  in  the  Lord's  house,  or  in  his  own,  of  both 
which  a  well  government  h  joined  in  the  demands  of  the  apostle,  and  we 
may  behold  both  of  them  after  an  exemplary  manner  ordered.  In  his 
ministry  he  was  judicious,  industrious,  faithful ;  a  most  curious  expositor 
of  scripture,  and  one  that  fed  us  with  the  fattest  marrow  of  divinity.  And 
there  was  one  thing  in  his  preaching,  which  procured  it  a  singular  admi- 
ration ;  this  was  a  natural,  and  not  atfected  loftiness  of  stile  ;  which  with 
an  easie  fluency  bespangled  his  discourses  with  such  glittering  figures  of 
oratory,  as  caused  bis  ablest  hearers,  to  call  him  a  second  Isaiah,  the 
honey-dropping,  and  golden-mouthed  preacher.  But  among  the  success- 
es of  his  conduct  in  his  ministry,  there  was  none  more  notable  than  the 
peace,  which  by  God's  blessing  upon  his  wisdom  and  meekness,  more 
than  any  other  things  was  preserved  in  his  populous  town,  as  long  as  he 
lived,  notwithstanding  many  temptations  unto  differences,  among  the 
good  people  there.  From  thence  let  us  follow  him  to  his  family,  and 
there  we  saw  him  with  much  discretion,  maintaining  both  fe  ir  and  love, 
in  those  that  belonged  unto  him,  and  a  zealous  care  to  uphold  religion 
among  them  The  duties  of  reading,  praying,  singing,  and  catechising, 
were  constantly  observed,  and  sermons  repeated.  And  he  wa^,  above 
all,  a  great  lover,  and  strict  keeper  of  the  christian  sabbath  ;  Iq  the  very 
Vol.  I.  59 


WB  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  HI. 

evening  of  which  approaching,  he  ■would  not  allow  pny  worldly  matter  to 
disturb,  or  divert  the  exercises  of  piety  ii:iihin  his  gates. 

§11.  He  was  twice  married.  By  his Jirst  zvife,  the  vertuous  daugh- 
ter of  parents  therin  resembled  by  her,  he  had  six  children.  But  his 
next  wife  was  a  young  gentlewoman  whom  he  chose  from  under  the 
guardianship,  and  with  the  countenance  of  Edward  Hopkins,  Esq.  the 
excellent  governour  oi  Connecticut.  She  was  a  person  of  good  education, 
and  reputation,  and  honourably  descended  ;  being  the  daughter  of  a  Pu- 
ritan gentleman,  whose  name  was  Launce,  and  whose  lands  in  Corn'ji'al 
yielded  him  fourteen  hundred  pounds  a  year.  He  was  a  parliament- 
man,  a  man  learned  and  pious,  and  a  notable  disputant ;  but  once  dispu- 
ting against  the  Englisli  Episcopacy,  (as  not  being  ignorant  of  what  is  af- 
firmed by  Contzen  the  Jesuite,  in  his  politicks,  That  ii:ere  all  England 
brought  once  to  approve  ofbishops,  it  were  easie  to  reduce  it  vnto  the  Church 
of  Rome,)  he  was  worsted  by  such  a  way  of  maintaining  the  argument, 
as  was  thought  agreeable  ;  that  is,  by  a  wound  in  the  side,  from  his  furi- 
ous antagonist  ;  of  which  wound  at  last  he  died.  The  wife  of  that  gen- 
tleman was  daughter  to  the  Lord  Darcy,  who  was  Earl  o( Rivers  ;  a  per- 
son of  a  Protestant,  na(\  Puritan  religion,  though  of  a  Popish  family,  and 
one  that  after  the  murder  of  her  former  husband,  Mr.  Launce,  had  for 
her  second  husband  the  famous  Mr.  Syinpson.  But  by  the  daughter  of 
that  Mr.  Launce,  who  is  yet  living  among  us,  Mr.  SJierman  had  no  less 
than  twenty  ch'iklven  added  unto  the  number  of  s/x,  which  he  had  before. 

I  remember /o/in  Hekcigius  of  late,  besides  what  has  been  related  for- 
merly by  other  authors,  brings  undeniable  attestations  of  a  married  cou- 
ple, who  in  one  wedlock  were  parents  io  fifty -three  children,  at  thirty-five 
births  brought  into  the  world  :  somewhat  short  of  that,  but  not  short  of 
wonder,  is  a  late  instance  of  one  mother, that  has  brought  forth  no  less  than 
Ihirty-iiinc  children,  the  thirty  fifth  of  whom,  was  lately  discoursed  by  per- 
sons of  honour  and  credit,  from  whom  1  had  it.  Although  Aew-England 
has  no  instances  of  such  a  Polytokic,  yet  it  has  had  instances  of  what  has 
been  remarkable  :  one  woman  has  had  not  less  than  twenty-two  children  ; 
whereof  she  buried  fourteen  sons  and  six  daughters.  Another  woman  has 
had  no  less  than  twenty-three  children,  by  one  husband  ;  whereof  nineteen 
lived  unto  men's  and  women's  estate.  A  third  was  mother  to  seven-and- 
twejily  children  :  and  she  that  was  mother  to  Sir  William  Phips,  the  late 
governour  of  j\ew- England,  had  no  less  than  twenty-five  children  besides 
him  ;  she  had  one-and-twenty  sons,  and  five  daughters.  Now  into  the 
catalogue  of  such  fruitful  vines  by  the  sides  of  the  house,  is  this  gentlewo- 
man, Mrs.  Sherman,  to  be  enumerated.  Behold,  thus  was  our  Sherman, 
that  eminent  fearer  of  the  Lord,  blessed  of  him. 

§  12.  He  had  the  rare  felicity  to  grow  like  the  lilly,  as  long  as  he  lived  ; 
and  enjoy  a  flourishing,  and  perhaps  increasing  liveliness  of  his  faculties, 
until  he  died.  Such  keenness  of  wit.  such  soundness  of  judgment,  such 
fulness  of  matter,  and  such  vigour  of  language,  is  rarely  seen  in  old  age. 
as  was  to  be  seen  in  him,  when  he  was  old. 

The  last  sermon  which  he  ever  preached,  was  at  Sudbury,  from  Eph, 
ii.  3,  By  grace  ye  are  saved  :  wherein  he  so  displayed  the  riches  of  the 
free  grace  expressed  in  our  salvation,  as  to  fill  His  hearers  with  admira^ 
tion.  Being  thus  at  Sudbury,  he  was  taken  sick  of  an  intermitting  but 
malignant /ewr  ,-  which  yet  abated,  that  he  found  opportunity  to  return 
unto  his  own  house  at  Water-Toxin.  But  his  fever  then  renewing  upoa 
him,  it  prevailed  so  far,  that  he  s^on  expired  his  holy  soul  ;  which  ho 


A 


ilooK  III.]        THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  467 

did  with  expressions  o{  abundant  faith,  joy,  <md  resignation,  on  a  Saturday- 
evening,  entring  on  his  eternal  sabbath,  August  8,  1G85,  aged  seventy- 
two, 

EPITAPHIUM. 

For  an  epitaph  upon  this  worthy  man,  I'll  presume  a  little  to  alter  the 
epitaph  by  btcniius,  bestowed  upon  Pitiscus. 

Ut  Pauli  Pietas,  sic  Euclidea  Mathesis, 
Una,  Shermanni,  condiiur,  in  Tutmdo, 

And  annex  that  of  Altenburg  upon  Caisius. 

Qui  cursum  Astrorum  viveiis  IndaginemultcL 
Qtuesivit,  cordin  nunc  ea  cerinit  ovane. 


CHAPTER  XXX. 

Eusebius.     The  Life  of  Mr.  Thomas  Cobbet. 

Et  Eruditis   Pietate,    i^    PUs  Eruditione  Laude  entecellens,  ltd  Sectmdas 
Doctrinu'f evens,  ut  Pietatis  primus  obtineret. 

Nazianz.  de  Basilic. 

§  1.  In  the  old  church  of  Israel  we  find  a  considerable  sort  and  sett  of 
men,  that  were  called,  The  scribes  of  the  people  :  whose  office  it  was,  not 
only  to  copy  out  the  Bible,  for  such  as  desired  a  copy  thereof,  with  such 
exactness,  that  the  mysteries  occurring,  even  in  the  least  vowels  and  ac- 
cents of  it,  might  not  be  lost,  but  also  to  be  the  more  \iuhV\ck  preachers  of 
f/te /«a.',  and  common  und  constant  ptdpit-7nen  ;  taking  upon  them  to  be 
the  expounders,  as  well  as  the  preservers  of  the  scripture.  But  one  of 
the  principle  scribes  enjo3'ed  by  the  people  of  Ken;- England,  was  Mr. 
Tliomas  Cobbet,  who  wrote  more  books  than  the  most  of  the  divines, 
which  (lid  their  parts  to  make  a  Kirjath-Sepher  of  this  wilderness  ;  in  ev- 
ery one  of  which  he  approved  himself  one  of  the  scribes  mentioned  by 
our  Saviour,  from  his  rick  treasure  bringing  forth  instructions,  both  out 
of  the  New  Testament,  and  out  of  the  Old. 

§  2.  Our  Mr.  Thomas  Cobbet  was  born  at  A'etcit* ri/,  long  enough  before 
our  Kew-England  had  a  town  oi  that  name,  or  indeed  had  any  such  thing 
as  a  town  at  all  ;  namely,  in  the  year  i608.  And  although  his  parents, 
who  afterwards  came  also  to  Ncii^- England,  were  so  destitute  of  worldly 
grandure,  that  he  might  say,  as  divers  of  tiie  Jewish  Rabbi's  tell  us,  the 
words  of  Gideon  may  be  read,  Behold,  my  father  is  poor,  yet  this  their  son 
WHS  greatness  enough  to  render  one  family  memorable.  Reader,  we  are 
to  describe, 

Ingenua  de  plebe  Virtnii)  sed  Vita  Fidesq; 
Jnculpata  fvit. 

And  remember  the  words  of  Seneca, 

Ex  ccsa  ciirfrn  Virv.mmagn%wi  prodire  posse. 


468  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.       [Book  HI 

When  Cicero  was  jeered,  for  the  mean  signification  of  his  name,  he 
said,  However  he  would  not  change  it,  but  by  his  actions  render  the  name  of 
Cicero,  more  illustrious  than  that  of  Cnto  :  and  our  Cobbet  has  done  enough 
to  make  the  name  of  Cobbet  venerable,  in  these  Jimerican  parts  of  the 
world,  whether  there  were  the  actions  of  any  ancestors  or  no,  to  signal- 
ize it.  A  good  education  having  prepared  him  for  it,  he  became  an  Ox- 
ford scholar,  and  removing  from  Oxford  in  the  time  of  a  plague  raging 
there,  he  did.  with  other  young  men,  become  a  pupil  to  famous  Dr. 
Twiss  at  Newbury.  He  was,  after  this,  a  preacher  at  a  small  place  in 
Lincolnshire  ;  from  wiience,  being  driven  by  a  storm  of  persecution  up- 
on the  reforming  and  Puritan  part  of  the  nation,  he  came  over  unto  Aew- 
England,  m  the  same  vessel  with  Mr.  Davenport  coming  to  New-Eng- 
land, his  old  friend,  Mr.  Whiting  of  Lyn  expressed  his  friendship,  with 
endeavours  to  obtain  and  to  enjoy  his  assistance,  as  a  collegue  in  the  pas- 
toral charge  of  the  church  there  ;  where  they  continued  Fratrmn  Dul- 
ce  Par,  until  upon  the  removal  of  Mr.  Norton  to  Boston,  and  of  Mr.  Ro- 
gers to  Heaven,  ha  was  translated  unto  the  church  of  Ipswich ;  with 
which  he  continued  in  the  faithful  discharge  of  his  ministry,  until  his  re- 
ception of  the  croivn  of  life,  at  his  death,  about  the  beginning  of  the  year 
1686.     Then  'twas,  that  he  was  (^ to  speak  Jewishly,)  treasured  up. 

§  3.  The  witty  epigrammatist  hath  told  us, 

Qwi  dignos  Ipsi  Vita  scripsere  Libellos, 
Itlorvm  Vilam  acribere  non  Opus  est. 

And  we  might  therefore  make  the  story  of  this  worthy  man's  life,  to  be 
but  an  account  of  the  immortal  books.,  wherein  he  lives  after  he  is  dead. 
What  Mr.  Cobbet  was,  the  reader  may  gather  by  reading  a  very  savoury 
treatise  of  his,  upon  the  fifth  commandment.  But  that  he  might  serve 
both  tables  of  the  law,  he  was  willing  to  write  something  upon  the  first 
commandment,  as  well  as  the  fifth  ;  and  this  he  did  in  a  large,  nervous, 
golden  discourse  of /)ra?/er.  But  that  the  second  commandment,  as  well 
as  the  first  might  not  be  unserved  by  him,  there  were  divers  disciplinary 
tracts,  which  he  publickly  offered  unto  the  Church  of  God.  He  printed 
upon  the  duty  of  the  civil  magistrate,  in  the  point  of  Toleration  ;  a  point 
then  much  debated,  and  not  yet  every  where  decided;  whereto  he  annex- 
ed a  vindication  of  the  government  o{  New -England,  from  the  aspersions 
of  some,  who  thought  themselves  persecuted  under  it. 

He  was  likewise  a  learned  and  a  lively  defender  of  infant-baptism, 
and  he  gave  the  world  an  elaborate  composure,  on  that  subject,  on  the 
occasion  whereof,  Mr.  Cotton,  in  his  incomparable  preface  to  a  book  of 
Mr.  Norton  s,  has  these  passages.  Covetus  cum  persentisceret  aliquot  ex 
Ovibus  Christi  sibi  commissis,  Jlntipandobaptismi  haqueis  atq;  Dumetis  irreti- 
tas,  Zelo  Dei  accensus  (4'  Zelo  quidem  secundum  Scientiam)  imo,  &r  Misere- 
cordia  etiam  Christi  Commotus.  erga  Errantes  Oviculas  ;  Libros  qtiospotuit^ 
ex  Anabaptist  arum  penu,  congessit  ;  Rationum  Momenta  [Qualia  fueraiii) 
in  Lance  Sanciuarii  trutinavit ;  Testimoniorum  Plaustra,  quw  ab  aliis  con-' 
gestafuerant,  sedulo  perquisivit  ;  ^  pro  eo,  quo  floret,  Dlsputandi  Acumi- 
ne,  Dijudicandi  solertia.  solida  inulta,  paucis  Complectendi  Dexteritate  atq; 
Indefesso  Labore,  nihil  pene  Intenfatum  reliquit,  quod  vcl  ad  Veritatem,  in  hac 
Causa  lllustrandam,  vel  ad  Erroruvi  Nebulas  Discutiendas,  atq;  Dispellen- 
das,  conduceret. 

Reader,  to  receive  so  much  commemoration  from  so  reverend  and  re- 
nowned a  pen,  is  to  have  one's  life,  sufficiently  written  :  it  is  needless 
for  me  to  proceed  any  further,  in  serving  the  memory  of  Mr.  Cobbet, 


Book  Ill.j         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  469 

§  4.  And  yet  there  is  one  thing,  which  my  poor  pen  may  not  leave  un- 
mentioned.  Of  all  the  books  written  by  Mr.  Cobbet,  none  deserves  more 
to  be  read  by  the  world,  or  to  live  till  the  general  burning  of  the  world, 
than  that  of  prayer  :  and  indeed  prayer,  the  subject  so  experimentally, 
and  theretore  judiciously,  therefore  profitably,  therein  handled,  was  not 
the  least  of  those  things,  for  which  Mr.  Cobbet  was  remarkable.  He  was 
a  very  praying  man,  and  his  prayers  were  not  more  observable  through- 
out Nexa-England  for  the  argumentative,  the  impor(unale.  and  I  had  almost 
san\,  Jilially  familiar,  strains  of  them,  than  for  the  wonderful  successes  that 
attended  them.  It  was  a  good  saying  of  the  ancient,  Homineprnbo  Oran- 
te  nihil  potentius  ;  and  it  was  a  great  saying  of  the  reformer,  Est  qadam 
Precum  Omnipotentia.  Our  Cobbet  might  certainly  make  a  considerable 
figure  in  the  catalogue  of  those  eminent  saints,  whose  experiences  hav- 
ing notably  exemplitied,  the  power  of  prayer,  unto  the  world.  That  gol- 
den chain,  one  end  whereof  is  tied  unto  the  tongue  of  man,  the  other  end 
unto  the  ear  of  God  (which  is  as  just,  as  old,  a  resembling  of  prayer)  our 
Cobb  et  was  always  pulling  at,  and  he  often  pulled  unto  such  marvellous 
purpose,  thit  the  neighbours  were  almost  ready  to  sing  of  him,  as  Clau- 
dian  did  upon  the  prosperous  prayers  of  Theodosius. 

0  Nimium  Dilecte  Deo. 


A  son  of  this  man  of  prayer  was  taken  into  captivity  by  the  barbar 
ous,  treacherous  Indian  salvages,  and  a  captivity  from  whence  there 
could  be  little  expectation  of  redemption  :  whereupon  Mr  Cobbet  cal- 
led about  thirty,  as  many  as  could  suddenly  convene,  of  the  christians  in 
the  neighbourhood  unto  his  house  ;  and  there,  they  together  prayed 
for  the  young  mans  deliverance.  The  old  man^s  heart  was  now  no  more 
sad ;  he  beheved  that  the  God  of  Heaven  had  accepted  of  their  suppli- 
cations, and  because  he  believed,  therefore  he  spake  as  much,  to  those 
that  were  about  him,  who  when  they  heard  him  speak  did  believe  so  too. 
Now  within  a  few  days  after  this,  the  prayers  were  all  answered,  in 
the  return  of  the  young  man  unto  his  father,  with  circumstances  little 
short  of  miracle  !  But  indeed  the  instances  of  surprising  effects  follow- 
ing upon  the  prayers  of  this  gracious  man,  were  so  many,  that  I  must  su- 
percede all  relation  of  them,  with  only  noting  thus  much,  that  it  was  gen- 
erally supposed  among  the  pious  people  in  the  land,  that  the  enemies  of 
New- England  owed  the  wondrous  disasters  and  confusions  that  still  fol- 
lowed them,  as  much  to  the  prayers  of  this  true  Israelite,  as  perhaps  to 
any  one  occasion.  Mr.  Knox''s  prayers  were  sometimes  more  feared^ 
than  an  army  often  thousand  men ;  and  Mr  Cobbefs  prayers  were  esteem- 
ed of  no  little  significancy  to  the  welfare  of  the  country,  which  is  now 
therefore  bereaved  of  its  chariots  and  its  horsemen.  \f  New -England  haA 
its  Noah,  Daniel,  and  Job,  to  pray  wonderfully  for  it,  Cobbet  was  one  of 
them ! 

EPITAPHIUM. 

Sta  viator  J  Thesaurus  hie  Jacet, 
Thomas  Cobbetus  ; 

CCJUS, 

Nosti  Preces  Potentissimas,  ac  Mores  Probatissimos, 
Si  cs  Nov-Anglus. 
Mirare,  Si  Pietatem  Colas  ; 
Sequere,  Si  Felicitatem  Optes. 


470  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.        [Book  11 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 

The  Life  of  Mr,  John  Ward. 

§  1.  Some  famous  persons  of  old,  thought  it  a  greater  glory ^  to  have  it 
enquired  ;  xvhy  such  a  one  had  not  a  statue  erected  for  him  1  than  to  have  it 
enquired,  -johy  he  kadi'  Mr.  J^'ailianacl  Ward,  born  at  Haverhil.  in  Essex, 
about  1570,  was  bred  a  scholar,  and  was  first  intended  and  employed  for 
the  study  of  the  ^atiD»  But  afterwards  travelling  with  certain  merchants 
into  Prussia  and  Denmark,  and  having  discourse  with  David  Paraus,  at 
Heidelberg,  from  whom  he  received  much  direction  ;  at  his  return  into 
England,  he  became  a  minister  of  the  gospel,  and  had  a  Vi\m%  ^i  Stondon. 
In  the  year  1634,  he  w.js  driven  out  of  England,  for  his  non-conformity ; 
and  coming  to  JVew-England,  he  continued  serving  the  church  at  Ips7i;ich, 
till  the  year  1645.  When  returning  back  to  England,  he  settled  at  Sher- 
Jield,  near  Brcnt-d-ood  ;  and  there  he  ended  his  days,  when  he  was  about 
eighty-three  jears  of  age.  He  was  the  author  of  many  composures  full 
of  wit,  and  sense  ;  among  which,  that  entituled,  The  Simple  Coblcr 
(which  demonstrated  him  to  be  a  subtil  statesman)  was  most  considered. 
If  it  be  enquired,  za^hy  this  our  St.  Hilary  hath  among  our  Lives  no  statue 
erected  for  him?  let  that  enquiry  go  for  part  of  one.  And  we  will  p.iy 
our  debt  unto  his  worthy  son. 

§  2,  Mr.  John  Ward  was  born.  I  think,  at  Haverhil, — on  Nov.  5— 
1606.  His  grandfather  was  that  John  Ward,  the  worthy  minister  of  jF/f- 
verhil,  whom  we  find  among  the  worthies  of  England,  and  his  father  was 
the  celebrated  Xathnnael  Ward,  whose  wit  made  him  known  to  more 
Englands  than  one.  Where  his  education  was,  I  have  not  been  inform- 
ed ;  the  first  notice  of  him  that  occurs  to  me,  being  in  the  year  1639, 
when  he  came  over  into  these  parts  of  America  ;  and  settled  there  in 
the  year  1641,  in  a  town  also  called  HaverhiL  But  what  it  was,  every 
body  that  saw  him,  saw  it  in  the  effects  of  it,  that  it  was  learned,  ingenu- 
ous, and  religious.  He  was  a  person  of  a  quick  apprehension,  a  clear 
"understanding ,  a  strong  memory,  a  facetious  conversation ;  he  was  an  ex- 
act grammarian,  and  expert  physician,  and  which  was  the  top  of  all,  a 
thorough  divine :  but,  which  rarely  happens,  these  endowments  of  his 
mind,  were  accompanied  with  a  most  healthy,  hardy,  and  agile  constitu- 
tion of  body,  which  enabled  him  to  make  nothing  of  walking  on  foot,  a 
journey  as  long  as  thirty  miles  together. 

§  3.  Such  was  the  blessing  of  God  upon  his  religious  education,  that 
he  was  not  only  restrained  from  the  vices  of  immorality  in  all  his  younger 
years,  but  also  inclined  unto  all  vertuous  actions.  Of  young  persons,  he 
would  himself  give  this  advice  ;  Whatever  yo%i  do,  be  sure  to  maintain 
shame  in  them;  for  if  ihat  be  once  gone,  there  is  no  hope  that  tlieifll  ever 
come  to  good.  Accordingl}',  our  Ward  was  always  ashamed  of  doing  any 
ill  thing.  He  was  of  a  modest  and  bashful  disposition,  and  very  sparing 
of  speaking,  especially  before  strangers,  or  such  as  he  thought  his  betters. 
He  was  wonderfully  temperate,  in  meat,  in  drink,  in  sleep,  and  he  was 
always  expressed,  I  had  almost  said,  affected,  a  peculiar  sobriety  of  appa- 
rel. He  was  a  son  most  exemplarily  dutiful  unto  his  parents  ;  and  having 
paid  some  considerable  debts  for  \\\?.  father,  he  would  afterwards  humbly 
observe  and  confess,  that  God  had  abundantly  rccompenced  this  his  duti- 
fulness. 


Book  HI.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  471 

§  4.  Though  he  had  great  offers  of  rich  matches,  in  England,  yet  he 
chose  to  marry  a  meaner  person,  whom  exemplary  piety  hcid  recommeud- 
ed.  He  lived  witti  her  for  more  than  t'orty  years,  in  such  an  happy  har- 
mony, that  when  she  died,  he  professed,  that  in  all  this  time,  he  never 
had  received  one  displeasing  m^ord  or  look  from  her.  Although  she  would 
so  faithfully  tell  him  of  every  thing  that  might  seem  amendable  in  him, 
that  he  would  pleasantly  compare  her  to  an  accusing  conscience,  yet  she 
ever  pleased  him  wonderfully  :  and  she  would  often  put  him  upon  the 
duties  of  secret  fasts,  and  when  she  met  with  any  thing  in  reading  that 
she  counted  singularly  agreeable,  she  would  still  impart  it  unto  him.  For 
which  causes,  when  he  lost  this  his, mate,  he  caused  those  words  to  be 
fairly  written  on  his  table-board, 

In  Lvgenda  Compare,   Vita:  Spacium  Complcat  Orhi's, 

And  there  is  this  memorable  passage  to  be  added.  While  she  was  a  maid, 
there  was  ensured  unto  her,  the  revenue  of  a  parsonage  worth  two  hun- 
dred pounds  per  annxim,  in  case  that  she  married  a  minister.  And  all 
this  had  been  given  to  our  Ward,  in  case  he  had  conformed  unto  the  doubt- 
ful matters  in  the  Church  of  England  :  but  he  left  all  the  allurements  and 
enjoyments  of  England,  clmsing  rather  to  suffer  affliction  u-ith  the  people 
of  God  in  a  nilderness. 

§  5.  Although  he  would  say,  there  is  no  place  for  fishing  like  the  sea, 
and  the  more  hearers  a  minister  has,  the  more  hope  there  is  that  some  of  them 
■m-ill  be  catched  in  the  nets  of  the  gospel ;  nevertheless,  through  dis  humility 
and  reservation,  it  came  to  pass,  that  as,  he  chose  to  begin  his  ministry 
in  Old  England,  at  a  very  small  place,  thus  when  he  came  to  .Vea^  Eng- 
land he  chose  to  settle  with  a  nexa  plantation,  where  he  could  expect 
none  but  small  circumstances  all  his  days.  He  did  not  love  to  appear 
upon  the  pnblick  stage  himself,  and  there  appeared  few  there,  whom  he 
did  not  prefer  above  himself:  but  when  he  was  there,  every  one  might 
see  how  conscientiously  he  sought  the  edification  of  the  souls  of  the  plain- 
est auditors,  before  the  ostentation  of  his  own  abilities.  And  from  the 
like  self-diffdence  it  was,  that  he  would  never  manage  any  ecclesiastical 
affairs  in  his  church,  without  previous  and  prudent  consultations  with  the 
best  advisers  that  he  knew  :  he  would  say,  he  had  rather  aln-ays  folloro 
advice  though  sometimes  the  advice  might  mislead  him,  than  ever  act  znHthout 
advice,  though  he  might  happen  to  do  tc-e/Z  by  no  advice  but  his  onn. 

§  6.  This  diligent  servant  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  continued  under 
and  against  many  temptations,  watching  over  his  flock  at  Haverhil, 
more  than  twice  as  long  as  Jacob  continued  with  his  uncle  ;  yea,  for  as 
many  years  as  there  are  sabbaths  in  the  year.  On  Nov.  19,  1693,  he 
preached  an  excellent  sermon,  entering  the  eighty-eighth  year  of  his  age  ; 
the  only  sermon  that  ever  was,  or  perhaps  ever  will  be  preached  in  this 
country  at  such  an  age  He  was  then  smitten  with  aparalytic  indisposi- 
tion upon  the  organs  of  his  speech,  which  continuing  about  a  month  up- 
on him,  not  without  evident  proofs  of  his  understanding,  and  his  heaven- 
liness.  continuins;  firm  with  him  to  the  last ;  at  last,  on  Dec.  27,  be  went. 
off,  bringing  up  the  rear  of  our  first  generation. 

EPITAPHIUM.     , 

Bonnrum  Ultimus,  at  inter  Bonos  non  Ultimvs, 

MAxN'TISSA. 


472  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  III. 

The  Church  of  God  is  wronged,  in  that  the  life  of  the  great  John  Owen 
is  not  written.  He  was  by  his  intention,  so  much  a  jYew-England  man, 
that  a  JS'erv- English  book  affords  no  improper  station  for  him.  Let  him 
that  once  would  have  chose  to  die  among  the  worthies  of  JVext>- England, 
be  counted  worthy  to  live  among  them.  The  most  expressive  memorials 
of  his  life,  that  we  at  Boston  caa  yet  procure,  are  inscribed  on  his  grave 
at  London.  These  must  be  then  transcribed  ;  behold,  the  language  of 
his 

EPITAPH. 

Johannes  Owen,  S.  T.  P. 

A  Gro  Oxoniensi,  Patre  Insigni  Theologo. 

Matre  Pia  Matrona,  Oriundus  : 
Morutn  Elegantid,  &,  Lepore  Innocuo, 

Omnibus  quibuscum  conversatus  est,  Gratissimus  • 
Donorurn  pari,  Gratiarumque  Eminentia 

lis  potissimum  in  Pretio  habitus,  &  Delicvis, 
Quibus.  sincera,  Curce  erat,  Cordiq;  Religio  : 

Literis  natus,  Literis  innutritus,  Totusque  Deditus 
Donee  Animata  plane  evasit  Bibliotheca  : 
Authoribus  Classicis,  qua  Greeds,  qua  Latinis, 
j^ub  Edv.  Silvestro,  Scholae  Privatai  Oxonii  Moderatore, 
Operam  navavit  satis  Feliceni ; 
Feliciorem  adhuc  Studiis  Philosophicis , 
Magno  sub  Barlovio,  CoU.  Reginsis  id  tempus  Socio; 
{^dis  Christi  ibidem,  temporis  Decursu,  I psemet  Decanws, 

F.t  quinqueniialis  Academise  ViceCancellarius  :) 
Theologice  demum  \onge  felicissimus  iocubuit  ;  Artibus 
Pedisequis,  Duce  &  Auspice,  Sancto  Christi  Spiritu  ; 
(Cujus  omncs,  in  Parta  a  Christo  Redemptione 

Applicanda,  Partes  Theologorum  solus  Exposuit.) 
Triumque,  quae  Doctoe  prajsertim  audiunt, 

(Alias  praiter  Orientales)  Linguarum  Peritus  ; 
Paginas  Sacras  Intus,  &c  in  Cute, 

Spiritu,  &.  Litera,  sibi  habuit  notissimas  ; 
In  Magnis  vero  JVascentis  Ecclesias  Luminibus  Verastissimus  ; 
Primis  longum  Degeneris  Restitutoribus  neutiquara  neglectis  ; 
Nee  melioris  Notae  Scholasticis  Contemptui  habitis  ; 
Tarn  in  Palcestrd,  quam  Pulpito,  Domioatus  est. 
In  Palaestra  ;  Pontijicios,  Remonstrantes,   Socinisias,  J^ostrosqite 
In  Momentoso  Justijicationis  Apice  JS'ovaiuri  entes, 
Scv'iptis  JVervosissiinis  Prostravit,  Proculcavit : 
In  Pulpito.  maxime  Infirmi  Corporis, 
*  Prxsentid  minime  Infirma  : 

Gestu,  Tkeatricd  procul  Gesticuiatione, 
Ad  Optimas  Decori  Regulas  Composito  : 
Sermone,  a  Contemptibili  remotissimo  ;  Canovo, 
Sed  non  Stridulo  ;  Suavi,  sed  prorsus  Viriii  ; 
Et  Authoritatis  quiddam  Sonante  : 
Pari,  si  non  &.  Superiore,  Aninii  Prsesentia  ; 
Concionum,  quas,  ad  verbum,  iotas  Chartis  coramisit 
Ne  verbum  quidem  velcarptim.  &.  striogente  oculo 
Inter  Praedicandum  Z<ec?«i  O'vit : 


Book  III.J  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  473 

Sed  omnia,  Suo  primum  Impressa  altius  Pectori, 
Auditorutn  Animis,  Cordibtisq;  potentius  ingessit  : 
Nee  Orandi,  minus,  quam  Perorandi,  Denis  Instructus  ; 
Ministri  vere  Evangilici  Omnes  complevit  Numeros  : 
Cultus  &  Regiminis  Instituti  (una  cum  Doctrina  KevelaUl) 

Magnus  Ipsemet  Zelotes,  &-  Assertor  strenuus  : 
AmplissimaB  denique,  cui,  Spiritus  S.  Eum  praefecerat,  Ecclesm 

Prtidentissimis  pariter,  ac  Vigilantissimus  Pastor. 
Cujus  Prcelustri  e  Multis  Unum  sutficiat  Epitaphio 
Author  Quadripartiti  in  Ep.  ad  Hebr.  Commentarii. 

Peracto  in  Terris  Cursu,  &  quod  acceperat,  Ministerio, 
Ad  Christi  in  C\elo  Statum.  quern  Sero  Vitae  Vespere, 
Clarius,  licet  eminus,  Prospectum  Graphice  iinearat, 
Propiiis,  Penitiusque  contuendum  Anhelus  Decessit. 

Mensis  Augusti  [Non-Conformistis  id  magis  ad  hue  Fatali)  Die  xxiv.  Avy 
no  Sal.  MDCLXxxiii.   JEtat.  lxvii. 

Ej)itaphium  istud  ah  Indigno  Symmista  Compositum 
Uti  Latius,  quam  ut  infra  breves 

Tabida  Marmoreae  Cancellos  clauderetur  ; 
ltd  etiam  Angustius,  qudm  ut  Justum 
Drs  Admodum  Reverendi  adimpleret  Characterem  • 
Nobiliorem,  quam  neruit,  tortium  est,  Sedem, 
A  Fronte  Operis  Hujus  Operosissimi 
Chartacei  Marmereo  Perennioris  Monumenti. 


Vor..   f. 


'Oivo-Kpefet  AtiiVUfMTet :  Sive,  UTILES  NARRATIONES. 

THE 

TRIUMPHS 

OF  THE  REFORMED  RELIGION  I^' 

AMERICA: 

OR, 

THE    LIFE 

OF    THE 

REXOWJS'EI)  JOHNS''  ELIOT; 

A  PERSON  JUSTLY    FAMOUS  IN  THE  CHURCH  OF    GOD  ;    NOT  ONLY  AS  AN  EMI* 

KENT    CHRISTIAN,  AND  AN  EXCELLENT  MINISTER  AMONG  THE  ENGLISH  ; 

BUT    ALSO,    AS  A  MEMORABLE  EVANGELIST  AMONG  THE  INDIANS  OF 

NEW-ENGLAND.      WITH  SOME  ACCOUNT  CONCERNING  THE  LATE 

AND  STRANGE  SUCCESS  OF   THE  GOSPEL  IN   THOSE   PARTS 

OF  THE  WORLD,  WHICH  FOR  MANY  AGES  HAVE  LAIN 

BURIED    IN   PAGAN   IGNORANCE. 


ESSAYED  BY  COTTON  MATHER. 


'Of  yttft  " u-4\  oa-iev  Xoifi^peTctTav  )pya)v  icon  evija-i^e^uv  ^oy/-cxray  r«  xXioi  'Xet^i^if. 
W*  rm  xi6)K  o'vXai^.ivoi  :  i  e.  Existunuvi,  h<uui  sine  scelere  lien  poiuis- 
se,  ut  factorum  splendidissimorum,  &utilium  Narrationum  gloria,  Obli- 
vioni  traderetur.  Theodorit. 

Blessed  is  that  se^'vant,  "whom  his  Lord,  when  he  comeih,  shall  find  so  doing 


THE  THIRD  PART. 


To  i^e  Right  Honourable  Philip  Lord  Whartou  ;  a  no  less  Noble,  than 
aged  patron  of  Learning  atid  Vertue. 

May  it  please  your  Lordship, 
If  it  be  considered  that  some  evangelical  and  apostolical  histories  of 
the  New  Testament,  were  by  the  direction  of  the  Holy  Spirit  himself, 
dedicated  unto  a  person  of  quality,  and  that  the  noble  person  addressed 
with  one  such  dedication,  entertained  it  with  resentments  that  encouraged 
his  dear  Lucilius  to  make  a  seco7id,  the  world  will  be  satisfyed  that  I  do 
a  thing  but  reasonable  and  agreeable,  when  unto  a  narrative  of  many 
evangelical  and  apostolical  affairs  >  I  presume  to  pretix  the  name  of  one  s© 


Book  III.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  475 

excellent  for  love  to  God,  as  your  lordship  is  known  to  be  ;  and  one  upon 
this  account  only,  an  unmeet  subject  for  the  praises  of  the  obscure  pea 
which  now  writes  that  Quis  Vituperut  ?  I  do  not,  I  dare  not,  so  far  in- 
trude upon  your  honour,  as  to  ask  your  patronage  unto  all  the  A'ezj  Eng- 
lish principles  and  practices,  which  are  found  in  the  character  of  our 
celebra;ed  Eliot ;  for  as  the  distance  of  a  thousand  leagues,  has  made  it 
impossible  for  me  to  attend  the  [usual)  orders  and  manners  of  asking  first 
your  allowance  for  what  i  have  openly  entitled  you  unto  ;  so  the  renown- 
ed Eliot  is  gone  beyond  any  occasions  for  the  greatest  humane  patronage . 

But  that  which  has  procured  unto  your  lordship,  the  trouble  of  this 
dedication,  is,  my  desire  to  give  you  the  picture  of  one  aged  saint,  lately 
gone  to  that  general  assembly,  which  the  eternal  King  of  Heaven,  by  the 
advances  of  your  own  age  in  the  zi'uij  of  ^-ighteousness,  does  quickly  sum- 
mon your  self  unto  the  profound  respect  which  our  Eliot  had  for  your 
honour,  will  doubtless  be  answered  and  requited  with  your  own  value 
for  the  memory  of  such  a  memorable  christian,  ininister  and  evangelist ; 
inasmuch  as  your  affections,  like  his,  take  not  their  measures  from  these 
or  those  matters  o{ doubtful  disputation,  but  from  such  an  universal  piety 
and  charity,  and  holiness,  as  he  was  an  instance  of. 

No  man  ever  complained  of  it,  that  in  the  works  of  Chrysostom,  we 
iind  seven  orations  not  far  asunder,  in  commendation  of  Paid  :  nor  is  it  any 
fault  that  1  have  now  written  one,  in  commendation  of  a  man  whom  a 
Paw/me  spirit  had  made  illustrious.  In  describing  him,  1  have  made  but 
little  touches  upon  his  parentage  and  family,  because  as  the  truly  great 
Basil  excuses  his  omission  of  those  things,  in  his  oration  upon  Gordius 
the  Martyr,  Ecclesia  hcec  tanquam  supervacua  diniittit.  But  I  have  rela- 
ted those  things  of  him,  which  cannot  but  create  a  good  esteem  fi)r  him, 
in  the  breast  of  your  lordship,  who  are  a  faithful  and  ancient  witness 
against  those  distempers  of  the  world,  whereby  (as  the  blessed  Salviciu 
lamented  it)  Cogimur  esse  Files,  %it  JS'obiles  habcamur  :  and  raise  the 
sweetness  of  your  thoughts  upon  your  approaches  ;  which  may  our  God 
make  both  slow  and  sure,  unto  that  state  which  cannot  be  moved.  But 
if  I  may  more  ingenously  confess  the  whole  ground  and  cause  of  this 
dedication,  1  must  own,  Uis  to  pay  a  part  of  a  debt :  a  debt  under  which 
you  have  laid  my  country,  when  you  did  with  your  own  honourable  hand, 
present  unto  his  majesty,  the  same  account,  which  I  have  here  again 
published,  concerning  the  success  of  the  gospel  among  the  Indians  in  New- 
England. 

My  Lord, 
In  one  Eliot  you  see  what  a  people  it  is,  that  you  have  counted  wor- 
thy of  your  notice,  and  what  a  people  it  is,  that  with  ardent  prayers  be- 
speak the  mercies  of  Heaven  for  your  noble  family.  Indeed  it  is  im- 
possible that  a  country  so  full  as  .Kes;- England  is,  of  what  is  truly  prim- 
itive, should  not  be  exposed  unto  the  bitterest  enmity  and  calumny  of 
those,  that  will  strive  to  entangle  the  church  in  a  Sardian  unreformed- 
ness,  until  our  Lord  Jesus  do  shortly  make  them  know,  that  he  has  loved, 
what  they  have  hated,  maligned,  persecuted.  But  if  the  God  of  A'"ea'- 
England  have  inclined  any  great  personage,  to  intercede,  or  interpose, 
for  the  prevention  of  the  ruines  which  ill  men  have  designed  for  such  a 
country  ;  or  to  procure  for  a  people  of  an  Ballot's  complexion  in  religion, 
the  undisturbed  enjoyment  and  exercise  of  that  religion  :  it  is  a  thing 
that  call«  for  our  most  sensible  acknowledgments. 


476  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  HI. 

It  is  an  odd  superstition  which  the  Indians  of  this  country  have  among 
them,  that  they  count  it  (on  the  penalty  of  otherwise  never  prosperiyig 
more)  necessary  for  them,  never  to  pass  by  the  graves  of  certain  famous 
persons  among  them,  without  laying  and  leaving  some  token  of  regard 
thereupon.  But  we  hope,  that  all  true  Protestants,  will  count  it  no  more 
than  what  is  equal  and  proper,  that  the  land  which  has  in  it,  the  grave  of 
such  a  remarkable  preacher  to  the  Indians,  as  our  Eliot,  should  be 
treated  with  such  a  love,  as  a  Jerusalem  uses  to  find  from  them  that  are 
to  prosper 

Upon  that  score  then,  let  my  lord  accept  a  present,  from,  and  for  a  re- 
mote corner  in  the  jVeto  fVorld,  where  God  is  praised  on  your  behalf; 
a  -fnall  present  made  by  the  hand  of  a  rude  American,  who  has  nothing  to 
recommend  him  unto  your  lordship,  except  this,  that  he  is  the  son  of 
one  whom  you  have  admitted  unto  your  favours  ;  and  that  he  is  ambi 
tious  to  wear  the  title  of, 

My  Lord, 

Your  Lordship^s  most  humble, 

and  most  obedient  servant, 

COTTON  MATHER. 


INTRODUCTION. 

It  was  a  very  surprising  as  well  as  undoubted  accident  which  happen- 
ed within  the  memory  of  millions  yet  alive,  when  (as  the  learned  Horni- 
us  has  given  us  the  relation,)  certain  shepherds  upon  mount  J\'ebo,  fol- 
lowing part  of  their  straggling  flock,  at  length  came  to  a  valley,  the  pro- 
digious depths  and  rocks  whereof,  rendred  it  almost  inaccessible  ;  in 
which  there  was  a  cave  of  inexpressible  sweetness,  and  in  that  cave  was 
a  sepulchre,  that  had  v»ry  difficult  characters  upon  it.  The  patriarchs 
of  the  Jkfarom'ies  thereabouts  inhabiting,  procured  some  learned  per- 
sons to  take  notice,  and  make  report  of  this  curiosity,  who  found  the  in- 
scription of  the  grave-stone  to  be  in  the  Hebrew  language  and  letter  ; 
Moses,  the  servant  of  the  Lord. 

The  Jews,  the  Greeks,  and  the  Roman  Catholics  thereabouts,  were  al- 
together by  the  ears,  for  the  possession  of  this  rarity,  but  the  Turks  as 
quickly  laid  claim  unto  it,  and  strongly  guarded  it.  Nevertheless,  the  Jes- 
■uites  found  a  way  by  tricks  and  bribes,  to  engage  the  Turkish  guards  into 
a  conspiracy  with  them,  for  the  transporting  of  the  inclosed  and  renown- 
ed ashes  into  Europe;  but  when  they  opened  the  grave,  there  was  no 
body,  nor  so  much  as  a  relick  there.  While  they  were  under  the  confu- 
sion of  this  disappointment,  a  Turkish  general  came  upon  them,  and  cut 
them  all  to  pieces  ;  therewithal  taking  a  course  never  to  have  that  place 
visited  any  more.  But  the  scholars  of  the  Orient  presently  made  this  a 
theme  which  they  talked  and  wrote  much  upon  :  and  whether  this  zoere 
the  true  sepulchre  of  Moses,  was  a  question  upon  which  many  books  were 
published. 

The  world  would  now  count  me  very  absurd,  if  after  this  I  should  say, 
that  I  had  found  the  septdchre  of  Moses,  in  America  :  but  I  have  certainly 
here  found  Moses  himself;  we  have  had  among  us,  one  appearing  in  the 
spirit  of  a  Moses  ;  and  it  is  not  the  grave,  but  the  life  of  such  a  Mosef., 
that  we  value  our  selves  upon  being  the  owners  of. 

Having  implored  the  assistance  and  acceptance  of  that  God,  whose 
blessed  word  has  told  us,  The  righteous  shall  be  had  in  everlasting  remem- 
brance :  I  am  attempting  to  write  the  life  of  a  righteous  person,  concern- 
ing whom  all  things,  but  the  meanness  of  the  writer,  invite  the  reader  to 
expect  nothing  save  what  is  truly  extraordinary.  It  is  the  life  of  one 
•who  has  better  and  greater  things  to  be  affirmed  of  him,  than  could  ever 
be  reported  concerning  any  of  those  famous  men,  which  have  been  cele- 
brated by  the  pens  of  a  Plutarch,  a  Pliny,  a  Laerfius,  an  Etinapius  or  in 
any  Pagan  histories.  It  is  the  life  of  one  whose  character  might  very 
agreeably  be  looked  for,  among  the  collections  of  a  Dorothcus,  or  the  ora- 
tions of  a  JVazianzen ;  or  is  worthy  at  least  of  nothing  less  than  the  ex- 
quisite stile  of  a  Melchior  Adam,  to  eternize  it. 

if  it  be,  as  it  is,  a  true  assertion,  that  the  least  exercise  of  true  faith  or 
love,  towards  God,  in  Christ,  is  a  more  glorious  thing  than  all  the  ti-iumplu 
of  a  Caesar,  there  must  be  something  very  considerable,  in  the /i/e  of  one 
who  spent  several  scores  of  years  in  guch  exercises  ;  and  of  one,  in  the 
mention  of  whose  atchievements,  we  may  al^o  recount,  that  he  fought  the 
devil  in  (once)  his  American  territories,  till  he  had  recovered  no  small 
party  of  his  old  subjects  and  vassals  out  of  his  cruel  hands  ;  it  would  be. 
as  unreasonable,  as  unprof  table,  for  posterity  to  bury  the  memory  of  such 
a  person  in  the  dust  of  that  obscurity  and  oblivion,  which  has  covered 
the  names  of  the  heroes,  who  died  before  the  days  q{  Agamemnon. 


478  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  IJI, 

PRELIMINARY  L 

'i"he  Birth,  Age,  and  Family  of  Mr.  Eliot. 

The  inspired  Moses,  relating  the  lives  of  those  Anti  Dihivian  Patriarchs, 
in  whom  the  Church  of  God,  and  line  ot  Christ  was  continued,  through 
the  first  sixteen  hundred  years  of  time,  recites  little  but  their  birth,  and 
their  age,  and  their  death,  and  their  sons  and  daughters.  If  those  articles 
would  satisfie  the  appetites  and  enquiries  of  such  as  come  to  read  the 
life  of  our  Eliot,  we  shall  soon  have  dispatched  the  work  now  upon  our 
hands. 

The  age,  with  the  death  of  this  worthy  man,  has  been  already  termin- 
ated, ill  the  ninetieth  year  of  the  present  century,  and  the  eighty-sixth 
year  of  his  own  pilgrimage.  And  for  his  birth,  it  was  at  a  town  in  Eng- 
land ;  the  name  whereof  I  cannot  presently  recover  ;  nor  is  it  necessa- 
ry for  me  to  look  back  so  far  as  the  place  of  his  nativity  ;  any  more  than 
it  is  for  me  to  recite  the  vertues  of  \\\«:  parent  age,  of  which  he  said.  Vix 
ea  nostra  voco  :  though  indeed  the  pious  education  which  they  gave  him, 
caused  him  in  his  age,  to  write  these  words  :  I  do  see  that  it  Tvas  a  great 
favour  of  God  unto  me,  to  season  my  first  times  with  the  fear  of  God,  the 
word,  and  prayt  r. 

The  Atlawick  Ocean,  like  a  river  of  Lethe,  may  easily  cause  us  to  for- 
get many  of  the  things  that  happened  on  the  other  side.  Indeed  the  na- 
tivity  of  such  a  man,  were  an  honour  worthy  the  contention  of  as  many 
places,  as  laid  their  claims  unto  the  famous  Homer^s  :  but  whatever  pla- 
ces may  challenge  a  share  in  the  reputation  of  having  enjoyed  the  first 
breath  of  our  Eliot,  it  is  JSl'e-w-Englatid  that  with  most  right  can  call 
him  her^s  ;  his  best  breath,  and  afterwards  his  last  breath  was  here  ;  and 
here  'twas,  that  God  bestowed  upon  him  sons  and  daughters. 

He  came  to  jXe-ic- England  in  the  month  of  A'ovember,  A  D.  1631, 
among  those  blessed  old  planters,  which  laid  the  foundations  of  a  remark- 
able country,  devoted  unto  the  exercise  of  the  Protestant  religion,  in  its 
purest  and  highest  reformation.  He  left  behind  him  in  Eixgland,  a  ver- 
tuous  young  gentlewoman,  whom  he  had  pursued  and  purposed  a  mar- 
riage unto  ;  and  she  coming  hither  the  year  following,  that  marriage  was 
consummated  in  the  month  of  October,  A  D.  1632, 

This  rvife  of  his  youth  lived  with  him  until  she  became  to  him  also  the 
staff" of  his  age  ;  and  she  left  bim  not  until  about  three  or  four  years  before 
his  own  departure  to  those  heavenly  regions,  where  they  now  together 
see  light.  She  was  a  woman  very  eminent,  both  for  holiness  and  usefdness, 
and  she  excelled  most  of  the  daughters  that  have  done  vertuously.  Her 
name  was  Anne,  and  gracious  was  her  nature.  God  made  her  a  rich  bles- 
sing, not  only  to  her  family,  but  also  to  her  neighbourhood  ;  and  when  at 
last  she  died,  I  heard  and  saw  her  aged  husband,  who  else  very  rarely 
ivept,  yet  now  with  tears  over  the  coffin,  before  the  good  people,  a  vast 
confluence  of  which  were  come  to  her  funeral,  say.  Here  lies  my  dear, 
faithful,  pious,  prudent,  prayerful  nnfe  ;  I  shall  go  to  her,  and  she  not  re- 
turn to  me.  My  reader  will  of  his  own  accord  excuse  me,  from  bestow- 
ing any  further  epitaphs  upon  that  gracjoi/s  woman. 

By  her  did  God  give  him  six  worthy  children,  children  of  a  character 
which  mnv  forever  stop  the  mnnth«  of  those  antichristion  blasphemers. 


iiooK  III.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ExNGLAND.  479 

who  have  set  a  false  brand  of  disaster  and  infamy,  on  the  offspring  of  a 
married  clergy.  His  firsUborn  was  a  daughter,  horn  Sept.  17,  A.  C,  1633. 
This  gentlewoman  is  yet  alive,  and  one  well  approved  for  her  piety  and 
gravity.  His  next  was  a  son  ;  born  Aug.  31,  A.  C.  1636.  He  bore  his 
father's  name,  and  had  his  father's  grace.  He  was  a  person  of  notable  ac- 
complishments, and  a  lively,  zealous,  acute  preacher,  not  only  to  the 
English  at  Kew-Caiabridge ,  but  also  to  the  Indians  thereabout.  He  grew 
so  tast,  that  he  was  found  ripe  for  Heaven,  many  years  ago  ;  and  upon 
his  death-bed  uttered  such  penetrating  things  as  could  proceed  from  none, 
but  one  upon  the  borders  and  confines  of  eternal  glory.  It  is  pity  that 
so  many  of  them  are  forgotten  ;  but  one  of  them,  I  think,  we  have  cause 
to  remember  :  Well,  (said  he)  my  dear  friends,  there  is  a  dark  day  coming 
upon  New-England  ;  and  in  so  dark  a  day,  I  pray,  how  will  you  provide 
for  your  own  security !  My  cowisel  to  yon  is,  get  an  interest  in  the  blessed 
Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  and  that  will  carry  you  to  the  world's  end.  His  third 
was  also  a  son,  born  Dec.  20,  A.  C.  1638  ;  him  he  called  Joseph.  This 
person  hath  been  a  pastor  (o  the  church  at  Guilford.  His  fourth  was  a 
Samuel,  born  June  22,  A.  C.  1641,  who  died  a  most  lovely  young  man, 
eminent  for  learning  and  goodness,  a  fellow  of  the  colledge,  and  a  candi- 
date of  the  ministry.  His  fifth  was  an  Aaron,  born  Feb.  19,  A.  C.  1643, 
who  though  he  died  very  young,  yet  first  manifested  matiy  good  things  to- 
'wards  the  Lord  God  of  Israel.  His  last  was  a  Benjamin,  born  Jan.  29,  A. 
C.  1646.  Of  all  these  three,  it  may  be  said,  as  it  was  of  Haran,  They 
died  before  their  father  ;  but  it  may  also  be  written  over  their  graves,  All 
these  died  in  faith.  By  the  pious  design  of  their  father,  they  were  all 
consecrated  unto  the  service  of  God,  in  the  ministry  of  the  gospel  ;  but 
God  saw  meet  rather  to  fetch  them  away,  by  a  death,  which  (therefore)  I 
dare  not  call  prmnature,  to  glorify  him  in  another  and  a  better  world. 
They  all  gave  such  demonstrations  of  their  conversion  to  God,  that  the 
good  old  man  would  sometimes  comfortably  say,  I  have  had  six  children, 
and  I  bless  God  for  his  free  grace,  they  are  all  either  with  Christ,  or  in  Christ ; 
and  my  mind  is  now  at  rest  concerning  them.  And  when  some  asked  him, 
how  he  could  bear  the  death  of  such  excellent  children,  his  humble  re- 
ply thereto  was  this.  My  desire  was  that  they  should  have  served  God  on 
earth  ;  but  if  God  will  chuse  to  have  them  rather  serve  him,  in  Heaven,  Ihavt 
nothing  to  object  against  it,  but  his  will  be  done  !  His  Benjamin  was  made 
the  son  of  his  right-hand  ;  for  the  invitation  of  the  good  people  at  jRoa;6M- 
ry,  placed  him  in  the  same  pulpit  with  his  father,  where  he  was  his  assist- 
ant for  many  years  ;  there  they  had  a  proof  of  him.,  that  as  a  son  with  his 
father,  he  served  zvith  him  in  the  gospel.  But  his  fate  was  like  that  which 
the  great  Gregory  Nazianzen  describes  in  his  discourse  upon  the  death  of 
his  honourable  brother,  his  aged  father  being  now  alive  and  present  : 
My  father  having  laid  up  in  a  better  world,  a  rich  inheritance  for  his  chil 
dren,  sent  a  son  of  his  before,  to  take  possession  of  it. 


PRELIMINARY  II. 

Mr.  Er.iox's  early  conversion,  sacred  employment^  and  just  removal  into 

America. 

But  all  that  T  have  hitherto  said,  is  no  more  than  an  entrance  into  the 
history  of  our  EUot.     Such  an  Enoch  as  he,  mu^t  have  soi»ethiug  more 


4dO  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLANO.        [Book  Ml 

than  these  things  recorded  of  him  ;  his  walk  with  God,  must  be  more 
largely  laid  before  the  world,  as  a  thing  that  wfluid  bespeak  us  all  to  be 
followers  no  less  than  we  shall  be  admirers  of  it. 

He  had  not  passed  many  turns  in  the  world,  before  he  knew  the  mean- 
ing of  a  saving  turn  from  the  vanities  of  an  unregenerate  state,  unto  God 
in  Christ,  by  a  true  repentance  ;  he  had  the  singular  happiness  and 
privilege  of  an  early  conversion  from  the  ways  which  original  sin  disposes 
all  men  unto.  One  of  the  principal  instruments  which  the  God  of  Heav- 
en used  in  tingeing,  and  tilling  the  mind  of  this  chosen  vessel,  with  good 
principles,  was  that  venerable  Thomas  Hooker,  whose  name  in  the  church- 
es of  the  Lord  Jesus,  is  as  an  ointmc7it  poured  forth  ;  even  that  Hooker, 
who  having  angled  many  scores  of  souls  into  the  kingdom  of  Heaven,  at 
last  laid  his  bones  in  oar  JVew- England  ;  it  was  an  acquaintance  with  him, 
that  contributed  more  than  a  little  to  the  accomplishment  of  our  Elisha, 
for  that  work  unto  which  the  Most  High  designed  him.  His  liberal  ed%i- 
cation,  having  now  the  addition  o(  religion  to  direct  it,  and  improve  it,  it 
gave  such  a  biass  to  his  young  soul,  as  quickly  discovered  it  self  in  ver}' 
signal  instances.  His  first  appearance  in  the  world  after  his  education  in 
the  university,  was  in  the  too  difficult  and  unthankful  but  very  necessary 
employment  of  a  school-master,  which  employment  he  discharged  with  a 
good  fidelity.  And  as  this  first  essay  of  his  improvement  was  no  more 
disgrace  unto  him,  than  it  was  unto  the  famous  Hieron,  Whitaker,  Vines, 
and  others,  that  they  </i«s  began  to  be  serviceable  ;  so  it  rather  prepar- 
ed him,  for  the  further  service,  which  his  mind  was  now  set  upon.  He 
was  of  worthy  Mr.  Thomas  Wilson's  mind,  that  the  calling  of  a  minister  was 
the  only  one  wherein  a  man  might  be  more  serviceable  to  the  Church  of 
God,  than  in  that  of  a  school-master ;  and  with  Melchior  Adam,  he  reck- 
oned, the  calling  of  a  school-master,  Pulveridentam,  ac  Moleslissimam  qui- 
dem,  sed  Deo  longe  gratissimam  Functionem.  Wherefore  having  dedicated 
himself  unto  God  betimes,  he  could  not  reconcile  himself  to  any  lesser 
way  of  serving  his  Creator  and  Redeemer,  than  the  sacred  ministry  of  the 
gospel  ;  but  alas,  where  should  he  have  opportunities  for  the  exercising 
of  it  ?  The  Laudian,  Grotian,  and  Jlrminian  faction  in  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, in  the  prosecution  of  their  grand  plot,  for  the  reducing  of  England 
unto  a  moderate  sort  of  Popery,  had  pitched  upon  this  as  one  of  their 
methods  for  it  ;  namely,  to  creeple  as  fast  as  they  could,  all  the  learned, 
godly,  painful  ministers  of  the  nation  ;  and  invent  certain  Shibboleths  for 
the  detecting  and  the  destroying  of  such  men  as  were  cordial  friends  to 
the  reformation.  'Twas  now  a  time  when  there  were  every  day  multi- 
plied and  imposed  those  unwarrantable  ceremonies  in  the  worship  of  God 
by  which  the  conscience  of  our  considerate  Eliot  counted  the  second 
commandment  notoriously  violated  ;  it  was  now  also  a  time  when  some 
hundreds  of  those  good  people  which  had  the  nick-name  of  Puriia/is  put 
upon  them,  transported  themselves,  with  their  whole  families  and  inter- 
ests, into  the  desarts  of  America,  that  they  might  here  peaceably  erect 
Congregational  Churches,  and  therein  attend  and  maintain  all  the  pure  in- 
stitutions of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  having  the  encouragement  of  royal 
charters^  that  they  should  never  have  any  interruption  in  the  enjoyment 
of  those  precjous  and  pleasant  thi7igs.  Here  was  a  prospect  which  quick- 
ly determined  tiie  devout  soul  of  our  young  Eliot,  unto  a  remove  into 
New-England,  while  it  was  yet  a  land  not  sown  ;  he  quickly  listed  himself 
among  those  valiant  soldiers  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  cheerfully 
encountred  first  the  perils  of  the  Atlantick  Ocean,  and  then  the  fatigues 
of  the  JVew-EngUsh  wilderness,  that  they  might  have  an  undisturbed  com* 


Book  III.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  481 

munion  with  him  in  his  appointments  here.  And  thus  did  he  betimes 
procure  himselfthe  con&ol  ition  of  havinn^  afterwards  and  for  ever  a  room 
in  that  remembrance  of  God,  I  remember  thee,  the  kindneas  of  thy  youth, 
and  the  love  of  thine  espousals,  when  thou  wentest  after  me  into  the  "Jinlderness . 
On  his  lirst  arrival  to  jVczv- England,  he  soon  jomed  himself  unto  the 
church  at  Boston  ;  'twas  church-Zi'ork  that  was  his  errand  hither,  Mr. 
Wilson,  the  pastor  of  that  church,  was  gone  back  into  England,  that 
he  might  perfect  the  settlement  of  his  affairs  ;  and  in  his  absence, 
young  Mr.  Eliot  was  he  that  supplied  his  place.  Upon  the  return 
of  Mr.  Wilson,  that  church  was  intending  to  have  made  Mr  Eliot 
his  collegue,  and  their  teacher  ;  but  it  was  diverted.  Mr.  Eliot  had 
engaged  unto  a  select  number  of  his  pious  and  christian  friends  in 
England,  that  if  they  should  come  into  these  parts  before  he  should 
be  in  the  pastoral  care  of  any  other  people,  he  would  give  him- 
self to  them,  and  be  for  their  service.  It  happened,  that  these  friends 
transported  themselves  hither,  the  year  after  him  ;  and  chose  their  hab- 
itation at  the  town  which  they  called  Roxbury.  A  church  being  now 
gathered  at  this  place,  he  was  in  a  little  while  ordained  unto  the  teach- 
ing and  ruling  of  that  holy  society.  So,  'twas  in  the  orb  of  that  church 
that  we  had  him  as  a  star  fixed  for  very  near  three-score  years  ;  it  only 
remains  that  we  now  observe  what  was  his  magnitude  all  this  while* 
and  how  he  performed  his  revolution. 


PART  I. 

Or,  ELIOT  as  a  Christian. 

ARTICLE.  L 

His  Eminent   Piety. 

Sucrt  was  the  piety  of  our  Eliot,  that  like  another  Moses,  he  had  upon 
his  face  a  continual  shine,  arising  from  his  uninterrupted  communion 
with  the  Father  of  spirits.  He  was  indeed  a  man  of  prayer,  and  might 
say  after  the  psalmist,  /  prayer,  as  being  in  a  manner  made  up  of  it. 
Could  the  walls  of  his  old  study  speak,  they  would  even  ravish  us  w^ith 
a  relation  of  the  many  hundred  and  thousand  fervent  prayers  which 
he  there  poured  out  before  the  Lord.  He  not  only  made  it  his  daily 
practice  to  enter  into  th-M  closet,  and  shut  his  door,  and  pray  to  his  Father 
in  secret,  but  he  would  not  rarely  set  apart  whole  days  for  prayer  with 
fasting,  in  secret  places  before  the  God  of  Heaven.  Pra?/er  solemnized 
with  fasting  was  indeed  so  agreeable  unto  him,  that  I  have  sometime.*? 
though  the  might  justly  inherit  the  name  of  Johannes  Jejunaror,  or  John 
the  Faster,  which  for  the  like  reason  vvas  put  upon  one  of  the  renowned 
ancients.  Especially,  when  there  was  any  remarkable  difficulty  before 
him,  he  took  this  way  to  encounter  and  overcome  it  :  bemj;  of  Dr. 
Preston's  mind,  That  when  roe  ■would  h-Jve  any  great  things  to  be  accom- 
plished, the  best  policy  is  to  work  by  an  engine  which  the  world  sees  nothing 
of.  He  could  say  as  the  pious  Robertson  did  upon  his  death  bed,  /  thank 
God,  I  have  loved  fasting  and  prayer,  with  all  my  heart !  If  one  would 
have  known  what  that  sacred  thing,  the  spirit  of  prayer,  intends,  in  him 
there  might  have  been  seen  a  most  luculent  and  practical  exposition  o( 

Vol.  L  fil 


485  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book   HL 

it.  He  kept  his  heart  ia  a  frame  for  prayer,  with  a  marvellous  con 
stancy  ;  and  was  continually  provoking  ail  that  were  about  him  there- 
unto- When  he  heard  any  considerable  news,  his  usual  and  speedy  re- 
flection thereupon  would  he,  Brethren  let  us  turn  all  this  into  prayer ! 
and  he  was  perpetually  jogging  the  a-Ztee/  of  prayer,  both  more  private- 
\y  in  the  meetings,  and  more  publickly  in  the  churches  of  his  neighbour- 
hood. When  he  came  to  an  house  that  he  was  intimately  acquainted 
with,  he  would  often  say,  Come,  let  ns  not  have  a  visit  without  a  prayer  ; 
let  us  pray  dozim  the  blessing  of  Heaven  on  your  family  before  tn'e  go.  Es- 
pecially when  he  came  into  a  society  of  ministers,  before  he  had  sat 
long  with  them,  they  would  look  to  hear  him  urging,  Brether en,  the  Lord 
Jesus  takes  much  notice  of  m-hat  is  done  crnd  said  among  his  ministers  "when 
they  are  together  ;  come,  let  us  pray  before  we  part!  and  hence  also,  his 
whole  breath  seemed  in  a  sort  made  up  of  ejaculatory  prayers,  many 
scores  of  which  winged  messengers  he  dispatched  away  to  Heaven,  upon 
pious  errands  every  day.  By  them  he  bespoke  blessings  upon  almost 
every  person  or  affair  that  he  was  concerned  with ;  and  he  carried 
every  thing  to  God  with  some  pertinent  Hosannahs  or  Hallelujahs  over 
it.  He  was  a  mighty  and  an  happy  man,  that  had  his  quiver  full  of  these 
heavenly  arro-jcs .'  and  when  he  was  never  so  straitly  besieged  by  hu- 
mane occurrences,  yet  he  fastned  the  wishes  of  his  devout  soul  unto 
them,  and  very  dexterously  shot  them  up  to  Heaven  over  the  head 
of  all. 

As  he  took  thus  delight  in  speaking  to  the  Almighty  God,  no  less  did 
he  in  speaking  of  him  ;  but  in  serious  and  savoury  discourses,  he  still 
had  his  tongue  like  the  pen  of  a  ready  writer.  The  Jesuits  once  at  JVola 
made  a  no  less  profane  than  severe  order,  that  no  man  shoidd  speak  of 
God  at  all ;  but  this  excellent  person  almost  made  it  an  order  wherever 
he  came,  to  speak  of  nothing  but  God.  He  was  indeed  sufficiently  pleas- 
ant and  witty  in  company,  and  he  was  affable  and  facetious  rather  than 
morose  in  conversation  ;  but  he  had  a  remarkable  gravity  mixed  with  it, 
and  a  singular  skill  of  raising  some  holy  observatio7i  out  of  whatever  mat- 
ter of  discourse  lay  before  him  ;  nor  would  he  ordinarily  dismiss  any  theme 
without  some  gracious,  divine,  pithy  sentence  thereupon.  Doubtless, 
lie  imposed  it  as  a  law  upon  himself,  that  he  would  leave  something  of 
God  and  Heaven,  and  religion,  with  all  that  should  come  a  near  him  ;  so 
that  in  all  places,  his  company  was  attended  with  majesty  and  reverence  ; 
and  it  was  no  sooner  proper  for  him  to  speak,  but  like  Mary^s  opened 
box  of  ointment,  he  filled  the  whole  room  with  the  perfumes  of  the  "ra- 
ces in  his  lips,  and  the  christian  hearers  tasted  a  greater  sweetness  in 
his  well-fcasoned  speeches,  than  the  illustrious  Homer  ascribed  unto  the 
orations  of  his  J\'estor, 

Whose  lip  drop''d  language  than  sweet  honey,  sweeter  abundance. 

His  conferences  were  like  those  which  TertulUnn  affirms  to  have  been 
common  among  the  saints  in  his  days,  Ut  qui  sciret  domiiium  audire,  as 
knowing  that  the  ear  of  God  was  open  to  them  all  ;  and  he  managed  his 
rudder  so  as  to  manifest  that  he  was  bound  Heaven-ward,  in  his  whole  com- 
munication. He  had  a  particular  art  at  spiritualizing  of  earthly  objects, 
and  raising  of  high  thoughts  from  very  mea7i  things.  As,  once  going  with 
some  feebleness  and  weariness  up  the  hill  on  which  his  meeting-house 
now  stands,  he  said  unto  the  person  that  led  him,  This  is  very  like  the  way 
to  Heaven,  'tis  up  hill!  the  Lord  by  his  grace  fetch  jis  up!  and  instantly 
spying  a  bush  near  him,  he  as  nimbly  added,  and  truly  there  are  //uorns 


Book  III.]  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  483 

and  briars  in  the  way  too!  which  instance  1  would  not  have  singled  out 
from  the  man}'  thousands  of  his  occasional  reflections,  but  only  that  1  might 
suggest  unto  the  good  people  of  Roxbury,  something  for  them  to  think 
upon,  when  they  are  going  up  to  the  house  of  the  Lord.  It  is  enough,  that 
as  the  friend  of  the  famous  Ursin  could  profess  that  he  never  went  unto 
him  without  coming  away,  out  doctior  uut  melior,  either  the  xviser  or  the 
better  from  him  ;  so,  it  is  an  acknowledgment  which  more  than  one  friend 
of  our  Eliot^s  has  made  concerning  him,  /  n-as  never  zt'iih  hint  but  I  got, 
or  might  have  got  some  good  from  him. 

And  hearing/r-o;n  the  great  God,  was  an  exercise  of  like  satisfaction 
unto  the  soul  ot"  this  good  man,  with  speaking  either  to  him,  or  of  him. 
He  was  a  mighty  student  of  the  sacred  Bible  ;  and  it  was  unto  him  as  his 
necessary  food.  He  made  the  Bible  his  companion,  and  his  counsellor, 
and  the  holy  lines  of  scripture  more  enamoured  him  than  the  profane 
ones  of  Tully,  ever  did  the  famous  Italian  cardinal.  He  would  not  upon 
easy  terms,  have  gone  one  day  together,  without  using  a  portion  of  the 
Bible  as  an  antidote  against  the  infection  of  temptation.  And  he  would 
prescribe  it  unto  others,  with  his  probalum  est  upon  it  ;  as  once  particu- 
larly apiot'S  vvoman,  vexed  with  a  wicked  husband,  complaining  to  him, 
that  bad  company  was  all  the  day  still  infesting  of  her  house,  and  rvhal  should 
she  do  ?  he  advised  her,  Take  the  holy  Bible  into  your  hand,  za-hen  the  bad 
company  comes,  and  you'll  soon  drive  them  out  of  the  house ;  the  woman 
made  tiie  experiment,  and  thereby  cleared  her  house  from  the  haunts  that 
hd  1  molested  it.  By  the  like  way  it  was  that  he  cleared  his  heart  of  what 
he  was  loth  to  have  nesting  there.  Moreover,  if  ever  any  man  could, 
he  might  pretend  unto  that  evidence  of  uprightness,  Lord,  I  have  loved 
the  habitation  of  tliine  house;  for  he  not  only  gave  something  more  than 
his  presence  there  twice  on  the  Lord's  days,  and  once  a  fortnight  besides 
on  the  lectures,  in  his  own  congregation,  but  he  made  his  weekly  visits- 
unto  the  lectures  in  the  neighbouring  towns  ;  how  often  was  he  seen  at 
Boston,  Charlestorn'n,  Cambridge,  Dorchester,  waiting  upon  the  word  of  God, 
in  recurring  opportunities,  and  counting  a  day  in  the  courts  of  the  Lord 
better  than  a  thousand  ?  It  is  hardly  conceivable,  how  in  the  midst  of  so 
many  studies  and  labours  as  he  was  at  home  engaged  in,  he  could  possibly 
repair  to  so  many  lectures  abroad  ;  and  herein  he  aimed,  not  only  at  his 
own  edification,  but  at  the  countenancing  and  encouraging  of  the  lectures 
which  he  went  unto. 

Thus  he  took  heed,  that  he  might  hear,  and  he  took  as  much  heed 
kote  he  heard;  he  set  himself  as  in  the  presence  of  the  eternal  God, 
as  the  great  Coustantine  used  of  old,  in  the  assemblies  where  he  came, 
and  said,  I  njill  hear  :si-hat  God  the  Lord  zvill  speak;  he  expressed  a  dili- 
gent attention,  by  a  watchful  and  wakeful  posture,  and  by  turning  to  the 
texts  quoted  by  the  preacher  ;  he  expressed  a  suitable  affection  by  feed- 
ing on  what  was  delivered,  and  accompanying  it  with  hands  and  eyes 
devoutly  elevated  ;  and  they  whose  good  hap  'twas  to  go  home  with 
him,  were  sure  of  having  another  sermon  by  the  way  until  their  very 
hearts  burned  in  them.  Lactantius  truly  said,  Aora  est  vera  Religio,  guce 
cum  Templo  relinquitur ;  but  our  Eliot  always  carried  much  of  religion 
with  him,  from  the  house  of  God. 

In  a  word,  he  was  one  who  lived  in  Heaven  while  he  zi'as  on  earth  ;  and 
there  is  no  more  than  pure  justice  in  our  endeavours  that  he  should  live 
on  earth  after  he  is  in  Heaven.  Vie  cannot  say  that  we  ever  saw  him 
walking  any  whither  but  he  was  therein  talking  with  God  ;  wherever  he 
sat.  be  had  God  by  him,  and  it  was  in  the  everlasting  arms  of  God  that  he 


484  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  III. 

slept  at  night.  Methoughts  he  a  little  discovered  his  heavenly  way  of 
living,  when  walking  one  day  in  his  garden,  he  plucked  up  a  ttced  that  he 
saw  now  and  then  growing  there,  at  which  a  friend  pleasantly  said  unto 
hiui.  Sir,  you  tell  us,  we  tnust  be  heavenly-minded  ;  but  he  immediately  re- 
plied, It  is  true;  nndthis  is  no  iinpediment  unto  that,  for  ti'ere  I  sure  to  go 
to  Heaven  to-morrow,  I  would  do  what  I  do  to-day.  From  such  a  frame  of 
spirit  it  was  that  once  in  a  visit,  finding  a  merchant  in  his  counting 
house,  where  he  saw  books  of  business  only  on  his  table,  but  all  his 
books  of  devotion  on  the  shelf,  he  gave  this  advice  unto  him,  Sii-,  here  is 
earth  on  the  table,  and  Heaven  on  the  shelf ;  pray  don't  sit  so  much  at  the 
table  as  altogether  to  forget  the  shelf ;  let  not  earth  by  any  means  thrust 
Heaven  out  of  your  mind. 

Indeed  I  cannot  give  a  fuller  description  of  him,  than  what  was  in  a 
paraphrase  that  I  have  heard  himself  to  make  upon  that  scripture,  Our 
conversation  is  iyi  Heaven.      1  writ  from  him  as  he  uttered  it. 

'  Behold,  said  he,  the  ancient  and  excellent  character  of  a  true  chris- 
'  lian  ;  'tis  that  which  Peter  calls  holiness  2?i  all  manner  if  conversation ; 
'  you  shall  not  find  a  christian  out  of  the  way  of  godly  conversation.    For, 

*  first,  a  seventh  part  of  our  time  is  all  spent  in  Heaven,  when  we  are  du- 
'  ly  zealous   for,  and  zealous  on  the  sabbath  of  God.     Besides.  God  has 

*  written  on  the  head  of  the  sabbath  remember  ;  which  looks  both   for- 

*  wards  and  backwards  ;  and  thus  a  good  part  of  the  week  will  be  spent  in 
'  sabbatizing.  Well,  but  for  the  rest  of  our  time  !  Why,  we  shall  have 
'  that  spent  in  Heaven,  e'er  we  have  done.     For,  secondly,  we  have  ma- 

*  ny  days  for  both /-is^mg  and  thanksgiving,  in  our  pilgrimage  ;  and  here 
'are  so  many  sabbaths  more.  Moreover,  thirdly,  we  have  our  lectures 
'  every  week  ;  and  pious  people  won't  miss  them,  if  they  can  help  it. 
'Furthermore,  fourthly',  we  have  our  private  meetings  wherein  we  pray, 
'  and  sing,  and  repeat  sermons,  and  confer  together  about  the  things  of 
'  God  ;  and  being  now  come  thus  far,  we  are  in  Heaven  almost  every 
'  day.  But  a  little  farther,  fifthly,  we  perform  family-duties  every  day  ; 
'  we  have  our  morning  and  evening  sacrifices,  wherein  having  read  the 
'  scriptures  to  our  families,  we  call  upon  the  name  of  God,  and  ever  now 
'  and  then  carefully  catechize  those  that  are  under  our  charge.  Sixthlj', 
'  we  shall  also  have  our  daily   devotions  in   our  closets;  wherein  unto 

*  supplication  before  the  Lord,  we  shall  add  some  serious  meditation  up- 

*  on  his  word  ;  a  David  will  be  at  this  work  no  less  than  thiice  a  day. 
'  Seventhly',  we  have  likewise  many  scores  of  ejacidations  in  a  day  ;  and 
'  these  we  have,  like  .Xehemiah,  in  whatever  place  we  come  into.  Eighth- 
'  ly  we  have  our  occasional  thoughts,  and  our  occasional  talks,  upon  spir- 
'  itual  matters  ;  and  ive  have  our  occasional  acts  of  charity,  wherein  we 
'  do  like  the  inhabitants  of  Heaven  every  day.  Ninthly,  in  our  callings, 
'in  our  civil  callings,  we  keep  '^p  Heavenly  frames  ;  we  buy  and  sell, 
'  and  toil;  yea.  we  eat  and  drink,  with  some  eye  both  to  the  command 

*  and  the  honour  of  God  in  all.     Bel'old,   I  have  not  now  left  an  inch  of 

*  time  to  be  carnal;  it  is  all  engrossed  for  Heaven.  And  yet,  lest  here 
'  should  not  be  enou  ;h,  las;ly,  we  have  our  spiritual  warfare.  We  are 
'  always  encountring  the  enemies  of  our  souls,  which  continually  raises 

*  our  hearts  unto  our  Helper  antl  Leader  in   the  Heavens.     Let  no  man 

*  say,  'n's  impossible  to  live  at  this  rate ;  for  we  have  known  some  live 
'  thus  ;  and  others  that  havo  written  of  such  a  life,  have  but  spun  a  web 
'  out  of  their  own  blessed  experiences.  New-England  has  example  of 
'  this  life  ;  though,  alas,  'tis  to  be  lamented,  that  the  distractions  of  the 
'world,  in  too  many  professors,  do  becloud  the  beauty  of  an  Heavenly 


£>ooK  III.]  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  485 

'conversation.  In  fine,  our  employment  lies  in  Heaven.  In  the  morn- 
'  ins;,  if  we  ask,  Mliere  am  I  to  be  to  day  ?  our  souls  must  answer,  In 
'  Heaven.  In  the  evening,  if  we  ask,  JVftcre  have  I  been  to-day,  our  souls 
»  may  answer,  In  Heaven.  If  thou  art  a  believer,  thou  art  no  stranger  to 
*  Heaven  while  thou  Hvest ;  and  when  thou  diest,  Heaven  will  be  no  strange 
'  place  to  thee  ;  no,  thou  hast  been  there  a  thousand  limes  before. 

In  this  language  have  I  heard  him  express  himself;  and  he  did  what 
he  said  ;  he  was  a  Boniface  as  well  as  Benedict ;  and  he  was  one  of  those. 

Qui  faciendo  docent,  guce  facienda  docent. 

It  might  be  said  of  him,  as  that  writer  characterises  Origen,  Quemad- 
nxodum  docuit,  sic  vLxii,  4*  quemadmodiimvixit  sic  docuit. 

ARTICLE  II. 
His  particular  Care  and  Zeal  about  the  Lord's  Day. 

This  was  the  piety,  this  the  holiness  of  our  Eliot ;  but  among  the  many 
instances  in  which  his  holiness  was  remarkable,  I  must  not  omit  his  exact 
remembrance  of  the  sabbath  day,  to  keep  it  holy. 

It  has  been  truly  and  justly  observed,  that  our  whole  religion  fares  ac- 
cording to  our  sabbaths,  that  poor  sabbaths  make  poor  christians,  and  that  a 
strictness  in  our  sabbaths  inspires  a  vigour  into  all  our  other  duties.  Our 
Eliot  knew  this,  and  it  was  a  most  exemplary  zeal  that  he  acknowledged  the 
sabbath  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  withal.  Had  he  been  asked,  Servasti  Domi- 
nicum  ?  he  could  have  made  aright  christian  primitive  answer  thereunto. 
Thi;  sun  did  not  set,  the  evening  before  the  sabbaih,  till  he  had  begun  his 
preparation  for  it;  and  when  the  Lord''s  day  came,  yon  might  have  seen 
John  in  the  spirit,  every  week.  Every  day  was  a  sort  of  sabbath  to  him, 
but  the  sabbath-day  was  a  kind,  a  type,  a  tast  of  Heaven  with  him.  He 
laboured,  that  he  might  on  this  high  day,  have  no  -words  or  thoughts  but 
such  as  were  agreeable  thereunto  ;  he  then  allowed  in  himself  no  ac- 
tions, but  those  of  a  raised  soul.  One  should  hear  nothing  dropping  from 
his  lips  on  this  day,  but  the  7nilk  and  honey  of  the  country,  in  which  there 
yet  remains  a  rest  for  the  people  of  God  ;  and  if  he  beheld  in  any  person 
whatsoever,  whether  old  or  young,  any  profanation  of  this  day,  he  would 
be  sure  to  bestow  lively  rebukes  upon  it.  And  hence  also  unto  the 
general  engagements  of  a  covenant  with  God,  which  it  was  his  desire  to 
bring  the  Indians  into,  he  added  a  particular  article,  wherein  they  bind 
themselves,  mehquontamunaf  sabbaih,  jjnhketcaimat  tohsohke  pomantamog ; 
i.  e.  to  remember  the  sabbath  day,  to  keep  it  holy,  as  lovg  as  zvc  live. 

The  mention  of  this,  gives  me  an  opportunity,  not  only  to  recommend 
our  departed  Eliot,  but  also  to  vindicate  another  great  man,  unto  the 
churches  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  The  reverend  and  renowned  Ozccn 
in  his  elaborate  exercitations  on  the  Lord''s  day,  had  let  fall  such  a  pas- 
sage as  this  : 

I  judge,  that  the  observation  of  the  Lord^s  day  is  to  be  commensurate  un- 
to the  use  of  our  natural  strength,  on  any  other  day  ;  from  morning  to  night. 
The  Lord''s  day  is  to  be  set  apart  unto  the  ends  of  an  holy  rest  unto  God,  by 
every  one  according  as  his  natural  strength  -will  enable  him  to  employ  him- 
self in  Ids  lawful  occasions  any  other  day  of  the  week. 

This  passage  gave  some  scandal  unto  several  very  learned  and  pious 
men  ;  among  whom,  our  Eliot  was  one  ;  wheretipon  with  his  usual  zeal. 


48^  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  III. 

gravity  and  sanctity,  he  wrote  unto  the  doctor,  his  opinion  thereabout ; 
who  returned  unto  him  an  answer  full  of  respect,  some  part  whereof  I 
shall  here  trnscribe. 

'  As  to  what  concerns  the  natural  strength  of  man  (saith  he)  either  I 
was  under  some  mistake  in  my  expression,  or  you  seem  to  be  so,  in  your 
apprehension.  I  never  thought,  and  I  hope,  I  have  not  said,  for  I  can- 
not find  it,  that  the  continuance  of  the  sabbath  is  to  be  commensurate 
unto  the  natural  strew^th  of  man,  but  only  that  it  is  an  allowable  mean  of 
men's  continuance  in  sabbath  duties  ;  which  I  suppose  you  will  not  de- 
ny, lest  you  should  cast  the  consciences  of  professois  into  inextricable 
difficulties. 
'  When  first  I  engaged  in  that  work,  I  intended  not  to  have  spoken 
one  V.  )rd  about  the  practical  observatio7i  of  the  day  ;  but  ©nly  to  have 
endeavoured  the  revival  of  a  truth,  which  at  present  is  despised  and 
contemned  among  us,  and  strenuously  opposed  by  sundry  divines  of  the 
United  Provinces,  who  call  the  doctrine  of  the  sabbath,  Figmentum  An- 
glicanutn.  Upon  the  desire  of  some  learned  men  in  these  paits,  it  was, 
that  I  undertook  the  vindication  of  it.  Having  now  discharged  the 
debt,  which  in  this  matter  1  owed  unto  the  truth  and  church  of  God, 
though  not  as  I  ought,  yet  with  such  composition  as  I  hope  through 
the  Uitorpcsition  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  uught  find  acceptance  with 
God  and  in?,  saints,  I  suppose  I  shall  not  again  engage  on  that  subject. 
'  1  suv'pose  there  is  scarce  any  one  alive  in  the  world,  who  hath  more 
reproaches  c'iX^i  upon  him  tlian  1  have  ;  though  hitherto  God  has  been 
plt^  iftCd  in  some  measure  to  support  my  spirit  under  them.  1  still  re- 
lieved myself  by  this,  that  my  poor  endeavours  have  found  acceptance 
wiih  the  churches  of  Christ:  but  my  holy,  wise,  and  gracious  Father, 
sees  it  needful  to  try  me  in  this  matter  also  ;  and  what  I  have  received 
from  you  (which  it  may  be  contains  not  yoiir  sense  alone)  hath  printed 
deeper,  and  left  a  greater  impression  upon  my  mind,  than  all  the  viru- 
lent revilings,  and  false  accusations  I  have  met  withal,  from  my  profess- 
ed  adversaries.  I  do  acknowledge  unto  you,  that  I  have  a  dry  and 
barren  spirit,  and  I  do  heartily  beg  your  prayers,  that  the  Holy  One 
would,  notwithstanding  all  my  sinful  provocations,  water  me  from 
above  ;  but  that  I  should  now  be  apprehended  to  have  given  a  wound 
unto  holiness  in  the  churciies,  it  is  one  of  the  saddest  frozo as  in  the  cloudy 
brorcs  of  divine  providence. 
'  The  doctrine  of  the  sabbath,  1  have  asserted,  though  not  as  it  should 
be  done,  yet  as  well  as  !  could  ;  the  observation  of  it  in  holy  duties  un- 
to the  utmost  of  the  strength  for  them,  which  God  shall  be  pleased  to 
give  us,  1  have  pleaded  for  ;  the  necessity  also  of  a  ?,p.v'ioxi?,  preparation 
for  it  in  sundry  previous  duties,  I  have  declared.  But  now  to  meet 
with  revere  expressions — it  may  be  it  is  the  will  of  God,  that  vigour 
should  hereby  be  given  to  my  former  discouragements,  and  ^hat  there  is 
a  call  in  it,  to  surcease  ftom  th'^se  kinds  of  labours.' 
I  have  transci'ibed  the  more  of  rhis  letter,  because  it  not  only  discov- 
ers the  concern  which  our  Eliot  had  for  the  sabhaih  of  God,  but  also  it 
may  contribute  unto  the  world's  good  reception  and  perusal  of  a  golden 
hook  on  that  sulsject,  written  by  one  of  the  most  eminent  persons  which 
the  £n"-/ts/i  nation  has  been  adorned  with. 


'i',ooK  III.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  4Q7 

ARTICLE  III. 
His  exemplary  Mortification. 

Thus  did  Eliot  endeavour  to  live  unto  God  ;  but  how  much  at  the  same 
time  did  he  die  unto  all  the  world  ? 

It  were  impossible  to  finish  the  lively  picture  of  this  pious  and  holy 
Eliot,  without  some  touches  upon  that  mortification,  which  accompanied 
him  all  his  days  ;  for  never  did  I  see  a  person  more  mortified  unto  all 
the  pleasures  of  this  life,  or  more  unwilling  to  moult  the  wings  of  an 
heaven-born  soul,  in  the  dirty  puddles  of  carnal  and  sensual  delights. 
We  are  all  of  us  compounded  of  those  two  things,  the  man,  and  the  beast ; 
but  so  powerful  was  the  man,  in  this  holy  person,  that  it  kept  the  beast 
ever  tyed  with  a  short  tedder,  and  suppressed  the  irregular  calcitrations 
of  it.  He  became  so  nailed  unto  the  Cross  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  that 
the  grandeurs  of  this  world  were  unto  him  just  what  they  would  be  to  a 
dying  man;  and  he  maintained  an  almost  unparalleled  tn(/;^fi?-e?jci/  towards 
all  the  pomps,  which  mankind  is  too  generally  flattered  and  enchanted 
with. 

The  lust  of  the  flesh  he  could  not  reconcile  himself  to  the  least  pamper- 
ing or  indulging  of:  but  he  persecuted  it  with  a  continual  antipathy,  be- 
ing upon  higher  principles  than  Txdly  was  acquainted  withal,  of  bis  mind. 
JVon  est  dignus  nomine  hominis,  qui  untim  diem,  totum  velit  esse  in  isto  gcnere 
voluptatis.     The  sleep  that  he  allowed  himself,   cheated   him  not  of  his 
morning  hours  ;  but  he  reckoned  the  morning  no  less  a  friend  unto  the  gra^ 
ces  than  the  muses.     He  would  call  upon   students,  I  pray  look  to  it  that 
you  be  m,orning  birds.     And  for  many  more  than  a  score  of  years  before 
he  died,  he  removed  his  lodging  into  his  study,  on  purpose  that  being 
there  alone,  he  might  enjoy  his  early  mornings,  without  giving  the  distur- 
bance of  the  least  noise  to  any  of  his  friends,  whose  affections  to  him  else 
might  have  been  ready  to  have  called,  Master,  spare  thy  self.     The  meat 
upon  which  he  lived   was  a  cibus  simplex,  an  homely  but  an  wholesome 
diet.     Rich  varieties,  costly  viands,  and  poinant  sauces,  came  not  upon 
his  own  table,  and  when  he  found  them  on  other  men's,  he  rarely  tasted 
of  them.     One  dish,  and  n  plain  one  was  his  dinner;  and  when  invited 
ynto  afeast,  I  have  seen  him  sit  magnifying  of  God,  for  the  plenty  which 
his  people  in  this  wilderness  were  within  a  few  years  arisen  to  ;  but  not 
more  than  a  bit  or  two  of  all  the  dainties  taken  into  his  own  mouth  all  the 
while.     And  for  a  supper,  he  had  learned  of  his  loved  and  blessed  patron, 
old  Mr.  Cotton,  either  wholly  to  omit  it,  or  to  make  a  small  sup  or  two 
the  utmost  of  it.     The  drink  which  he   still  used  was  very  small ;  he 
cared  not  for  wi7ies  or  drams,  and  I  believe  he  never  once  in  all  his  life, 
knew  what  it  was  to  feel  so  much  as  a  noxious  fume  in  his  head,  from  any 
of  them  ;  good,  clear  ■xi.^ater  was  more  precious,  as  well  as  more  usual 
with  him,  than  any  of  those  liquors  with  which   men  do  so   frequently 
spoil  their  own  healths,   while  perhaps  they  drink   those  of  other  men. 
When  at  a  stranger's  house  in  the  summer  time,  he  has  been  entertained 
with  a  glass,  which  they  told  him  was,  of  -water  and  wine,  he  has  with  a 
complaisant  gravity  replyed  unto  this  purpose.     Wine,  "'tis  a  noble  gener-^ 
oils  liquor,  and  we  should  be  humbly  thankful  for  it;  but  as  I  remember,  wa- 
ter was  made  before  it !  So  abstemious  was  he  ;  and  he  found,  that  Care- 
re  suavitatibus  istis,  his  abstinence  had  more  szi:cetness  in  it,  than  any  of 
the  sfueets  which  he  abstained  from  ;  and  so  willing  he  was  to  haye  others 


48«  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.       [Book  HI 

partake  with  him  in  that  sweef7iess,  that  when  he  has  thought  the  counte- 
nance of  a  minister  has  looked,  as  if  he  had  made  much  of  himself,  he 
has  gone  to  him  with  that  speech,  Study  mortification,  brother,  study  mor- 
fification  !  and  he  made  all  his  addresses  with  a  becoming  majesty. 

The  lust  of  the  eye,  was  put  out  by  him  in  such  a  manner,  that  it  was 
m  a  manner  all  one  with  him  to  be  rich  or  •poor.  It  could  not  be  said  of 
him,  that  he  sought  great  things  for  himself ;  but  what  estate  he  became 
owner  of,  was  from  the  blessing  of  God  upon  the  husbandry  and  industry 
of  some  in  his  family,  rather  than  from  any  endeavours  of  his  own.  Once 
when  there  stood  sever  d  kine  of  his  own  before  his  door,  his  wife,  to 
try  him,  asked  him,  IV hose  they  zcere  ?  and  she  found  that  he  knew  noth- 
ing of  them.  He  could  not  endure  to  plunge  himself  into  secular  designs 
and  affurs,  but  accounted  Sacerdos  in  foro  as  worthy  of  castigation  as 
Mercotor  in  Templo  ;  he  thought  that  minisier  and  market-man,  were  not 
unisons,  and  that  the  earth  was  no  place  for  Jlaron^s  holy  mitre  to  be  laid 
upon.  It  was  the  usage  of  most  parishes  in  the  country,  to  have  an  an- 
nual rate  for  the  maintenance  of  the  ministry,  adjusted  commonly  by  the 
select-men  of  the  towns  ;  which  though  it  raised  not  any  exuberant  sala- 
ries for  the  ministers,  who  also  seldom  received  all  that  the  people  had 
contracted  for,  nevertheless  in  many  places  it  prevented  sore  temptations 
from  befalling  those  that  were  labouring  in  the  xvord  and  doctrine  ;  who 
must  else  often  have  experience  the  truth  of  L«i/jer's  observation,  Duriter 
profecto  &r  misere  viverent  Evangelii  Minis! ri,  si  ex  Libera  populi  contribu- 
tione  essent  susteniandi.  However,  for  his  part,  he  propounded  that  what 
stipend  he  had,  should  be  raised  by  contribution  ;  and  from  the  same 
temper  it  was,  that  a  few  years  before  his  dissolution,  being  left  without 
an  assistant  in  his  ministry,  he  pressed  his  congregation  to  furnish  them- 
selves with  another  pastor  ;  and  in  his  application  to  them,  he  told  them, 
Tis  possible,  you  may  think  the  burden  of  maintaining  two  ministers  may 
be  too  heavy  for  you  ;  but  I  deliver  you  from  that  fear  ;  I  do  here  give  back 
my  salary  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  now,  brethren,  you  may  fix  that  up- 
on any  man  that  God  shall  make  a  pastor  for  you.  But  his  church  with 
an  handsome  reply,  assured  him,  that  they  would  count  his  very  pre- 
sence worth  a  salary,  when  he  should  be  so  superanuated  as  to  do  no  fur- 
ther service  for  them. 

And  as  for  the  pride  of  life,  the  life  of  it  was  most  exemplarily  extin- 
guished in  him.  The  humility  of  his  heart  made  him  higher  by  the  head 
than  the  rest  of  the  people.  His  habit  and  spirit  were  both  such  as  declar- 
ed him  to  be  among  the  lowly,  whom  God  has  most  respect  unto.  His 
apparel  was  without  any  ornament  except  that  of  humility,  which  the 
apostle  elegantly  compares  to  a  knot  of  comely  ribbons,  in  the  text  where 
he  bids  us  to  be  cloathed  with  it  ;  any  other  flanting  ribbons  on  those  that 
came  in  his  way  he  would  ingeniously  animadvert  upon  ;  and  seeing  some 
scholars  once,  he  thought  a  little  too  gaudy  in  their  cloaths,  Humiliamini, 
Juvenes,  Humiliamini,  was  his  immediate  complement  unto  them.  Had 
you  seen  him  with  his  leathern  girdle  (for  such  an  one  he  wore)  about  his 
loins,  you  would  almost  have  thought  what  Herod  feared.  That  Juhn  Bap- 
tist was  come  to  life  again.  In  short,  he  was  in  all  regards  a  JVa~arite  in- 
deed ;  unless  in  this  one,  that  long  hair  was  always  very  loathsome  to 
him  ;  he  was  an  acute  Ramist,  but  yet  he  professed  himself  a  lover  of  a 
Trichotomy.  Doubtless,  it  may  be  lawful  for  us  to  accommodate  the 
length  of  our  hair  unto  the  modest  customs  which  vary  in  the  Churches  of 
God  ;  and  it  may  be  lawful  for  them  that  have  not  enough  of  their  own 
hair  for  their  own  heajth,  to  sup;)ly  thpm«oh'es  acrording  to  the  sober 


Book  III.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  469 

modes  of  the  places  they  live.  But  tlie  apostle  tells  us,  .\ature  teaches 
us,  llutt  if  a  man  /tai;e  long  hair,  ^tis  a  shame  to  him  ;  where,  by  nature 
can  be  meant,  no  other  than  the  difference  of  sex ;  as  the  word  elsewhere 
is  used. 

Thus  Mr.  Eliot  thought  that  for  men  to  wear  their  hair  with  a  luxuri- 
ous, delicate,  fsBaiinine  prolixity  ;  or  tor  theru  to  preserve  no  plain  dis- 
tinction of  their  sex,  by  the  hair  of  their  head  and  face  ;  and  ntuch  more 
for  men  thus  to  disfigure  themselves  with  huir  that  is  none  of  their  ozvn  ; 
and  most  of  all,  for  ministers  of  t!ie  gospel  to  rutile  it  in  excesses  of  this 
kind  ;  may  prove  more  than  we  are  well  aware,  displeasing  to  the  Holy 
Spirit  of  God.  The  hair  of  them  that  professed  religion,  long  before  his 
death,  grew  too  long  lor  him  to  swallow  ;  and  he  would  express  himself 
continually  with  a  boiling  zeal  concerning  it,  until  at  la-t  he  gave  over, 
with  some  regret  complaining,  The  lust  is  become  insuperable  !  I  know  not 
whether  that  horrible  distemper  prevailing  in  some  European  countries 
known  by  the  name  of  PlirM  Polonica,  wherein  the  hair  of  people  mat- 
ted into  ugly  and  filthy  forms,  like  snakes  upon  their  heads,  which  whoso- 
ever cut  oti  presently  fell  blind  or  mad  ;  I  say,  I  know  not  whether  this 
disease  was  more  odious  in  it  self,  than  the  sweeter,  neater,  but  prolix 
Jocks  of  many  people  were  to  our  Eliot.  He  v/as  indeed  one priscis  more- 
bus  as  well  as  Antiquafide  ;  and  he  might  be  allowed  somev>hat  even  of 
severiti/  in  this  matter,  on  that  account. 

ARTICLE  IV. 
His  Exquisite  Charity. 

He  that  will  write  of  Eliot,  must  write  of  charity,  or  say  nothing.  Hii 
charity  was  a  star  of  \he  first  magnitude  in  the  bright  constellation  of  his 
vertues  ;  and  the  rays  of  it  were  wonderfully  various  and  extensive. 

His  liberality  to  pious  uses  whether  publick  or  private,  went  much 
beyond  the  propo  tions  of  his  little  estate  in  the  world.  Many  hundreds 
of  pounds  did  he  freely  bestow  upon  the  poor ;  and  he  would,  with  a  very 
forcible  importunity,  press  his  neighbours  to  join  v.  ith  him  in  such  benefi- 
cences. It  was  a  marvellous  a/acr/fy  with  which  he  imbraced  all  ojipor- 
tunities  of  relieving  any  that  were  miserable  ;  and  the  good  people  of 
Roxbury  doubtles,  cannot  rt^member  (but  the  righteous  God  will!)  how 
often,  and  with  what  ardors,  with  what  arguments,  he.  became  a  beggar  to 
them  for  collections  in  their  assemblies,  to  support  such  needy  objects, 
as  had  fallen  under  his  observation.  The  poor  counted  him  llieir  father, 
and  repaired  still  unto  him,  with  a  filial  confidence  in  their  necessities  ; 
and  they  were  more  than  seven  or  eight,  or  indeed  than  so  many  scores, 
who  received  tha'ir portions  of  his  bounty.  Like  that  worthy  and  famous 
English  genend,  he  could  not  perswade  himself  that  he  had  any  thing  but 
what  he  gave  u-u-ay  ;  but  he  drove  a  mighty  trade  at  such  exercises  as  he 
thought  would  turnish  him  with  bills  of  cxcitangc,  which  he  hoped  after 
many  days  to  fiad  the  comf)rt  of;  and  yet  after  all.  he  would  say  like  one 
of  the  most  charitable  souls  that  ever  lived  in  the  world,  that  looking  over 
his  accounts,  he  could  no  zvheri'.find  tlie  God  of  Heaven  charged  a  debtor 
there.  He  did  not  put  oil  hi-;  charily,  to  be  put  in  his  last  z^ill,  as  many 
who  therein  shi^w  that  their  charity  is  against  their  v^ill ;  but  he  was  his 
©wn  administrator  ;  he  made  his  own  hands  his  executors,  .md  his  owa 
eyes  his  overseers.  It  has  been  remarked,  that  liberal  men  are  often 
long-lived  men  ;  so  do  they  after  many  days  find  the  bread  with  which  they 

Voj..  I.  C9. 


490  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  UL 

have  been  willing  to  keep  other  men  alive.  The  great  age  of  our  Elwt 
was  but  agreeable  to  this  remark  ;  and  when  his  age  had  unfitted  him  for 
almost  all  employments,  and  bereaved  him  of  those  gifts  and  parts  which 
once  he  had  been  accomplished  with,  being  asked, /tots; /le  did?  he  would 
sometimes  answer,  Alas,  1  have  lost  every  thing  ;  my  understanding  leaves 
me,  my  memory  fails  me,  my  utterance  fails  me  ;  but  I  thank  God,  iny  charity 
holds  out  still ;  I  find  tiial  rather  gr  ova  s  than  fails  !  And  I  make  no  question, 
that  at  his  death,  his  happy  soul  was  received,  and  welcomed  into  ihe 
everlasting  habitations,  b}'  many  scores  got  thither  before  him,  of  such  as 
hi^i  charity  had  been  liberal   unto. 

But  besides  these  more  substantial  expressions  of  his  charity,  he  made 
the  odours  of  that  grace  yet  more  fragrant  unto  all  that  were  about  him, 
by  that /:>it?t/«//icss,  and  that  peflce«6/e?icss.  which  rendered  him  yet  fur- 
ther ami  ible.  If  any  of  his  neighbourhood  were  in  distress,  he  was 
like  a  brother  born  for  their  adveristy ;  he  would  visit  them,  and  comfort 
them  with  a  most  fraternal  sympathy ;  v  ea,  'tis  not  easy  to  recount  how 
many  whole  days  of  prayer  and  justing  he  has  got  his  neighbours  to  keep 
with  him,  on  the  behalf  of  those  whose  calamities  he  found  himselftouch- 
ed  withal.  It  was  an  extreme  saisfaction  to  him,  that  his  wife  had  at- 
tained unto  a  considerable  skill  in  physick  and  chyrurgery ,  which  enabled 
her  to  dispense  many  safe,  good,  and  useful  medicines  unto  the ^oor  that 
had  occasion  tor  them  ;  and  some  hundreds  of  sick  and  weak  and  maimed 
people  owed  praises  to  God,  for  the  benefit,  which  therein  ihey  freely 
received  of  her.  The  good  gentleman  her  husband,  would  still  be  cast- 
ing oyl  into  ihejlauie  of  that  charity,  wherein  she  was  of  her  own  accord 
abundantly  forward  thus  to  be  doing  of  good,  unto  all ;  and  he  would  urge 
her  to  be  serviceable  unto  the  worst  enemies  that  he  had  in  the  world. 
-Never  had  any  man  fewer  enemies  than  he  !  but  once  having  delivered 
something  in  his  ministry,  which  displeased  one  of  his  hearers,  the  man 
did  passionately  abuse  him  for  it,  and  this  both  with  speeches  and  with 
':s:riti7igs ,  that  reviled  him.  Yet  it  happening  not  long  after,  that  this  man 
gave  himself  a  very  dangerous  zcound,  Mr.  Eliot  immediately  sends  his 
wife  to  cure  him  :  who  did  accordingly.  When  the  man  was  well  he 
came  to  thank  her  ;  but  she  took  no  rewards  ;  and  this  good  man  made 
him  stay  and  eat  with  him,  taking  no  notice  of  all  the  calumnies  with 
v/hich  he  had  loaded  him  ;  but  by  this  carriage  he  mollilied  and  conquer- 
ed the  stomach  of  his  reviler. 

He  was  also  a  great  enemy  to  all  contention,  and  would  ring  aloud  cour- 
feubell,  wherever  he  saw  the /ires  of  animosity.  When  he  heard  any 
ministers  complain,  that  such  and  such  in  their  flocks  were  too  difficult 
for  them,  the  strain  of  his  answer  still  was,  Brother,  compass  them.'  and 
brother,  learn  the  meaning  of  those  three  Utile  words,  bear,  forbear^  forgive. 
Yea,  his  inclinations  for  peace,  indeed  sometimes  almost  made  him  to 
B'ixcTiijcc  right  itself.  When  there  was  laid  before  an  assmebly  of  minis- 
ters a  bundle  of  papers,  which  contained  certain  matters  of  difference 
and  contention,  between  some  people  which  our  Eliot  thought  should 
rather  unite,  with  an  amnesty  upon  all  their  former  quarrels,  he  (with 
some  imitation  of  what  Consiantine  did  upon  the  like  occasion)  hastily 
threw  the  papers  into  the  fire  before  them  all,  and  with  a  zeal  for  peace 
as  hot  as  that  lire,  said  imniadiatly.  Brethren,  wonder  not  at  Tschat  I  have 
done,  I  did  it  on  my  knees  this  morning,  before  I  came  among  yoii.  Such 
an  excos?  (if  it  were  one)  flowed  from  bis  charitable  inclinations  to  be 
founil  among  those  peace  makers,  wiiich  by  following  the  example  of  that 
mn«  who  18  our  peace,  come  to  be  called,  the  children  of  God.     Very  wor- 


Book  III.]  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  49l 

thily  might  he  be  caller]  iin  Irenaius,  as  being  all  for  peace;  and  the  com- 
mendation which  Epiplianius  gives  unto  the  ancient  of  that  name,  did 
belong  unto  om  Eliul,  he  was  a  most  b'essed  and  a  most  holy  man.  He 
disliked  all  sorts  of  bravery:  but  yet  uith  an  ingenious  note  upon  the 
Greek  word  in  Col.  iii.  16.  he  propounded,  that  peace  migld  brave  it 
among  us.  In  short,  wherever  he  came,  it  was  like  another  old  John, 
with  solemn  and  earnest  perswasives  to  luve^  and  when  he  could  say  little 
else,  he  would  give  that  charge,  J^Iy  children,  love  one  ano'her ! 

Finally,  'twas  hii  charity  which  disposed  him  to  continual  apprecations 
for,  and  benedictions  on  those  that  he  njet  withal  ;  he  had  an  heart  full 
of  good  TiHshcs,  and  a  mouth  full  of  kind  blessings  for  them.  And  he 
often  made  his  expressions  very  wittily  agreeable  to  the  circumstances 
wliich  he  saw  tlie  pprsons  in.  Sometimes  when  }9e  came  into  a  family, 
he  would  call  for  all  the  young  people  in  it,  thc^so  he  might  very  dis- 
tinctly lay  his  holy  hands  upon  every  one  of  thetn^nd  bespeak  the  mer- 
cies of  Heaven  for  them  all. 

ARTICLE  V. 
Some  special  Attainments,  that  vjere  the  Effects  of  his  Piety  a7id  Charily,. 

But  what  was  the  effect  of  this  exemplary  piety  and  charity  in  our 
Eliot  ?  It  will  be  no  wunder  to  my  reader,  if  1  tell  him,  that  this  good 
man  rvalked  in  t'le  light  of  God''s  countenance  all  the  day  long.  I  believe 
he  had  a  continual  assurance  of  the  divine  love,  marvellously  sealing, 
strengthening,  and  refreshing  of  him,  for  many  lustres  of  years  before 
he  died  ;  and  for  this  cause,  the  fear  of  death  was  extirpated  out  of 
his  heavenly  soul,  more  than  out  of  most  men  alive.  Had  our  blessed 
Jesus  at  any  time  sent  his  waggons  to  fetch  this  old  Jacob  away,  he  would 
have  gone  without  the  least  reluctancies.  Labouring  once  under  a  fever 
an  I  ague,  a  visitant  asked  him,  how  he  did?  and  he  replyed,  Very  well, 
bvA  anon  I  expect  a  paroxism.  Said  the  visitant,  ^\t,  fear  not ;  but  unto 
that  he  answered.  Fear  !  no,  no;  I  been''t  afraid,  I  thank  God,  1  been't 
afraid  to  die  !  Dying  would  not  have  been  any  more  to  him,  than  sleep- 
ing to  a  weary  man. 

And  another  excellency,  which  accompanied  this  courage  and  comfort 
in  him  was,  a  wonderful  resignation  to  the  will  of  God  in  all  events.  There 
were  sore  afflictions  that  sometimes  befel  him  ;  especially  when  he 
followed  some  of  his  hopeful  and  worthy  sons  two  or  three  desirable 
preachers  of  the  gospel,  to  their  graves.  But  he  sacrificed  them,  like 
another  Abraham  ;  with  such  a  sacred  indifferency,  as  made  all  the  spec- 
tators to  say,  this  could  not  he  done  without  the  fear  of  God.  Yea,  he 
bore  all  his  trials  with  an  admirable  patience,  and  seemed  loth  to  have 
auy  zoill  of  his  own,  that  should  not  be  wholly  melted  and  moulded  into 
the  will  of  his  Heavenly  Father.  Once  bein^  in  a  boat  at  sea,  a  larger 
vessel  unhappily  over  run,  and  over  set  that  little  one  which  had  no 
small  concerns,  beca'jse  ElioVs  in  the  bottom  of  it  ;  be  immediately 
sunk  without  any  expectation  of  ever  going  to  Heaven  any  other  way ; 
and  when  he  imagined  that  he  had  but  one  breath  more  to  draw  in  the 
world,  it  was  this,  the  will  of  the  Lord  be  done  !  But  it  was  the  will  of 
the  Lord,  that  he  should  survive  the  danger  ;  for  he  was  rescued  by 
the  help  that  was  then  at  hand,  and  he  that  had  long  been  like  Moses  in 
every  thing  else,  was  now  drawn  out  of  the  waters.  Which  gives  me 
opportunity  to  mention  one  remarkable  that  had  some  relation  hereunto 


492  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  ill 

This  accident  happened  in  the  time  of  our  Indian  n-ars,  when  some 
furious  Elngli^h  people  that  clamoured  for  the  extirpation  of  the  pray- 
ing Indians,  which  were  in  subjection  unto  us,  as  well  as  the  Pagan  In- 
dians that  were  in  hostility  against  us,  vented  a  very  wicked  rage  at 
our  holy  Eliot,  because  of  his  concernment  for  the  Indians,  and  one 
profane  monster  hearing  how  narrowly  Mr.  Eliot  escaped  from  drown- 
ing, 'tis  said,  he  wished  this  man  of  God  had  then  been  drowned.  But 
within  a  few  days,  that  wofnl  man  by  a  strange  disaster,  was  drowned 
in  that  very  place  where  Mr.  Eliot  had  received  his  deliverance. 

There  was  indeed  a  certain  health  of  soul  which  he  arrived  unto  ;  and 
he  kept  in  a  blessed  measure  clear  of  those  distempers  which  too  often 
disorder  the  most  of  men.  But  the  God  of  Heaven  favoured  him  with 
something  that  was  yet  more  extraordinary  !  By  getting  and  keeping  near 
to  God,  and  by  dwellii^  under  the  shadow  of  the  Almight}',  be  contracted  a 
more  exquisite  sense  offiiind,  than  what  is  usual  among  other  professors  of 
christanity  ;  he  sometimes  felt  a  lively  touch  of  God  upon  his  refined 
and  exalted  spirit,  which  were  not  in  any  paper  of  ours  la^i-ful  or  easy 
to  be  uttered  ;  and  he  was  admitted  unto  a  singular  familiarity  with 
the  Holy  One  of  Israel.  Hence  it  was,  that  as  bodies  of  a  rare  and  fine 
constitution,  will /bre6o(^e  the  changes  of  the  weather,  so  the  sublimed 
soul  of  our  Eliot  often  had  strange  forebodings  of  things  that  were  to 
c.ime.  I  have  bten  astonished  at  some  of  his  prediciions,  that  were 
both  of  a  more  pcrsoiial,  and  of  a  more  general  application,  and  were 
followed  with  exact  accomplishments.  If  he  said  of  any  afl'air,  I  can- 
not bless  it !  it  was  a  worse  omen  to  it,  than  the  most  inauspicious  pre- 
sages in  the  world  ;  but  sometimes  after  he  had  been  with  God  in  prayer 
about  a  thing,  he  was  able  successtVliy  to  foretel,  I  have  set  a  mark  vpon 
it,  it  vcill  do  7i:ell !  1  shall  never  forget,  that  when  England  and  Holland 
were  plunged  into  the  -unhappy  n'ar,  which  the  more  sensible  Protest- 
ants every  where  had  but  sorrowful  apprehensions  of,  our  Eliot  being 
in  the  height  and  heat  of  the  war,  privately  asked,  What  neres  rte  might 
look  for  next  ?  answered  unto  the  suprize  of  the  enquirer,  Our  next  news 
will  6f ,  a  peace  bctzceen  the  too  Pro'estant  nations  ;  God  knoivs,  I  pray  for 
it  every  day  ;  and  I  am  verily  perszvaded,  a-'e  shall  hear  of  it  speedily  !  And 
it  came  to  pass  accordingly'. 

It  is  to  be  confessed,  that  the  written  word  of  God,  is  to  be  regarded 
a?  the  perfect  and  only  rule  of  our  lives  ;  that  in  all  articles  of  religion, 
if  lUen  speak  nut  according  to  this  reord.  there  is  no  light  in  them;  and  tha', 
it  is  no  warrantable  or  convenient  thing  for  christians  ordinarily  to  look 
for  >uch  Inspirations  as  directed  the  prophets  that  were  the  pen-men  of 
the  scripiiires.  Nevertheless,  there  are  some  uncommon  instances  of 
coin.nunion  and  fruition  which  in  our  daj's  the  sovereign  God  here  and 
there  favours  a  guod  man  withal  ;  and  they  are  very  heavenly  persons, 
persons  well  purified  from  ihe  ficidencics  of  sensuality,  and  persons  bet- 
ter pdrg.^l  from  the  leaven  of  envy  and  malice,  and  intolerable  pride, 
than  usually  t!)ose  vain  pretenders  to  revelations,  the  (Quakers  are,  that 
are  nrnde  partakers  of  these  divine  dainties.  Noiw  such  an  one  was  our 
Eliot;  and  for  this,  worthy  to  bs  had  i?}  erej'lasting  /aurmbrance. 

Jt  would  not  be  improper,  under  this  file  to  lodge  the  singular  and  sur-'. 
prising  successes  oi  \\\i prayers  !  for  they  v/ere  such,  that  in  our  distress- 
es wc  still  repaired  unto  him,  under  that  encouragement,  Heis  a  prophet, 
and  he  shall  pray  for  thee,  and  thou  shalt  live.     I  shall  single  out  but  one, 
from  the  many  that  might  be  mentioned- 


Book  III.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-EXGLAND.  493 

There  was  a  godly  gentleman  of  Charlcstonn,  one  Mr.  Foster,  who  with 
his  son,  \va«i  taken  captive  by  Turkish  enemies.  Much  prayer  was  em- 
ployed, both  privately  and  publickly,  by  the  good  people  here,  for  the 
redemption  of  that  gentleman  ;  but  ue  were  at  last  mformed,  that  the 
bloody  prince,  in  whose  dominions  he  was  now  a  slave,  was  resolved 
that  in  liis  life  time  no  prisoner  should  be  relea-^ed  ;  and  so  the  distress- 
ed friends  of  this  prisoner  now  concluded,  o«r /io;;e  is  lost  J  Well,  upon 
this,  Mr,  Eliot,  in  some  of  his  next  prayers,  before  a  very  solemn  con- 
gregation, very  broadly  begged,  Heavcnlij  Fatli€r,zi;orkfor  the  redemption 
of  thy  poor  servant  Foster  ;  and  if  the  prince  which  detains  him  Ziill  not,  as 
they  say,  dismiss  him  as  lotig  as  hi  nuf  If  lives.  Lord  ^we  pray  thee  to  kill  that 
cruel  prince  ;  kill  him,  and  glorify  thi/self  upon  him.  And  now  behold 
the  answer  :  the  poor  captived  gentleman  quickly  returns  to  us  that  had 
been  mourning  for  him  as  a  lost  man,  and  brings  us  news,  that  the  prince 
which  had  hitherto  held  him,  was  come  to  an  vnlime.ly  death,  by  which 
means  he  was  now  set  at  liberty. 


PART  II. 

Or,  ELIOT  as  a  Minister. 

ARTICLE   I. 

His  Ministerial  Accomplishments. 

TuE  Grace  of  God,  which  we  have  seen  so  illustriously  endowing  and 
adorning  of  our  Eliot,  as  well  qualified  him  for,  as  disposed  him  to  the 
employment  wherein  he  spent  about  six  dccads  of  his  years  ;  which  was, 
the  service  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  in  the  ministry  of  the  gospel.  This  was 
the  work  to  which  he  applied  himself  and  he  undertook  it.  I  believe, 
with  as  right  thoughts  of  it,  and  as  good  ends  in  it,  as  ever  any  man  in  our 
days  Was  acted  with.  He  looked  upon  the  conduct  of  a  church,  as  a 
thing  no  less  dangerous  than  importaiit,  and  attended  with  so  many  diffi- 
culties, temptations,  and  humiliations,  as  that  nothing  but  a  call  from  the 
Son  of  God,  could  have  encouraged  him  unto  the  susception  of  it.  He 
saw  Xhixijiesh  and  hlood  would  find  it  no  very  pleasant  thing,  to  be  obli- 
ged unto  the  oversight  of  a  number,  that  by  a  solemn  covenant  should 
be  listed  among  the  voluntiers  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  ;  that  it  was  no 
easy  thing  to  feed  the  souls  of  such  a  people,  and  of  the  children  and 
the  neighbours,  which  were  to  be  brought  into  the  same  shcepfold  with 
them  ;  to  bear  their  manners  with  all  patience,  not  being  by  any  of  their 
infirmities  discouraged  from  teaching  of  ihem,  and  from  Zi'otchitig  and 
praying  over  them  ;  to  value  them  highly  as  ihefiock  '^hich  God  has  pur- 
chased zi-ith  his  own  blood,  notwithstanding  all  their  miscarriages  :  and  in 
all  to  examine  the  rv!e  of  scripture  for  the  warrant  of  whatever  shall  be 
done  ;  and  to  remember  the  day  of  judgment,  wherein  an  account  nuisl 
be  given  of  all  that /(«.s  been  done  ;  having  in  the  mean  time  no  expecta- 
tion of  the  riches  and  grandeurs  which  accompany  a  u-orldly  domination. 
It  v,as  herewithal  his  opinion,  that  (as  the  great  Owen  expresses  it)  not- 
withstanding  all  the  countenance  that  is  given  to  any  church  by  the  publick 
magistracy,  yet  whilst  we  are  in  this  Zforld,  those  who  will  faithfully  dis- 
fharge  their  duty,  as  ministers  of  the  gospel,  shall  have  need  to  be  prepared 


494  THE  HISTORY  OF  IvEW -ENGL AND.         [Book  HI. 

for  sufferings ;  and  it  was  in  a  sense  of  these  things  that  he  gave  himself 
up  to  the  sacred  ministi'y.  A  stranger  to  regeneration  can  be  but  poor- 
ly accomplished,  for  such  a  nninistry  ;  very  truly  says  the  incomparable 
Alsted.  Iinpii  quidam  Homines  egregie  I'identvr  callere  ret  (eoMyuf/.tvx,  revera 
tamen  ilia  Cognido  Rermn  Theologicarum  est  aSeoXoyeg,  quia  fieri  nun  potest 
ut  Cognitio  vere  Theologica,  habitet  in  Corde  nan  Theologo  :  And  however 
God  may  prosper  the  sermons  of  such  a  raan  for  the  advantage  of  his 
church  :  however  the  building  of  the  ark  may  be  helped  on  by  such  car- 
penters as  perish  in  the  fiood ;  and  the  Tyrians  may  do  some  -work  about 
the  temple,  who  arrive  to  no  worship  in  the  inner-courts  thereof,  and  as 
Austin  expressed  it,  di  stone-cutter  may  convey  water  into  a  garden,  with- 
out having  himself  any  advantage  of  it  ;  nevertheless,  the  unsanctified 
minister,  how  gifted,  how  able  soever  he  may  be,  must  have  it  still  said 
unlo  him,  Th-nc  ^ackest  one  thing  .'  And  that  one  thing  our  Eliot  had.  But 
the  one  thing  was  not  all!  as  indeed,  it  would  not  have  been  enough. 
God  furtijshed  him  with  a  good  measure  of  learning  too,  which  made  him 
capal'.le  to  divide  the  Ts^ord  aright.  He  was  a  most  acute  grammarian  ; 
ar.d  understood  very  well,  the  languages  which  God  tirst  wrote  his  Holy 
Bibi5  in.  He  had  a  good  insight  into  all  the  other  liberal  arts,  and  made 
little  systems  of  them,  for  the  use  of  certain  Indians,  whose  exactor  edu- 
cation he  was  desirous  of.  But,  above  all,  he  had  a  most  eminent  skill 
in  theology ;  aijd  that  which  profane  scoffers  reproached,  as  the  disgrace 
of  the  h]essi-d  Ailing,  all  of  whose  works  always  weigh  down  the  yiurest 
gold^  was  the  honour  oi  our  Eliot,  namely  to  be  Scripivrariiis  Theologvs, 
or  one  mighty  in  the  word  ;  which  enabled  him  to  convince  gainsayers^ 
and  on  many  occasions  to  show  himself,  a  workman  that  needed  not  be 
ashamed. 

In  short,  he  came  in  some  degree,  like  another  Bezaleel,  or  Aholiahy 
unto  the  service  of  the  tabernacle.  And  from  one  particularity  in  that 
part  of  his  learnings  which  lay  in  the  affairs  of  the  tabernacle,  it  was,  that 
in  a  little  book  of  his  we  have  those  lines,  which  for  a  certain  cause  I 
now  transcribe  ;  Oh  that  the  Lord  ivoidd  put  it  (says  he)  into  the  heart  of 
soine  of  his  religious  and  learned  servants,  to  take  such  pains  about  fhe  He- 
brew language,  as  to  fit  it  for  universal  use  !  Considering,  that  above  all 
languages  spoken  by  the  lip  of  man  it  is  most  capable  to  be  enlarged,  and 
fi'Jed  to  express  all  things,  and  hiotions,  and  notions,  that  our  humane  intel- 
lect is  capable  of  in  this  mortal  life,  considering  also,  thatii  is  the  invention 
of  God  himself;  and  what  one  is  filter  to  be  the  universal  language,  than 
that  which  it  pleased  our  Lord  Jesus  to  make  use  of,  when  he  spake  from 
Heaven  unto  Paul  ! 

In  fine,  though  we  have  tiad  greater  scholars  than  he,  yet  he  hath  often 
made  me  think  of  Mr.  Samuel  Ward''s  observation,  hi  observing  I  have  ob- 
served and  found,  that  divers  great  clerks  have  had  but  little  fruit  of  their 
ministry,  but  hardly  any  truly  zea'.  .  s  man  of  God  (^though  of  lesser  gifts') 
but  have  had  much  comfort  of  their  labours  in  their  own,  and  bordering  pa- 
rishes;  being  in  this  likened  by  Gregory,  to  the  iron  on  the  smith's  anvil, 
sparkling  round  about. 

ARTICLE  11. 

His  Family-G overnmCnt . 

The  Apostle  Paul,  reciting  and  requiring  qualitications  of  a  gospel 
minister,  gives  order,  that  ho  be  The  husband  of  one  wife,  and  one  that 


Cook  III.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-Ex\GLAND.  495 

Tuleth  iscell  his  own  house,  having  his  children  in  subjection  ■Si:ilh  all  gravity. 
It  seems,  that  a  man's  carriage  in  bis  ozon  house  is  a  part,  or  at  least  h  sign, 
of  his  due  deportment  in  the /touse  of  God  ;  and  then,  I  am  sure,  our  Lli- 
ot's  was  very  axemplary.  That  one  wife  which  was  given  to  him  truly 
from  the  Lord,  he  loved,  prized,  cherished,  with  a  kindne'is  that  notably 
represented  the  compassion  which  he  (thereby;  taught  his  church  to  ex- 
pect from  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  ;  and  after  he  had  lived  uiih  her  ia- 
more  than  half  an  hundred  year?,  he  followed  her  to  the  grave  vvitti  la- 
mentaiions  beyond  those,  which  the  Jews  from  the  tigare  of  a  letter  iii  tiie 
text,  affirm,  that  Abraham  deplored  his  aged  Sarah  with  ;  i>er  departure 
made  a  deeper  impression  upon  him  than  what  any  coaimon  anii  uon 
could  His  whole  conversation  with  her,  had  that  szveetness,  and  t-  -it 
gravity  and  modesty  beautifying  of  it,  that  every  one  called  them  Zac/tar*/ 
and  Elizabeth.  His  family  was  a  little  Bethel,  for  the  worship  of  God  con- 
stantly and  exactly  maint.iined  in  it  ;  and  unto  the  daily  prayers  of  the 
family,  his  manner  was  to  prefix  the  reading  of  the  scripture  ;  which  be- 
ing done,  it  was  also  his  manner  to  make  his  young  people  to  chuse  a  cer- 
tain passage  in  the  chapter,  and  give  him  some  observation  of  their  own 
upon  it.  By  this  method  he  did  mightily  sharpen  and  improve,  as  well  as 
try  their  uadestanding*,  and  endeavour  to  make  them  wise  un'o  salvation. 
He  was  likewise  very  strict  in  the  education  of  his  children,  and  more 
careful  to  mend  any  error  in  their  hearts  and  lives,  than  he  could  have 
been  to  cure  a  blemish  in  their  bodies.  No  exorbitancies  or  extravagan- 
cies could  find  a  room  under  his  roof,  nor  was  his  house  any  other  than 
•A  school  of  piety ;  one  might  have  there  seen  a  perpetual  mixture  of  a 
Spartan  and  a  christian  discipline.  Whatever  dficay  there  might  be  upon 
family-religion  among  us,  as  for  our  Eliot,  we  knew  him,  that  he  would 
comma-id  his  children,  and  his  household  after  him,  that  they  should  keep 
the  way  of  the  Lord. 

ARTICLE  III. 

His  zeay  of  Preaching. 

Sucn  was  he  in  his  lesser  family  !  and  in  his  greater  family,  he  manifest- 
ed still  more  of  his  regards  to  the  rule  of  a  gospel- ministry.  To  his  con- 
gregation, he  was  a  preacher  that  made  it  his  care,  to  give  every  one  their 
meat  in  due  season.  It  wa^food  and  not  froth  ;  which  in  his  publick  ser- 
moiis,  he  entertained  the  souls  of  his  people  with,  he  did  not  starve  them 
with  empty  and  windy  speculations,  or  with  such  things  as  Animum  non 
d'nt,  quia  non  habent ;  much  less  did  he  kill  them  with  such  poyson  as  is  too 
commonly  exposed  by  the  Arminian  and  Socinian  doctors  that  have  too 
often  sat  in  Moses'  chair.  His  way  of  preaching  was  very  plain  ;  so  that 
the  very  lambs  might  wade,  into  his  discourses  on  those  texts  and  themes, 
wherein  elephants  might  swim;  and  herewithal.  it  was  very  power/w/,  his 
delivery  was  always  very  graceful  and  grateful  ;  but  when  he  was  to  use 
reproofs  and  warnings  against  any  sin,  his  voice  would  rise  into  a  warmth 
which  had  in  it  very  much  of  energy  as  well  as  decency  ;  he  would  sound 
the  trumpets  of  God  against  aWvice,  with  a  most  penetrating  liveliness, 
and  make  his  pulpit  another  mount  Sinai,  for  the  flashes  of  lightning 
therein  displayed  against  the  breaches  of  the  law  given  upon  that  burn- 
ing mountain.  And  I  observed,  that  there  was  usually  a  special  fervour 
in  the  rebukes  which  he  bestowed  upon  carnality,  a  carnal  frame  and  life 
in  professors  of  religion  :  when  ho  wa?  to  brand  the  eartbly-mindednes? 


i§9  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  111 

of  church  ■members,  and   the  allowance  and  the  indulgence  which  they 
often  gave  unto  tliennselves  in  sensual  deli2;hts,  here  he  was  a  right  Bo 
emerges  ;   he  then  spoke,  as  it  was  Sriid  one  of  the  ancients  did,  Q^uot  ver- 
ba lot  F'ulmina,  as  many  thunderbolts  as  words 

It  was  another  property  of  his  preaching,  that  there  was  evermore 
much  of  Christ  in  it  ;  and  with  Paul,  he  could  say,  I  delerinived  to  know 
nothing  hut  Jesus  Christ ;  havinii;  that  t)!essed  name  in  his  discourses,  with 
a  fiequency  like  that,  with  which  Paul  mentions  it  in  his  epistles.  As  it 
was  noted  of  Dr.  Bodly,  that  whatever  subject  he  were  upon,  in  the  ap- 
plication still  his  use  of  it  would  be.  to  drive  men  unto  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ :  in  like  m. inner,  the  Lord  .Tesns  Christ  was  the  loadstoue  which 
gave  a  touch  to  all  the  sermons  of  our  Eliot ;  a  glorious,  precious,  lovely 
Christ,  was  the  point  of  heaven  which  they  siill  verged  unto.  From  this 
inCiination  it  was,  that  although  he  printed  several  English  books  before 
he  dyed,  }'et  his  heart  seemed  not  so  much  in  an}r  of  them,  as  in  that  se- 
rious and  savoury  book  of  l-is,  entituled,  The  Harmony  of  the  Gospels  in 
the  Holy  History  of  Jesus  Christ.  From  hence  also  it  was.  that  he  would 
give  that  advice  to  young  preachers.  Pray  let  there  be  mujh  of  Christ  in 
your  ministry  ;  and  when  he  had  heard  a  sermon,  which  had  any  special 
relish  of  a  blessed  Jesus  in  it,  he  would  say  thereupon,  O  blessed  be  God. 
that  ti'c  have  Christ  so  much  and  so  well  preached  in  poor  New-England  i 

Moreover,  he  liked  no  preaching,  but  wha.t  had  been  well  studied  for  : 
and  he  would  very  much  comtnend  a  sermon  which  he  could  perceive  had 
required  some  good  thinking  and  reading  in  the  author  of  it.  I  have 
been  present,  when  he  has  unto  a  preacher  then  just  come  home  from 
the  assembly  with  him,  thus  expressed  himself,  Brother,  there  was  oyl  re- 
quired for  the  service  of  the  sanctuary  ;  but  it  must  be  beaten  oyl ;  I  praise 
God,  that  I  saw  your  oyl  so  well  beaten  to  day ;  tlie  Lord  help  us  always  by 
good  study  to  beat  our  oyl ^  that  there  may  be  no  knots  in  our  sermons  left  un- 
dissolved, and  that  them  may  a  clear  light  be  thereby  given  in  the  house  of 
Gad!  And  yet  he  likewise  looked  for  something  in  a  sermon  beside  and 
beyond  the  meer  study  of  man;  he  was  for  having  the  Spirit  of  God, 
breathing  in  it  and  with  it  ;  and  he  was  for  speaking  those  things,  from 
those  impressions  and  with  those  affections,  which  might  compel  the  hearer 
to  say,  The  spirit  of  God  was  here  !  I  have  heard  him  complain,  It  is  a  sad 
thing,  when  a  sermon  shall  have  that  one  thing,  the  Spirit  of  God,  wanti7ig 
in  it. 

ARTICLE  IV. 
His  Cares  about  the  Children  of  his  people. 

Put  he  remembered,  that  he  had  lambs  in  his  fock,  and  like  anoth( 
David  he  could  not  endure  to  see  the  lion  sei/.e  upon  any  of  them.  II 
always  had  a  mighty  concern  upon  his  mind  for  little  chihiren  ;  it  was  an  af- 
fectionate stroke  in  one  of  the  little  papers  which  he  published  for  them, 
Sure  Christ  is  not  willing  to  I  se  his  lambs  ;  and  I  have  cause  to  remember 
with  what  an  hearty,  fervent,  zealous  application,  he  addressed  himself, 
when  in  the  name  of  the  neighbour  pastors  and  churches  he  gave  me, 
the  right  hand  of  their  fellowship,  at  my  ordination,  and  said.  Brother,  art 
thou  a  lover  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ?  Then,  Lpray  feed  his  lambs. 

One  thing  whereof  he  was  very  desirous  for  poor  children,  was  the 
covenanting  of  them  ,"  he  was  very  solicitous  that  the  lambs  might  pass 
under  the  J-iord's  tything  rod,^n(i  be  brought  under  the  bofid  of  the  cove 


Book  III.]  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  497 

nant.  He  very  openly  and  earnestly  maintained  the  cause  oi  infant- bap- 
tism, against  a  sort  of  persons  risen  since  the  reformation,  (among  vvhioh 
indeeil  there  are  many  godly  men  that  were  dear  to  the  soul  of'ocr  Eliot) 
who  forget  that  in  the  gospel  church-state  as  well  as  in  the  Jc'«:ish,  the 
promise  is  to  believers  and  their  children  :  and  are  unwilling  to  reckon 
children  among  the  disciples  of  Jesus  Christ  :  or  to  grant,  that  of  such  is 
the  kingdom  of  Heaven  :  or  to  know,  that  the  most  undoubted  renords  of 
antiquity,  affirm  infant-baptism  to  have  heen  an  usage  in  all  the  primitive 
churches  ;  that  even  before  the  early  days  o{ Nazianzen,  Chrysostom,  Ba- 
sil, Athanasius,  Epiphannis,  in  the  Greek,  and  Ambrose,  Jcrom,  Avstin,  in 
the  Latin  church,  all  of  which  give  glorious  testimonies  for  infant-bap- 
tism, even  Cyprian,  before  these  assures  us,  that  in  his  days  there  was 
no  doubt  of  it  ;  and  Origen  before  him  could  say,  'Twas  from  the  apos- 
tles that' the  church  took  up  the  baptism  of  infants;  and  Clemens  Romaniis 
before  him  could  say.  That  children  should  be  recipients  of  the  discipline  of 
Christ  ;  besides  what  plain  evidence  we  have  in  Iremrus  and  Justin  Mar- 
tyr ;  and  that  the  very  arguments  with  which  some  of  the  ancients  did  su- 
perstitiously  advise  the  delay  ofbaptism,  do  at  the  same  tiine  confess  the 
divine  right  of  infants  in  it.  Our  Eliot  could  by  no  means  look  upon  tl  e 
infants  of  godly  men,  as  unholy ,  and  unbelievers,  and  unfit  subjects  to  have 
upon  them  a  mark  of  dedication  to  the  Lord. 

Wherefore,  when  there  was  bro<ight  among  us  a  book  of  pious  I\Ir. 
JVorcott''s,  whereby  some  became  disposed  to,  or  confirmed  ia,  a  prejudice 
against  Pccdo  baptism,  it  was  not  long  before  Mr.  Eliot  published  a  little 
answer  thereunto  ;  the  first  lines  whereof  presently  discovered  what  a 
temper  he  writ  it  with  ;  says  he,  The  book  speaks  with  the  voice  of  a  lamb, 
and  I  think  the  author  is  a  godly,  though  erring  brother ;  but  he  acts  the 
cause  of  a  roaring  lion,  who  by  all  crafty  ways,  seeketh  to  devour  the  poor 
lambs  of  the  flock  of  Christ.  And  so  he  goes  on  to  plead  the  cause 
of  them  that  cannot  speak  for  themselves.  So  man  could  entertain  a 
person  of  a  different  perswasion  from  himself,  with  more  sweetness  and 
kindness  than  he,  when  he  saw,  Aliquid  Christi,  or  the  fear  of  God  pre- 
vailing in  them  ;  he  could  uphold  a  most  intimate  correspondence  with 
such  a  man  as  Mr.  Jessey,  as  long  as  he  lived  ;  and  yet  he  knew  how  to 
be  an  hammer  upon  their  unhappy  errors. 

But  having  once  baptized  the  children  of  his  neighbours,  he  did  not  as 
too  many  ministers  do,  think,  that  he  had  now  done  with  them.  No, 
another  thing  wherein  he  was  very  laborious  for  poor  children  was,  the 
catechising  of  them  ;  he  kept  up  the  great  ordinance  of  cutechisiiig ,  both 
publickly  and  privately,  and  spent  in  it  a  wtorld  of  time.  About  the  end 
of  the  second  century,  before  there  had  in  the  least  begun  to  start  up  new 
officers  in  the  church  of  God,  we  find  there  were  persons  called  unto  the 
office  of  publick  teaching,  who  were  not  pastors,  not  rulers,  not  called 
unto  the  administration  of  other  ordinances  ;  those  in  the  church  of  Alex- 
andria, were  of  a  special  remark  and  renown  for  their  abilities  this  way  ; 
and  their  employment  was  to  explain  and  defend  the  principles  of  the 
christian  religion,  unto  all  with  whom  they  could  be  concerned.  Here 
was  the  catechist,  with  reference  unto  wliom  the  apostle  says,  Let  the 
catechised  communicate  unto  him  in  all  good  things.  Now  though  some 
think,  a  teacher  purely  as  such,  hath  no  right  unto  further  church  ad- 
ministrations, any  more  than  the  Rabbis  or  doctors  among  the  Jews,  had 
to  qff'er  sacrifices  in  the  temple ;  yet  he  who  is  called  to  be  a  teacher,  may 
at  the  same  time  also  be  called  to  be  an  elder,  and  being  now  a  teaching 
dder,  he  becomes  interested  in  the  whole  government  of  the  church,  he 

VoT.   I.  63 


•  498  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.       [Book  lit. 

has  the  power  of  all  sacred  admiiiistralions.  It  is  the  latter  and  more 
compleat  and  perfect  character,  whicli  tlie  churches  of  New-England 
have  still  acknowledged  in  their  teachers  ;  and  such  a  teaching  elder  did 
our  tlliot  remember  himself  to  be.  He  thought  himself  under  a  partic- 
ular obligation  to  be  that  officer,  which  the  apostle  Calls  in  1  Cor.  iv.  15, 
An  insii'uclor  of  the  young  ;  nor  was  he  ashamed,  any  more  than  some  of 
the  worthiest  men  among  the  ancients  were,  to  be  called,  a  chatechist. 
lie  wouhl  obsei\e  upon  Job.  sxi.  15,  That  the  care  of  the  lambs,  is  one 
third  part  of  the  c!iar<sc  over  the  Church  of  God.  It  would  be  incredible 
if  I  should  relate  what  pains  he  took  to  keep  up  the  blessed  echo''s  of 
truth,  between  himself  and  the  young  people  of  his  congregation  ;  and 
what  prudence  he  used,  in  suiting  of  his  catechisms  to  the  age  and 
strength  of  his  little  catechumens.  But  one  thing  I  must  observe,  which 
is,  that  although  there  may  be  (as  one  has  computed)  no  less  than  five 
hundred  catechisms  extant,  yet  Mr.  Eliot  gave  himself  the  travail  of  ad- 
ding to  their  nuu>ber,  by  composing  of  some  further  catechisms,  which 
were  more  parliculariy  designed  as  an  antidote  for  his  own  people, 
against  the  contagion  of  such  errors  as  might  threaten  any  peculiar  dan- 
gsr  to  tliem.  And  the  effect  and  success  of  this  catechising,  bore  propor- 
tion to  the  indefatigable  industry  with  which  he  prosecuted  it ;  it  is  a  well- 
principled  people  that  he  has  lett  behind  him  As  when  certain  Jesuits 
were  sent  among  the  Wuldenses  to  corrupt  their  children,  they  returned 
with  much  disapj)ointment  and  confusion,  because  the  children  of  seven 
years  old  were  well-principled  enough  to  encounter  the  most  learned  of 
them  all  ;  so,  if  any  seducers  were  let  loose  to  wolve  it  among  the  good 
people  of  Roxhury,  I  am  confident,  they  would  tind  as  little  prey  in  that 
well-instructed  place,  as  in  any  part  of  all  the  country  ;  no  civil  penal- 
ties would  signify  so  much  to  save  any  people  from  the  snares  of  busy 
hercticks,  as  the  unwearied  catechising  of  one  Eliot  has  done  to  preserve 
his  people  from  the  gangren  of  ill  opinions. 

There  is  a  third  instance  of  his  regards  to  the  welfare  of  the  poor 
children  under  his  charge  ;  and  that  is,  hi*  perpetual  resolution  and  ac- 
tivity to  support  a  good  school  in  the  town  that  belonged  unto  him.  A 
grammar-sc/ioo/  he  would  always  have,  upon  the  place,  whatever  it  cost 
him  ;  and  he  importuned  all  other  places  to  have  the  like.  1  cannot 
forget  the  ardour  with  which  1  once  heard  him  pray,  in  a  sy7iod  of  these 
churches,  which  met  at  Boston  to  consider,  how  the  miscarriages  which 
were  among  us  might  be  prevented  ;  1  say,  with  what  fervour  he  uttered 
an  expression  to  this  purpose.  Lord,  for  svhools  every  where  among  «s  .' 
Taat  our  schools  may  flourish  i  That  every  member  of  this  assembly  /nay  go 
home  and  procure  a  good  school  to  be  encouraged  in  the  tow7i  where  he  lives  ! 
That  before  we  die,  wc  may  be  so  happy  as  to  see  a  good  school  encouraged 
in  every  plantation  of  the  country.  God  so  blessed  his  endeavours,  that 
Roxbury  could  not  live  quietly  without  a  free  school  in  the  town  ;  and  the 
issue  of  it  has  been  one  thing,  which  has  made  me  almost  put  the  title  of 
Schola  Illustris  upon  that  little  nursery  ;  that  is,  that  Roxbury  has  aflbrd- 
ed  more  scholars,  first  for  the  coiledge,  and  then  for  the  /lublick,  than  any 
town  of  its  bigness,  or  if  I  mistake  not,  of  twice  its  bigness  in  all  jYew- 
England.  From  the  spring  of  the  school  at  Roxbury,  there  have  run  a 
large  number  of  the  streams,  which  have  made  glad  this  rvhole  cily  of  God. 
I  perswade  my  self,  that  the  good  people  of  Roxbury,  will  fir  ever  scorn 
to  begrutch  the  cost,  or  to  permit  the  death  of  a  school  which  God  has 
made  such  an  iionour  to  them  ;  and  this  the  rather,  because  their  de- 
ceased Eliot  has  left  them  a  fair  pari  of  hii  own  estate,  for  the  maintaining 


Book  III.]  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  499, 

of  the  school  in  Roxbury  ;  and  I  hope,  or  at  least,  I  uish,  that  the  tninit-- 
terfi  oi"  New-England  miy  be  as  ungainsayably  importunate  with  their 
pe<jpie,  as  Mr  Eliot  \\-\s  with  his,  for  scAoo/s  which  may  season. ibly  tinge 
thtt  3'onng  souls  of  the  rising  generation.  A  want  of  education  for  them, 
is  the  blackest  and  saddest  of  ail  the  bad  ome«s  that  are  upon  us. 

ARTICLE  \\ 
His  Church  Discipline. 

It  yet  more  endears  unto  us  the  memory  of  our  Eliot,  that  he  was  not 
only  an  evangelical  minister,  but  also  a  true  New-English  one  ;  he  was 
a  Frolestant,  and  a  Ftiritan,  and  one  very  full  of  that  spirit  which  acted 
the  first  planters  of  this  country,  in  Xhe'ir  peaceable  succession  from  the  un- 
warrantable things  elsewhere  im[)0sed  upon  their  consciences  The 
judgment  nnd  practice  of  one  that  readily  underwent  all  the  misery  at- 
tending the  infancy  of  thi-;  plantation,  for  the  sake  of  a  true  church  order, 
is  a  thing  which  we  young  people  should  count  worthy  to  be  enquired 
after  ;  and  since  we  saw  him  so  well  behaving  himself  in  the  house  ofGod, 
it  cannot  but  be  worth  while  to  know  what  he  thought  about  the  frame 
and  form,  and  constitution  of  that  blessed  house. 

He  was  a  modest,  humble,  but  very  reasonable  non  conformist  unto  the 
ceremotiies,  which  have  been  such  unhappy  apples  of  strife  in  the  Church 
oi  England ;  otherwise  the  dismal  thickets  oi  America,  had  never  seen 
such  a  person  in  them. 

It  afflicted  him  to  see  these,  and  more  such  as  these,  things  continued 
in  the  Church  oi  England,  by  the  artifice  of  certain  persons  who  were 
loth  to  have  the  reformation  carried  on  unto  those  further  degrees  which 
the  most  eminent  of  theirs'  reformers  had  in  their  holy  designs. 

V\'e  see  what  rvas  not  his  opinion  !  But  let  us  hear  what  it  was.  It 
was  his  as  well  as  his  master,  the  great  Rarnvs's  principle,  that  in  the  re- 
formation of  churches,  to  be  now  endeavoured,  things  ought  to  be  reduced  un- 
to the  order  wherein  we  find  them  at  their  primitive,  original,  apostolical 
institution.  And  in  pursuance  of  this  principle,  he  justly  espoused  that 
way  oi  church-govrnment,  which  we  call  the  congregational ;  he  was  ful- 
ly perswaded,  that  the  church  state  which  our  Lord  Christ  hath  institu- 
ted in  the  New-Testament,  is,  In  a  congregation  or  society  of  professed 
believers,  agreeing  and  assembling  together  among  themselves,  wi/h  qjfcers, 
of  divine  appointment,  for  the  celebration  of  evangelical  ordinances,  and 
theii  own  mutual  edification  ;  for  he  saw  it  must  be  a  cruel  hardship  used 
upon  the  scriptures,  to  make  them  so  much  as  lisp  the  least  intimation  of 
any  other  church-state  prescribed  unto  us  ;  and  he  could  assert,  That  no 
approved  zcriters,for  the  space  of  two  hundred  years  after  Christ,  make  any 
mention  of  any  other  organical,  visible,  professing  church,  but  that  onely 
zahich  is  congregational.  He  looked  upon  the  congregational  way  as  a 
largess  of  divine  bounty  bestowed  by  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  on  his  people, 
that  followed  him  into  this  wilderness,  with  a  peculiar  zeal  for  commun- 
ion with  him,  in  his  pure  worship  here.  He  perceived  in  it,  a  sweet 
sort  oi  temperament,  between  rigid  Presbyterianism,  and  levelling  Brown- 
ism;  so  that  on  the  one  side,  the  liberties  of  the  people  are  not  oppress- 
ed and  overlaid  ;  on  the  other  side,  the  authority  of  the  elders  is  not 
rendred  insignificant,  but  a  due  ballance  is  herein  kept  upon  them  both  ; 
and  hence  he  closed  with  onv  platform  of  church-discipline,  as  being  the 
neare't  of  what  he  had  vet  eeen.  to  ihe  directions  of  Heaven. 


500  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  HI. 

He  could  not  comprehend,  that  this  church-state  can  arise  from  any 
other/o?-ma/  cause,  but  the  consent,  concurrence,  confederation  of  those 
concei'neii  in  it  ;  he  hooked  upon  a  relation  unto  a  church,  as  not  a  natur- 
al, or  a  violent,  but  a  voluntary  thing,  and  so  that  it  is  to  be  entred  no  oth- 
erwise than  by  an  holy  covenant,  or  as  the  scripture  speaks,  by  giving 
our  selves  ^first  unto  the  Lord,  and  then  one  unto  another.  He  could  not 
think,  that  baptism  alone  was  to  be  accounted  the  cause,  but  rather  the 
effect,  of  church  member-ship  ;  inasmuch  as  upon  the  dissolution  of  the 
church  to  which  a  man  belongs,  his  baptism  would  not  become  a  nullity  : 
noi  ih.ii  meev professioii  would  render  men  ;«em6ers  of  this  or  that  church  : 
for  tiien  it  would  be  impossible  to  cut  oil  a  corrupt  member  from  that 
body  politic:  nor  that  meer  tohahitation  would  make  church  members  ; 
for  then  llie  vilest  intidels  would  be  actually  incorporated  with  us.  And 
a  covemmt,  was  ail  that  he  now  saw  remaining  in  the  inventory. 

but  foi  the  subjects  to  be  admitted  by  churches  unto  all  the  privileges 
of  tiiis  fellowship  with  tb.em  he  thought,  they  ought  to  be  such  as  a  try- 
ing  charity,  or  a  charitable  tryal.  should  pronounce  regenerate.  He  found 
Va.  first  churches  ot  the  gospel  mentioned  in  the  scripture,  to  be  churchest 
of  saints  ;  and  that  the  apostles  writir.-r  to  them,  still  acknowledge  them 
to  be  holy  brethren,  and  such  as  were  made  meet  for  to  be  partakers  of  the 
inheritance  ofihe  saints  in  light ;  and  that  a  main  end  o(  church  felloivship , 
is  to  rte^prcseut  unt'>  the  world,  the  qualitications  of  those  that  shall  as- 
cend into  the  hill  of  tue  Lord,  and  stand  in  his  holy  place  for  ever.  He 
would  therefore  have  Bona  Mens,  and  Purum  pectus,  and  Vita  Innocens, 
required,  as  Lictantius  tells  us,  they  were  in  his  days,  of  all  communi- 
cants at  the  table  of  the  Lord  :  and  with  holy  Chrysostom,  he  would  soon- 
er have  given  his  heart-blood,  than  the  cup  of  the  Lord,  unto  such  as  had 
not  the  hopeful  marks  of  our  Lord's  disciples  on  them.  The  church- 
es of  JS'ezi)  Eiiglatid  still  retain  a  custom  which  the  great  Justin  Martyr, 
in  the  second  century,  assures  us  to  have  been  in  the  primitive  church- 
es of  his  time  ;  namely.  To  examine  those  they  receive,  not  only  about  their 
persuasion,  hut  also  whether  they  have  attained  unto  a  work  of  grace  upon 
their  souls.  In  the  prosecution  hereof,  besides  the  enquiries  of  the  el- 
ders into  the  kiiowledgc,  and  belief,  and  conversation  of  them  that  offer 
themselves  unto  church-fellowship,  it  is  expected,  thotigh  I  hope  not  with 
any  severity  of  imposition,  that  in  the  addresses  which  they  make  to  the 
churches,  they  give  written,  if  not  oral  account,  of  what  impressions  the 
regenerating  word  of  God  has  had  upon  their  souls.  This  was  a  custom 
which  this  holy  man  had  a  marvellous  esteem  and  value  for  ;  and  I  have 
taken  from  his  mouth  such  as  these  expressions  very  publickly  delivered 
thereabouts. 

'  It  is  matter  (said  he)  of  great  thankfulness,  that  we  have  C7imf  con- 
'fssed  in  our  churches,  by  such  as  we  receive  to  full  communion  there. 
'  They  open  the  works  ot  Christ  in  their  hearts,  and  the  relutiua  thereof  is 
'  an  eminent  c"/(/es*w7i  of  our  Lord  ;  experienced  saints  can  gather  more 

*  than  a  httle  from  it.  It  is  indeed  an  ordinance  of  wonderful  benefit  : 
'  the  Lord  planted  many  vineyards  in  the  lirst  settlement  of  this  country. 

*  and  there  weie  many  noble  vines  in  them  ;  it  was  their  heavenly-minded- 
'  ness  which  disposed  them  to  this  exercise,  and  by  the  upholding  of  it, 
'  the  churches  are  still  filled  with  noble  viiies  ;  it  mightily  maintains  puri- 
'  ty  of  churches,  it  is  the  duty  of  every  christian.  With  the  mouth  con- 
^fession  is  made  u  to  salvation.  As  among  the  Jews,  usually  most  men 
'  did  once  in  their  life,  celebrate  a  jubilee  ;  thus,  this  confession  of  Christ. 

*  is  methinks,  a  sort  oi  jubilee  :  and  every  good  man  among  us,  is  al  leosi 


Book  HI.]  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  oOl 

'  once  in  his  life  called  unto  it.  It  is  a  thing  that  gives  great  ghry  to  the 
'  Lord  Jesus  Christ  ;  and  younger  converts  are  thereby  exceerlingly  edify- 
'  ed  ;  and  the  souls  o[  devout  chrutians  are  hereby  very  much  ingratiated 
'  one  unto  another.  The  devil  knows  uhat  he  does,  when  he  thrusts  so 
'  hard  to  get  this  custom  out  of  our  churches.     For  my  part,  I  would  say 

*  in  this  case,  Get  thee  behind  me,  Satan  ;  thou  givest  an  horrib'e  offence  un- 
'  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Let  us  keep  up  this  ordinance  with  all  gen- 
'  tleness  ;  and  where  we  see  the  least  spark  of  grace  held  forth,  let  us 

*  prize  it  more  thau  all  the  zvit  in  the  world' 

There  were  especially  two  things,  which  he  was  loth  to  see,  and  yet 
feared  he  saiv,  falling  in  the  churches  otWcn:- England.  One  was,  a  tho- 
rough establishment  of  ruling  eldersin  our  churches  ;  which  he  thought 
sufficiently  warranted  by  the  apo>tle's  mention  of,  elders  that  rule  -cell,  who 
yet  labour  not  in  word  and  doctrine.  He  was  very  desirous  to  have  pru- 
dent and  gracious  men  set  over  our  churches,  for  the  assistance  of  their 
pastors,  in  the  church  acts  that  concern  the  admission  and  exclvsion  of 
members,  and  the  inspection  of  the  conversation  led  by  the  communicant, 
and  the  instruction  of  their  several  families,  and  the  visitation  of  the  af- 
flicted in  their  flock,  over  which  they  should  preside.  Such  helps  in 
governments  had  he  himself  been  blessed  withal  ;  the  last  of  which  was 
the  well-deserving  Elder  Bowles  ;  and  of  him,  did  this  good  man,  ia  a 
speech  to  a  synod  of  all  the  churches  in  this  colony,  take  occasion  to  sa}'. 
There  is  my  brother  Bowles,  the  godly  elder  of  our  church  at  Roxbur}', 
God  helps  him  to  do  great  things  among  us  !  Had  all  our  pastors  been  so 
well  accommodated,  it  is  possible  there  would  be  more  encouragement 
given  to  such  an  oflice  as  that  of  ruling  elders. 

But  the  mention  of  a  Synod  brings  to  mind  another  tiling,  which  he  was 
concerned,  that  we  might  never  want  ;  and  that  is,  a  frequent  repetition 
of  needful  synods  in  our  churches.  For  though  he  had  a  deep  and  a  due 
care  to  preserve  the  rights  of  particular  churches,  yet  he  thought  all  the 
churches  of  the  Lord  Jesus  by  their  ttnion  in  what  they  profess,  in  what 
they  intend,  and  in  what  they  enjoy,  so  compacted  into  one  body  mystical, 
as  that  all  the  several  particular  churches  every  w  here  should  act  with  s. 
regard  unto  the  good  of  the  whole,  and  unto  the  common  advice  and  coun- 
cil of  the  neighbourhood  ;  which  cannot  be  do.ne  always  by  letters  missive 
like  those  that  passed  between  Corinth  and  Rome  in  the  early  days  of  Chris- 
tianity ;  but  it  requires  a  convention  of  the  churches  in  synods,  by  their 
delegates  and  messengers.  He  did  not  count  churches  to  be  so  indepen- 
dent, as  that  they  can  always  discharge  their  whole  duty,  and  yet  not  act  ii» 
a  conjunction  with  neighbour  churches  ;  nor  would  lie  be  of  any  church 
that  will  not  acknowledge  it  self  accountable  to  rightly  composed  synods, 
which  may  have  occasion  to  enquire  into  the  circumstances  of  it  ;  he  saw 
the  main  interest  and  busi7icss  of  churches  miiiht  quickly  come  to  be  utter- 
ly lost,  ii'  synods  were  not  often  called  for  the  rep.iiring  of  inconveniences, 
and  he  was  much  in  contriving  for  the  regular  and  repeated  meeting  of 
such  assemblies. 

He  wished  for  councils  to  suppress  all  damn  hie  heresie*,  or  p  -rnicious 
<»pinions,  that  migiit  ever  arise  aruong  us  ;  ftr  councils  to  extinguish  all 
dangerous  divisions,  and  srandalous  rontentioi^s  which  misht  ever  begiu 
to  flame  in  our  borders  j  f)r  c  uncils  to  reciiiy  all  male-administrationj: 
in  the  midst  of  us,  or  to  re-over  any  particular  churches  out  of  any  dis- 
orders which  they  niay  he  plunged  into  :  fcr  councils  to  enquire  into  tht^ 
love,  the  peace,  the  hohnr-.-s  maintained  by  the  «everal  churches  ;  iu 
fine,  for  counncils  to  send  forth  fit  labourers  into  these  part?  of  orr  LonVh 


502  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  III. 

harvest,  which  are  without  the  gospel  of  God.  He  beheld  an  apostolical 
precept  and  pattern  for  <uch  councils  ;  and  when  such  councils  convened 
in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Chirst,  by  the  consent  of  several  churches 
concerned  in  mutual  communion,  have  declared,  explained,  recommend- 
ed the  mind  of  God  iVom  his  word  unto  us,  he  reckoned  a  truth  so  deliv- 
ered, challenged  an  observation  from  the  particular  churches,  with  a  ve- 
ry great  authority. 

He  therefore  printed  a  little  book  wearing  this  title,  The  Divine  Man- 
agement of  Gospel  Churches  by  th^  Ordinance  of  Councils,  coistitutfd  in  or- 
der according  to  the  Scrifjtvres,  which  may  be  a  means  of  uniting  ihose  two 
holy  and  eminent  parlies,  the  Presbyterians  and  the  Consrregational.  It  is 
a  remarkable  conce!?sion  made  by  the  incomparable  Jurieu  who  is  not 
reckoned  a  Congregational  man,  in  his  Traile  de  UUnite  de  UEglise, 
That  the  apostolical  churches  lived  not  in  any  confeder  dion  for  mutual  de- 
pendence The  grand  equipage  of  Aletropolitans,  of  Primates,  of  Exarchs, 
oj  Patriarchs,  xvas  yet  unktiown  ;  nor  does  it  any  more  appear  to  us,  that 
the  churches  then  had  their  provincial ,  nalionnl,  and  oecumenical  synods  ;  ev- 
ery church  was  its  own  inistress,  and  inilependenton  any  other.  But  on  the 
other  side,  our  Eliot,  who  was  no  Presbyterian,  conceived  synods  to  he 
the  institutions  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  apostolical  churches  ihem- 
selven  acknowledging  a  stamp  o{  divine  right  upon  them. 

Such  as  these  were  the  sentiments  of  our  Eliot ;  and  his  deserved  re- 
putation in  the  churches  of  JVewEnglaml,  is  that  which  has  caused  me 
to  foresee  some  advantage  and  benefit  arising  unto  the  concerns  of  the 
gospel,  by  so  large  a  recitation  as  1  have  now  made  thereof 

The  reader  has  now  seen,  an  able  minister  of  the  J^cs; -Testament. 


PART  III. 
Oj-,  ELIOT  as  an  Evangelist. 

The  titles  of  a  christian  and  of  a  minister,  have  rendred  our  Eliot  con- 
fiiderable  ;  but  there  is  one  memorable  title  more,  by  xvhich  he  has  been 
t-ignalized  unto  ns.  An  honourable  person  did  once  in  print  put  the  name 
of  an  evangelist  upon  him  ;  whereupon  in  a  letter  of  his  to  that  person 
atlerwards  printed,  his  expressions  were.  '  There  is  a  redundancy  where 
'  you  put  the  title  of  Evangelist  upon  me  ;  1  beseech  you  suppress  all 
'  such  things  ;  let  us  do  and  speak  and  carry  all  things  with  humility  ;  it 
'  is  the  Lord  who  hith  done  what  is  done  ;  and  it  is  most  becoming  the 
'  spirit  of  Jesus  Christ  to  lift  up  him,  and  lay  our  selves  low  ;  I  wish 
•■  that  word  could  be  obliterated.'  My  reader  sees  what  a  caution  Mr. 
Eliot  long  since  entred  against  our  giving  him  the  title  of  an  evanj,elist; 
but  his  death  has  now  made  it  safe,  and  his  life  had  long  made  it  just,  for 
us  to  acknowledge  him  with  such  a  title.  1  know  not  whither  that  of  an 
evangelist,  or  one  separated  for  the  employment  of  preaching  the  gospel 
in  such  places  whereunto  churches  have  hitherto  been  gathered,  be  not 
an  office  that  should  be  continued  in  our  days ;  but  this  I  know,  that  our 
Eliot  very  notably  did  the  service  and  business  of  such  an  officer. 

Cambden  could  not  reach  the  heighth  of  his  conceit  who  bore  in  his 
.''hield  a  salvage  of  America,  with  his  hand  pointing  to  the  sun.  and  this 
motto,  Mihi  Accessu,  Tibi  Recessu,  Reader,  prepare  to  behold  this  device- 
illustrated  ! 


Book  III.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  503 

IT  The  natives  of  the  country  now  possessed  by  the  Nevc-Englanders, 
had  been  lorlorn  and  wretched  heathen  ever  since  their  first  hording  here  ; 
and  t'loiigh  we  know  not  n:hen  or  hozv  those  Indians  iirst  became  inhabi- 
tants of  this  mighty  continent,  yet  we  may  gue-^s  that  probably  the  devil 
decoyed  those  miserable  salvages  hither,  in  hopes  that  the  gospel  of 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  would  never  come  here  to  destroy  or  disturb  his 
absolute  empire  over  them.  But  our  Eliot  was  in  such  ill  terms  with  the 
devil,  as  to  alarm  him  with  sounding  the  silver  trumpets  of  Heaven  in  his 
territories,  and  make  some  noble  and  zealous  attempts  towards  outing 
him  of  ancient  possessions  here.  There  were,  I  think,  twenty  several 
nations  (if  I  may  call  them  so)  of  hidians  upon  that  spot  of  ground, 
which  fell  under  the  influence  of  our  Three  United  Colonies  ;  and  our  Eliot 
was  willing  to  rescue  as  many  of  them  as  he  could,  from  that  old  usurp- 
ing landlord  of  America,  who  is  by  the  wrath  of  God,  the  prince  of  this 
world. 

I  cannot  find  that  any  besides  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God,  fir.^t  moved  him 
to  the  blessed  work  o\  evangelizing  these  perishi  g  Indians ;  it  was  that 
Holy  Spirit  which  laid  before  his  mind  the  idea  of  that  which  was  on  the 
seal  of  the  iVlassachuset  colony  ;  a  poor  Indian  having  a  label  going  from 
his  moxith,  with  a  come  over  and  help  us.  It  vvas  the  spirit  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  which  enkindled  in  him  a  pitty  for  the  dark  souls  of  these 
natives,  whom  the  God  of  this  world  had  blinded,  through  all  the  by-past 
ages.  He  was  none  of  those  that  make,  the  salvation  of  the  heathen,  aa 
article  of  their  creed  ;  but  (setting  aside  the  unrevealed  and  extraordina- 
ry steps  which  the  Holy  One  of  Israel  may  take  out  of  his  usual  paths^ 
he  thought  men  to  be  lost  if  our  gospel  be  hidden  from  them  ;  and  he 
was  of  the  same  opinion  with  one  of  the  ancients,  who  said.  Some  have 
endeavoured  to  prove  Plato  a  christian  till  they  prove  themselves  little  better 
than  heathens.  It  is  indeed  a  principle  in  the  Turkish  Alcoran,  that  let  a 
man^s  religion  be  what  it  will,  he  shall  be  saved,  if  he  conscientiously  live 
up  to  the  rules  of  it  :  but  our  Eliot  was  no  Mahomitan.  He  could  most 
heartily  subscribe  to  that  passage  in  the  articles  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
and.  '  They  are  to  be  held  accursed,  who  presume  to  say,  that  every 
'  man  shall  be  saved  by  the  law  or  sect  which  he  professeth,  so  that  he 
'  be  diligent  to  frame  his  life  according  to  that  law,  and  light  of  nature  ; 
'  for  Holy  Scripture  doth  set  out  unto  us,  only  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ, 
'  whereby  men  must  be  saved.'  And  it  astonished  him  to  see  many  dis- 
sembling subscribers  of  those  articles,  while  they  have  grown  up  to  such 
aphrensy,  as  to  deny  peremptorily  all  church  state,  and  all  salvation  to 
,  all  that  are  not  under  Diocesan  Bishops,  yet  at  the  same  time  to  grant 
that  the  heathen  might  be  saved  without  the  knowledge  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ. 

But  when  this  charitable  pitty  had  once  began  to  flame,  there  was  a 
concurrence  of  many  things  to  cast  oyl  into  it.  AH  the  good  men  in  the 
country  were  glad  of  his  engagement  in  such  an  undertaking  ;  the  min- 
isters especially  encouraged  him,  and  those  in  the  neighbourhood  kindly 
supplyed  his  place,  and  performed  his  work  in  part,  for  him  at  Roxhury, 
while  he  was  abroad  lobouring  among  them  that  were  without.  Here- 
unto, he  was  further  awakened  by  those  expressions  in  the  royal  charter, 
in  the  assurance  and  protection  whereof  this  wilderness  was  first  people- 
ed  ;  namely,  To  win  and  incite  the  natives  of  that  country  to  (he  knowledge 
and  obedience  of  the  only  true  God  and  Saviour  of  mankind,  and  the  christ- 
ian f  nth,  in  our  royal  intention,  and  the  adventurers^  free  profession  is 
the  principal  end  of  the  plantation.      And  the  remarkable  zeal  of  the 


504  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  111. 

Romish  missionaries  compassing  sea  and  land^  that  they  might  make  pro- 
selytes, made  his  devout  soul  think  of  it  with  a  further  disdain,  that  we 
should  come  any  whit  behind  in  our  care  to  evangelize  the  hidians. 
whom  we  dwelt  among.  Lastly,  when  he  had  well  begun  this  evan"-el- 
ical  business,  the  good  God,  in  an  answer  to  his  prayers,  mercifully  stir- 
red up  a  liberal  contribution  among  the  godly  people  in  England  for  the 
promoting  of  it ;  by  means  whereof,  a  considerable  estate  and  income  was 
at  length  entrusted  in  the  hands  of  an  honourable  corporation,  by  whom 
it  is  to  this  day  very  carefully  employed  in  the  christian  service  which 
it  was  designed  for.  And  then,  in  short,  inasmuch  as  our  Lord  Jesus 
had  bestowed  on  us,  our  EHot  was  greatefully  and  generously  desirous 
to  obtain  for  him,  The  heathen  for  an  inderitance,  and  the  utmost  parts  of 
the  earth,  for  a  possession. 

The  exemplary  charity  of  this  excellent  person  in  this  important  af- 
fair, will  not  be  seen  in  its  due  lustres,  unless  we  make  some  retlections 
upon  several  circumstances  which  he  beheld  these  forlorn  Indians  in. 
Know  then,  that  these  doleful  creatures  are  the  veriest  ruines  of  mankind, 
which  are  to  be  found  any  where  upon  the  face  of  the  earth.  No  such 
estates  are  to  be  expected  among  them,  as  have  been  the  baits  which  the 
pretended  converters  in  other  countries  have  snapped  at.  One  might  see 
among  them,  what  an  hard  master  the  devil  is,  to  the  most  devoted  of  his 
vassals  !  These  abject  creatures,  live  in  a  country  full  of  mines  ;  we  have 
already  made  entrance  upon  our  iron  ;  and  in  the  very  surface  of  the 
ground  among  us,  it  is  thought  there  lies  copper  enough  to  supply  all  this 
world  ;  besides  other  mines  hereafter  to  be  exposed  ;  but  our  shiftless 
Indians  vvere  never  owners  of  so  much  as  a  kiiife,  till  we  come  among 
them  ;  their  name  for  an  English  man  was  a  Knife-man  ;  stone  was  instead 
of  metal  for  their  tools  ;  and  for  their  coins,  they  have  only  little  beads 
with  holes  in  them  to  string  them  upon  a  bracelet,  whereof  some  are  white  ; 
and  of  these  there  go  six  for  a  penny  ;  some  are  black  or  blue  ;  and  of 
these,  go  three  for  a  penny  ;  this  wampam,  as  they  call  it,  is  made  of 
the  shell-fish,  which  lies  upon  the  sea-coast  continually. 

They  live  in  a  country,  where  u'c  now  have  all  the  conveniencies  of 
human  life  :  but  as  for  them,  their  housing  is  nothing  but  a  few  mats  tyed 
about  poles  fastened  in  the  earth,  where  a  good^re  is  their  bed-clothes  in 
the  coldest  seasons  ;  their  clothing  is  but  a  skin  of  a  beast,  covering  their 
hind-parts,  their  foi  e-parts  having  but  a  little  apron,  where  nature  calls 
for  secrecy  ;  their  diet  has  not  a  greater  dainty  than  their  JVokehick,  that 
is  a  spoonful  of  their  parched  meal,  with  a  spoonful  of  water,  which 
will  strengthen  them  to  travel  a  day  together  ;  except  we  should  men- 
tion the  flesh  of  deers,  bears,  mose.  rackoons,  and  the  like,  which 
they  have  when  they  can  catch  them  ;  as  also  a  little  fish,  which  if 
they  would  preserve,  it  was  by  drying,  not  by  salting  ;  for  they  had 
not  a  grain  of  salt  in  the  world,  I  think,  till  we  bestowed  it  on  them 
Their  physick  is,  excepting  a  few  x)dd  specificks,  which  some  of  them  en- 
counter certain  cases  with,  nothing  hardl>',  but  an  hot-house,  or  a  poicaw  ; 
their  hot-house  is  a  little  cave  about  eight  foot  over,  where  after  they  have 
terribly  heated  it,  a  crew  of  them  go  sit  and  sweat  and  smoke  for  an  hour 
together,  and  then  immediately  run  into  some  very  cold  adjacent  brook, 
without  the  least  mischief  to  them  ;  it  is  this  way  they  recover  them- 
selves from  some  diseases,  particularly  from  the  French  ;  but  in  most  of 
thrir  dangerous  distempers,  it  is  a  powaw  that  must  be  sent  tor  ;  that  is, 
a  priest,  who  has  more  funiliarity  with  Siitan  flian  his  neighbours  ;  this 
conjurer  comes  and  roars,  and  howls,  and  uses  magical  ceremonies  over 


Book  IIl.J         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  605 

the  sick  man,  and  will  be  well  paid  for  it,  when  he  has  done  ;  if  this  don't 
effect  the  cure,  the  man^s  time  is  come,  and  there's  an  end. 

They  live  in  a  country  full  of  the  best  shijj-timber  under  heaven  :  but 
never  saw  a  ship,  till  some  came  from  Europe  hither  ;  and  then  they 
were  scared  out  of  their  wits,  to  seethe  monster  come  sailing  in,  and  ?pit- 
ting  tire  with  a  mighty  noise,  out  of  her  floating  side  ;  they  cross  ttie  wa- 
ter in  canoes,  made  sometimes  of  trees,  which  tiiey  burn  aud  hew,  till 
they  have  hallowed  tliem  ;  and  sometimes  of  barks,  which  thriy  siitch 
into  alight  sort  of  a  vessel,  to  be  easily  carried  over  iaiid  ;  if  thej  over- 
set, it  is  but  a  little  paddling  like  a  dog,  and  they  are  sooa  where  they 
were. 

Their  way  of  living,  is  infinitely  barbarous  :  the  men  are  most  abom- 
inably slothful ;  making  their  poor  squ  tzas,  or  wives^  to  plant  and  dress, 
and  barn,  and  beat  their  corn,  and  buil  i  their  zvigwams  for  them  ;  which 
perhaps  may  be  the  reason  of  their  extriordinary  ease  in  childbirth.  In 
the  mean  time,  their  chief  employment,  when  they'll  condescend  uiito  any, 
is  that  of  hunting  ;  wherein  they'll  go  out  some  scores,  if  not  handrede 
of  them  in  a  company,  driving  all  before  them. 

They  continue  in  a  pi  ice,  till  they  have  burnt  up  all  the  v.'ood  there- 
abouts, and  then  they  pluck  up  stakes  ;  to  follow  the  wood,  which  they 
cannot  fetch  home  unto  themselves  ;  hence  when  they  enqui'^e  about  the 
English.  Why  come  they  hither?  they  have  themselves  very  iearn^'^y  de- 
termined the  case,  'Ticus  because  m-e  ■wantcdjiring  No  arts  are  Uijuerstood 
among  them,  unless  just  so  far  as  to  maintain  their  brutish  conversation, 
which  is  little  more  than  is  to  be  found  among  the  very  bevers  upon  our 
streams. 

Their  division  of  time  is  by  sleeps,  and  moons,  and  winters ;  and  by 
lodging  abrqad,  they  have  somewh.it  observed  the  motions  of  the  stars; 
among  which  it  has  been  surprising  unto  me  to  find,  that  they  have  al- 
ways called  Charles's  JVain  by  the  name  of  Paukunnam-axv ,  or  the  Bear, 
which  is  the  name  vehereby  Europeans  also  have  distinguished  it.  More- 
ov(-r,  they  have  little,  if  any  traditions  among  them  worthy  of  our  notice  ; 
and  reading  and  meriting  is  altogether  unknown  to  them,  though  there  is 
a  rock  or  two  in  the  country  that  has  unaccountable  characters  engrav- 
ed upon  it.  All  the  religion  they  have  amounts  unto  thus  much  ;  they 
believe,  that  there  are  many  Gods,  who  made  and  own  the  several  na- 
tions of  the  world  ;  of  which  a  certain  great  God  in  the  south-west  re- 
gions of  Heaven  bears  the  greatest  tigure.  They  believe,  that  every  re- 
markable creature  has  a  peculiar  God  within  in  it,  or  about  it  :  there  is 
with  them,  a  Sun  God,  a  Moon  God.  and  the  like  ;  and  they  cannot  con- 
ceive but  that  the  tire  must  be  a  kind  of  a  God,  inasmuch  as  a  spark  of  it 
will  soon  produce  very  strange  eifects.  They  believe  that  when  any 
good  or  ill  happens  to  them,  there  is  the  favour  or  the  anger  of  a  God 
expressed  in  it  ;  and  hence  as  in  a  time  of  calamity,  they  keep  a  dance, 
or  a  day  of  extravagant  rediculous  devotions  to  their  God,  so  in  atime  of 
prosperity  they  likewise  have  a  feast,  wherein  they  also  make  presents 
one  unto  another.  Finally,  they  believe,  that  their  chief  God  Kautanto- 
wit,  made  a  man  and  woman  of  a  stotie  ;  which,  upon  dislike,  he  broke  to 
pieces,  and  made  another  man  and  woman  of  a  tree,  which  were  the  foun- 
tains of  all  mankind  ;  and  that  we  all  have  in  us  immortal  soids,  which  if 
we  were  godly,  shall  go  to  a  splendid  entertainment  with  Kuu'antorvit.  but 
otherwise  must  wander  about  in  restless  horror  forever.  But  if  you  say 
to  them  any  thing  of  a  resurrection,  they  will  rep'y  upon  you,  /  shall 
never  believe  it '.   And  when  they  have  any  weighty  undertaking  before 

Vol..   I,  64 


s06  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  [Book  HI. 

them,  it  is  an  usual  thing  for  them  to  have  tneir  assemblies,  wherein  after 
the  usage  of  some  diabolical  rites,  a  devil  appears  unto  ttiem,  to  inform 
them  and  advise;  them  about  their  circumstances  ;  and  sometimes  there 
are  odd  events  of  their  making  these  applications  to  the  devil.  For  in- 
stance, it  IS  particular!}'  ainrmed,  that  the  tndinns  in  their  wars  ivuh  us, 
finding  a  sore  inconvenience  by  our  dogs,  which  would  make  a  sad  jell- 
ing if  in  the  night  tliey  scented  the  approaches  of  them,  they  sacrihced 
a  dogio  the  devil  ;  atler  which  no  English  dog  would  bark  at  an  Indian 
for  divers  months  ensuing.  This  was  the  miserable  people,  which  our 
Eliot  propounded  unlo  himself,  to  teach  and  save  !  And  he  had  a  double 
worR  incumbent  on  him  ;  he  was  to  make  men  of  them,  e'er  he  could 
hope  to  see  them  snints ;  they  must  be  civilized  e'er  they  could  be  chris- 
tianized ;  he  could  not,  as  Grigorij  once  of  our  nation,  see  any  thing  an- 
gelical to  bespeak  his  labours  for  their  eternal  welfare,  all  among  them 
was  diabolical.  To  think  on  raising  a  numbtr  of  these  hedious  creatures 
unto  the  elevadoris  of  our  holy  religion,  must  argue  more  than  common 
or  little  sentiments  in  the  undertaker  ;  but  the  faith  of  an  Eliot  could 
encounter  it  ! 

1  confess,  that  was  one,  I  cannot  call  it  so  much  guess  as  wish,  where- 
in he  was  willing  a  little  to  indulge  himself;  and  thrit  was,  that  onr  In- 
dians are  the  posterity  oj  the  dispersed  and  rejected  Israelites,  concerning 
whom  our  God  has  promised,  that  they  snail  yet  be  savtd  by  the  deliverer 
comiiig  to  turn  a^vay  ungodliness  from  them.  He  saw  the  Indians  using 
many  parables  in  their  discourses  ;  much  given  to  anointing  of  their 
heads  ;  much  delighted  in  dancing,  especially  after  victories,  computing 
their  times  by  nights  and  months;  giving  dowries  for  wives,  and  causing- 
their  women  to  dzcell  hy  themselves,  at  certain  seasons,  for  secret  causes  ^ 
and  accustoming  themselves  to  grievous  mournings  and  yellings  for  the 
dead  ;  all  which  were  usual  things  among  the  Israelites.  They  have  too 
a  great  unkindness  for  our  swine  ;  but  I  suppose  that  is  because  onv  l\ogs 
dovour  the  c/«ms  which  are  a  dainty  with  them.  He  also  saw  some  learn- 
ed men,  looking  for  the  lost  Israelites  among  the  Indians  in  America,  and 
counting  that  they  had  thorow-good  reasons  for  doing  so.  And  a  few 
small  arguments,  or  indeed  but  conjectu,  es,  meeting  with  a  favourable  dis- 
position in  the  hearer,  will  carry  some  conviction  with  them  ;  especially^ 
if  a  report  of  a  Menasseh  ben  Israel  be  to  back  them.  He  saw  likewise 
the  judgments  threatened  unto  the  Israelites  of  old.  strangely  fulfilled  up- 
on our  Indians  ;  particularly  that  Ye  shall  cat  thejiesh  of  your  sans,  which 
is  done  with  exquisite  cruelties  upon  the  prisoners  that  they  take  from 
one  another  in  their  battles.  Moreover  it  is  a  prophesy  in  Deuteronom}', 
xxviii.  68,  The  Lord  shall  bring  thee  into  Egypt  agai^i  with  ships,  by  the 
tvay  zchcreof  I  spake  unto  thee,  ihou  shalt  see  it  no  more  again;  and  there 
shall  ye  be  sold  unto  your  enemies,  and  no  man  shall  buy  you.  This  did 
our  Eliot  imagine  accomplished,  when  ti'.e  captives  taken  by  us  in  oui 
late  wars  upon  them,  were  sent  to  be  sold,  in  the  coasts  lying  not  very 
remote  from  Egypt  on  the  JMeduerranean  sea,  and  scarce  any  chapmen 
would  offer  to  take  them  off.  Being  upon  such  as  these  accounts  not  un- 
willing, if  it  were  possible,  to  have  the  Indians  found  Israelites,  the}' 
were,  you  may  be  sure,  not  a  whit  the  less  beloved  fur  their  (supposed) 
father's  sake  ;  and  the  fitisues  of-his  travails  went  on  the  more  chearfidly, 
or  at  least,  the  more  hnp  fully   because  of  such  possibilities.  ' 

The^rs<s/e^  which  he  judged  necessary  now  to  be  t.iken  by  him,  vva.« 
to  learn  the  Indian  langua^^e  ;  for  he  saw  them  so  stupid  and  senseless, 
that  they  would  never  do  so  much  as  enquire  after  the  religion  of  the- 


Book  III.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  KEW-ENGLAND.  607 

strangers  now  come  irito  their  counlry.  much  less  would  ihey  so  far  imi- 
tate us,  as  to  leave  oil'  their  beastly  vvay  of  living,  that  they  niigiit  be  par- 
takers of  any  spiritual  a(lvant.;s,e  Ijy  us  :  unless  we  couid  lirst  address 
them  in  a  language  of  (heir  own.  Behold,  new  difficulties  to  be  sur- 
mounted by  our  iiidetiiti.^alde  Eliot  !  He  hires  a  native  to  teacii  him  this 
exotick  language,  and  with  a  laborious  care  and  skill,  reduces  it  into  a 
graminar  vvhich  afterwards  he  published.  There  is  a  letter  or  two  of 
our  alphabet,  which  th?  Indians  never  had  in  theirs  ;  though  there  were 
enough  of  the  dog  in  their  temper,  there  can  scarce  be  found  an  K  in  their 
language  ;  (any  more  thm  in  the  language  of  the  Chinese,  or  of  the  Green- 
landers)  save  that  the  Indians  to  the  northward,  who  have  a  peculiar  dia- 
lect, pronounce  an  R  where  an  N  is  pronounced  by  onr  Indians  ;  but  if 
the'ii' alphabet  be  short,  1  am  sure  the  rt-ords  composed  of  it  are  long  enough 
to  tire  the  patience  of  any  scholar  in  the  woi'id  ;  they  are  Stsguipedjlia 
Verba,  of  which  their  linguo  is  composed  ;  one  would  think,  they  had 
been  growing  ever  since  Babel,  unto  the  dimensions  to  which  they  are 
now  extended.  For  instance,  '\(  my  reader  will  count  how  many  letters 
there  are  in  this  one  word,  J\'H)iiinatchekodtanta>nooonganunnonash,  nhen 
he  has  done,  for  his  reward  I'll  tell  him,  it  signifies  no  more  in  English, 
than  our  lusts  ;  and  if  I  were  to  translate,  our  loves  ;  it  must  be  nothing 
shorter  than  J\''oo~Ji'omantammooonkanunonnash.  Or,  to  give  my  reader  a 
longer  word  than  either  of  these,  Kuuiinogkodonattoottuiniiiooeiiteaongan' 
nunnonash,  is  in  English,  our  question  :  but  1  pray.  Sir,  count  the  letters  ! 
Nor  do  we  find  in  all  this  language  the  least  affinity  to,  or  derivation  from 
any  European  speech  that  we  are  acquainted  with.  I  know  not  what 
thoughts  it  will  produce  in  my  reader,  when  I  inform  him,  that  once  find- 
ing that  the  Dcemons  in  a  possessed  young  woman,  understood  the  Lat^n 
and  Greek  and  Hebrew  languages,  my  curiosity  led  me  to  make  trial  of  this 
Indian  language,  and  the  Dcemons  did  -eem  as  if  they  did  not  understand 
it.  This  tedious  language  our  Eliot  (the  anagr.  m  of  whose  name  was 
Toile)  quickly  became  a  master  of;  he  employed  a  pregnant  and  witcy 
Indian,  who  also  spoke  English  well,  for  his  assistance  in  it  ;  and  compil- 
ing some  discourses  by  his  help,  he  would  single  out  a  zaord,  a  noun,  a 
verb,  and  pursue  it  through  all  its  variations  :  having  finished  his  gram- 
mar, at  the  close  he  writes.  Prayers  andpains  through  faith  in  Christ  Jesus 
will  do  any  thing  !  and  being  by  his  prayers  and  pains  tlius  furnished,  he 
set  himself  in  the  year  1646,  to  preach  the  gospel  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  among  these  desolate  outcasts. 

IT  It  remains,  that  I  lay  before  the  world,  the  remarkable  conduct  and 
success  of  this  famous  man,  in  his  great  affair  ;  and  I  shall  endeavour  to 
do  it,  by  Englishing  and  reprinting  a  letter,  sent  a  while  since  by  my 
father,  unto  his  learned  and  renowned  correspondent,  the  venerable  Dr. 
Leusden  at  Utrtcht :  which  letter  has  already  been  published,  if  I  mistake 
not,  in  four  or  five  divers  languages.  I  find  it  particularly  published  by 
the  most  excellent  Jurieu.  at  the  end  ofnpastoral  letter ;  and  this  reflection 
then  worthily  made  upon  it,  Cette  Lettre  doit  opportorune  tres  grande  con- 
solation, a  toutes  les  bcnnes  ames.  qui  sent  altcre.es  de  justice,  4"  qni  sont  en- 
Jlammees  du  zele  de  la  gloire  de  Dieu.  I  therefore  perswade  my  self  that 
the  republication  of  it  will  not  be  ungrateful  unto  many  good  souls  in  our 
nation,  who  have  a  due  thirst  and  zeal  for  such  things  as  are  mentioned 
in  it  ;  and  when  that  is  done,  I  shall  presume  to  make  some  annotation/s 
for  the  illustration  of  sundry  memorable  things  therein  pointed  at., 


508  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  HI 


A  Letter  concerning  fhe  svccess  of  the   Gospel,   a7nongsi  the   Indians  in 

New-England. 

Written  by  Mr.  Increase  Mather,  Mi7iister  of  the  word  of  God  at  Boston, 
and  hector  of  fhe  Cobege  at  Cambridge  m  New-England,  to  Dr.  John 

Leusden,  tiehre^v  Professor  in  the  University  of  Utrecht. 

Translated  out  of  Latin  into  English. 

WORTHY  AND   MUCH  HONOURED   SIR, 

Your  letters  were  very  grateful  to,  me,  (a)  by  which  1  understand 
that  you  and  others  in  your  fanous  University  of  Utrecht  desire  to  be 
informed  ronctriiing  the  converted  Indians  in  America  :  take  therefore 
a  true  account  of  them  in  a  few  words. 

It  is  above  forty  years  since  that  truly  godly  man,  Mr.  John  Eliot, 
pastor  of  the  church  at  Rocksburongh,  (about  a  mile  from  Boston  in  JVew- 
Eiigland)  being  warmed  with  a  holy  zeal  of  converting  the  Jimericans, 
set  iiimself  to  learn  the  Indian  tongue,  that  he  might  more  easily  and 
successfully  (6)  open  to  them  the  mysteries  of  the  gospel,  upon  account 
of  which  he  has  been  (and  not  undeservedly)  called,  the  apostle  of  the 
Jimericun  Indians.  This  reverend  person,  not  without  very  great  la- 
bour, translated  the  whole  Bible  into  the  Indian  tongue  ;  (c)  he  trans- 
lated also  several  English  treatises  of  practical  divinity  and  catechisms 
into  their  language.  Above  26  years  ago  he  g^athered  a  church  of  con- 
verted Indians  in  a  town  called  (t:^)  Natick ;  these  Indians  confessed 
their  sins  with  tears,  and  professed  their  faith  in  Chrirt,  and  afterwards 
they  and  their  children  were  baptized,  and  they  were  solemnly  joined 
together  in  a  church  covenant;  the  said  Mr.  Eliot  was  the  first  that  ad- 
ministred  the  Lord's  Supper  to  them.  The  pastor  of  that  church  now 
is  an  Indian,  his  name  is  Daniel.  Besides  this  church  at  JVattc/c,  among 
our  inhabitants  in  the  Massachusets  Colony  there  are  four  India?}  assem- 
blies (e)  where  the  name  of  the  true  God  and  Jesus  Christ  is  solemnly 
called  upon  ;  these  assemblies  have  some  ..ime?iica72  preachers,  Mr.  Eliot 
formerly  used  to  preach  to  them  once  every  fortnight,  but  now  he  is 
weakned  with  labours  and  old-age,  being  in  the  eighty-fourth  year  of  hie 
age,  and  preacheth  not  to  the  Indians  oftner  than  once  in  two  months. 

There  is  another  church,  consisting  only  of  converted  Indians,  about 
fifty  miles  from  hence  in  an  Indian  town  called  Mashippaug :  the  first 
pastor  of  that  church  was  an  English  man,  who  being  skilful  in  the  Amer- 
ican language,  preached  the  gospel  to  them  in  their  own  tongue.  (  /") 
This  English  pastor  is  dead,  and  instead  of  him,  that  church  has  an  /«- 
dmn-preacher. 

There  are  besides  that,  five  assemblies  of  Indians  professing  the  name 
of  Christ,  not  far  distant  from  Alashippaug.  which  have  Indian  preachers  ; 
(  5" )  J^ff'^'  Cotton,  pastor  of  the  church  at  Plymouth  (son  of  my  vener- 
able fatherin-liw  Jolm  Cotton,  formerly  the  famous  teacher  of  the  church 
at  Boston)  both  made  very  great  progress  in  learning  the  Indian  tongue, 
and  Is  very  skilful  in  it  ;  he  preaches  in  their  own  language  to  the  last 
five  mentioned  congregations  every  week.  Moreover  of  the  inhabitants 
of  Saconei  in  Plymouth  Colony,  there  is  a  great  congregation  of  those  who 
for  distinction  sake  are  called  praying  /n<^«aH5,  because  they  pray  to  God 
in  Christ. 


liooK  III.j         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  50r 

Not  far  from  a  promontory  called  Cape  Cod,  there  are  six  assemblies  of 
heathens  who  are  to  be  reckoned  as  catechumens,  amongst  whom  there 
are  six  Indian  preachers  :  Samuel  Treat,  pastor  of  a  church  at  Eastham, 
preacheth  to  those  congregations  in  their  own  language.  There  are  like- 
wise amongst  the  islanders  of  Nantucket  a  church,  with  a  pastor  who  was 
lately  a  heathen,  and  several  meetings  of  catechumens,  who  are  instruct- 
ed by  the  converted  Indians.  There  is  also  another  island  about  seven 
leagues  long  (called  Martha's  Vineyard)  where  are  two  American  church- 
es planted,  which  are  more  famous  than  the  rest,  over  one  of  which 
there  presides  an  ancient  Indian  as  pastor,  called  Hiacooms  :  John  Hia- 
cooms,  son  of  the  Indian  pastor,  also  preacheth  the  gospel  io  i;is  coun- 
trymen. In  another  church  in  that  place,  John  Tockinosh,  a  converted 
Indian,  teaches.  In  these  churches  ruling  elders  of  the  Indians  are 
joined  to  the  pastors  :  the  pastors  were  chosen  by  the  people,  and  when 
they  had  fasted  and  prayed,  Mr.  Eliot  and  Mr.  Cotton  laid  their  hands  on 
them,  so  that  they  were  solemnly  ordained.  All  the  congregations  (h) 
of  the  converted  Indians  (both  the  catschumens  and  those  in  church  order) 
every  Lord's  day  meet  together  ;  the  pastor  or  preacher  always  begins 
with  prayer,  and  without  a  form,  because  from  the  heart ;  when  the  ruler 
of  the  assembly  has  ended  prayer,  the  whole  congregation  of  Indians 
praise  God  with  singing  ;  some  of  them  are  excellent  singers :  after  the 
psalm,  he  that  preaches  reads  a  place  of  scripture  (one  or  more  verses 
as  he  will)  and  expounds  it,  gathers  doctrines  from  it,  proves  them  by 
scriptures  and  reasons,  and  infers  uses  from  them  after  the  manner  of 
the  English,  of  whom  they  have  been  taught  ;  then  another  prayer  to 
God  in  the  name  of  Christ  concludes  the  whole  service.  Thus  do  they 
meet  together  twice  every  Lord's  day.  They  observe  no  holy-days  but 
the  Lord's  day,  except  upon  some  extraordinary  occasion  ;  and  then 
they  solemnly  set  apart  whole  days,  either  in  giving  thanks  or  fasting  and 
praying  with  great  fervour  of  mind. 

Before  the  English  came  into  these  coasts  these  barbarous  nations 
were  altogether  ignorant  of  the  true  God  ;  hence  it  is  that  in  their  pray- 
ers and  sermons  they  use  English  words  and  terms  ;  he  that  calls  upon 
the  most  holy  name  of  God,  says,  Jehovah,  or  God,  or  Lord,  and  also  they 
have  learned  and  borrowed  many  other  theological  phrases  from  us. 

In  short,  '  There  are  six  churches  of  baptized  Indians  in  jXew-Eng- 
'  land,  and  eighteen  assemblies  of  catechumens,  professing  the  name  of 
'  Christ  :  of  the  Indians  there  are  four  and  twenty  who  are  preachers  of 

*  the  word  of  God,  and  besides  these  there  are  four  English  ministers, 

*  who  preach  the  gospel  in  the  Indian  tongue.'  {i)  I  am  now  my  sell 
weary  with  writing,  and  I  fear  lest  if  I  should  add  more,  I  should  also  be 
tedious  to  you  ;  yet  one  thing  I  must  add  (which  I  had  almost  forgot), 
that  there  are  many  of  the  Indians''  children,  who  have  learned  by  heart 
the  catechism,  either  of  that  famous  divine  William  Perkins,  or  that  put 
forth  by  the  assembly  of  divines  at  Westminster,  and  in  their  own  mother 
tongue  can  answer  to  all  the  questions  in  it. 

But  I  must  end,  I  salute  the  famous  professors  in  your  universit}-,  to 
whom  I  desire  you  to  communicate  this  letter,  as  written  to  them  also. 

Farewel,  worthy  Sir ;  the  Lord  preserve  your  health  for  the  benefit  of 
your  country,  his  church,  and  of  learning. 

Boston  in  New-England,  Yours  ever, 

July  12,  1687. 

INCREASE  MATHER 


510  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  HI. 


(a)  The  success  of  I  he  Gospel  in  the  East  Indies. 

After  the  ^riiin^  of  this  letter,  there  came  one  to  my  hands  from  the. 
flimous  Dr.  Leuaden,  logeiher  with  a  new  and  fi-ir  edition  of  his  Hebrew 
Psalter,  deiiicated  unto  the  name  of  my  absent  parent.  He  then-in  in- 
forms me,  that  our  example  had  awakened  the  Dutch  to  make  some  no- 
ble :Utempts  for  the  furtherance  of  the  gospel  in  the  E«si-///rfi;es  :  b.sides 
whut  memorable  lliings  were  ci'*ne  by  the  excellent  Robeit  Junius,  in 
Formosa  filly  years  ago. 

He  also  informs  me,  that  in  and  near  the  island  of  Ceylon,  the  Dutch 
pastors  have  baptized  about  three  hundred  thousand  of  the  Eastern  In- 
dians ;  for  although  the  ministers  are  utterly  ignorant  of  their  language, 
yet  there  are  school-masters  who  teach  them,  the  Lord's  Prayer,  the  Creed, 
the  Ten  Comraandnients,  a  Morning  Prayer,  an  Evening  Prayer,  a  Bless- 
ing before  meat,  and  another  afti^r  ;  and  the  minister  in  his  visits  being 
assured  by  the  master,  who  of  them  has  learned  all  of  them  seven  things, 
he  thereupon  counts  they  have  such  a  perfect  number  of  attainments  that 
he  presently  baptizes  them. 

The  pious  reader  will  doubtless,  bless  God  for  this  ;  but  he  will  easily 
see  that  one  of  our  converted  Indians  has  cost  more  pains  thaa  many  of 
those  ;  more  thorough  work  has  been  made  with  them. 


(b)  Mr.  Eliot's  way  of  opening  the  Mysteries  of  the  Gospel,  to  our  Indians. 

It  was  in  the  year  1646,  that  Mr.  Eliot,  accompanied  by  three  more, 
gave  a  visit  unto  an  assembly  of  Indians,  of  whom  he  desired  a  meeting 
at  such  a  time  and  place,  that  he  might  lay  before  them  the  things  of  their 
eternal  peace.  After  a  serious  prayer,  he  gave  them  a  seimon  which 
continued  about  a  quarter  above  an  hour,  and  contained  the  principal 
articles  of  the  christian  religion,  applying  all  to  the  condition  of  the  hi- 
dians  present.  Having  done,  he  asked  of  them,  whether  they  understood? 
and  with  a  general  reply  they  answered,  they  understood  all.  He  then 
began  what  was  his  usual  method  afterwards  in  treating  with  them  ; 
that  is,  he  caused  them  to  propound  such  questions  as  they  pleased  unto 
himself;  and  he  gave  wise  and  good  answers  to  them  all.  Their  qestions 
would  often,  though  not  always,  refer  to  what  he  had  nowly  preached  ; 
and  he  this  way  not  only  made  a  proof  of  their  profiting  by  his  ministry, 
but  also  gave  an  edge  to  what  he  delivered  unto  them.  Some  of  their 
questions  would  be  a  little  philosophical,  and  required  a  good  measure  of 
learning  in  the  minister  concerned  with  them  ;  but  for  this  our  Eliot 
wanted  not.  He  would  also  put  proper  questions  unto  them,  and  at  one 
of  his  first  exercises  with  them,  he  made  the  young  ones  capable  of  re- 
garding those  three  questions,  ' 

Q,.  1 .   Who  made  you  and  all  the  world  ? 

Q.  2.    Who  do  you  look  sh  mid  save  you  from  sin  and  hell? 

Q,.  3.  How  many  commandments  has  the  Lord  given  you  to  keep  ? 

It  was  his  wisdom  that  he  began  with  theni  upon  such  principles  as 
they  themselves  had  already  some  notions  of;  such  as  that  of  an  Heav- 
en for  good,  and  hell  for  bad  people,  when  they  died.  It  broke  his  gra- 
cious heart  within  him  to  see,  what  floods  of  tears  fell  from  the  eyes  of 
several  among  those  degenerate  salvages,  at  the  first  addresses  which  he 
made  unto  them  ;  yea,  from  the  very  worst  of  them  all.     He  was  very 


Book  111.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEVV-ENGLAND.  311 

inquisitive  to  learn  who  were  the  Powaxaes,  that  is,  the  sorcerers,  and  se- 
ducers, that  maintdined  the  worship  of  the  devil  in  any  of  their  socie- 
ties ;  and  having  in  one  of  his  first  journey's  to  them,  found  out  one  of 
those  wretches,  he  made  the  Indian  come  unto  him,  and  said,  Whether 
do  you  suppose  God,  or  Chepian  (i.  e.  the  devil)  to  be  the  author  of  all 
good?  The  conjurer  answered.  God.  Upon  this  he  added  withaslera 
countenance,  Why  do  you  pray  to  Chepian  then  ?  And  the  poor  man  was 
not  able  to  stand  or  speak  before  him  ;  but  at  last  made  promises  of  re- 
formation. 

The  text  which  he  first  preached  upon,  was  that  in  Ezek.  xxxvii.  9,  10, 
That  by  prophesying  to  the  wind,  the  wind  came,  and  the  dry  bones  lived  : 
And  it  was  an  observation  made  by  one,  who  then  justly  confessed,  there 
was  not  much  weight  in  it  ;  that  the  word  which  the  Indians  use  for  wind 
is  wauban,  and  an  Indian  of  that  name  was  one  of  the  first  that  here  zeal- 
ously promoted  the  conversion  of  his  neighbours.  But  having  thus  en- 
tred  upon  the  teaching  of  these  poor  creatures,  it  is  incredible  how 
much  time,  toil,  and  hardship,  he  underwent  in  the  prosecution  of  this 
undertaking  ;  how  many  weary  days  and  nights  rolled  over  him  ;  how 
many  tiresome  journeys  he  endured  ;  and  how  many  terrible  dangers  he 
had  experience  of.  If  you  briefly  would  know  what  he  felt,  and 
what  cArried  him  through  all,  take  it  in  his  own  vvoi'ds  in  a  letter  to  the 
Honourable  Mr.  Winslnw,  says  he,  I  have  not  been  dry  night  nor  day,  from 
the  third  day  of  the  week  unto  the  sixth,  but  so  travelled,  and  at  night  pull 
cff  my  boots,  wrin^  my  stockings,  and  on  with  them  again,  and  so  continue. 
But  God  steps  in  and  helps.  I  have  considered  the  word  of  God  in  2  Tim. 
ii.  3,  Endure  hardship  as  a  good  soldier  of  Christ. 


(c)  His  translating  ike  Bible,  and  other  books  of  piety,  into  the  Indian  tongue. 

One  of  his  remarkable  cares  for  these  illiterate  Indians,  was  to  bring 
theiH  into  the  use  ofschools  and  books.  He  quickly  procured  the  bene  fit 
of  schools  for  them  ;  wherein  they  profited  so  much,  that  not  only  very 
many  of  them  quickly  came  to  read  and  write  ;  but  also  several  arrived 
unto  a  liberal  education  in  our  colledge,  and  one  or  two  of  them  took 
their  degree  with  the  rest  of  our  graduates.  And  for  books,  it  was  his 
chief  de-;ire  that  the  Sacred  Scriptures  might  not  in  an  unknown  tongue 
be  lo-;Iied  or  hidden  from  thera  ;  very  hateful  and  hellish  did  the  policy 
of  Popery  appear  to  him  on  this  account :  our  FJiut  was  very  unlike  to 
ihdX  Franciscan,  who  writing  into  Europe,  gloried  much  how  many  thou- 
sands of  Lidians  ho  had  converted  ;  but  added,  that  he  desired  his  friends 
w-mld  send  him  the  book  called  the  Bible  ;  for  he  had  heard  of  there  being 
such  a  book  in  Europe,  which  might  be  of  some  use  to  him.  No,  our  Eliot 
found  he  could  not  live  without  a  Bible  himself;  he  ^^  ould  have  parted 
xvith  all  his  estate,  sooner  than  have  lost  a  leaf  of  it  ;  and  he  knew  it 
would  be  of  more  than  some  rise  unto  the  Indians  too  j  he  therefore  with 
a  vast  l-ibour  translated  the  Holy  Bible  into  the  Indian  language  Be- 
hold, ye  Americans,  the  greatest  honour  that  ever  you  were  partakers  of. 
This  Bible  was  printed  here  at  our  Cambridge  ;  and  it  is  the  only  Bible 
that  ever  was  printed  in  all  America,  from  the  very  foundation  of  the 
world.  The  whole  Ir mslation  he  writ  with  but  one  pen  ;  which  pen, 
hgid  it  not  been  lost,  would  have  certainly  deserved  a  richer  case  than 
W1S  bestowed  upon  that  pen.  with  which  Holland  writ  his  translation  of 
Phitargh.     The  Bible  being  justly  made  the  leader  of  all  the  rest;  a  little 


512  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  Hi 

Indian  library  quickly  followed  :  for  besides  primers,  and  grammars,  and 
some  other  suchcontiposures,  we  quickly  had  The  Practice  of  Piety  in  the 
Indian  tongues,  and  the  Reverend  Richard  Baxter''s  Call  to  the  Unconvert- 
ed. He  also  translated  some  of  Mr.  Shepherd'' s  composures  ;  and  such 
catechisms  likewise  as  there  was  occasion  for.  It  cannot  but  be  hoped 
that  some  Jlsh  were  to  be  made  alive,  since  the  waters  of  the  sanctuary 
thus  came  unto  them. 


(d)  His  gathering  of  a  Cliurch  at  Natick. 

The  Indians  that  had  felt  the  impressions  of  his  ministry,  were  quick- 
ly distinguished  by  the  name  of  praying  Indians ;  and  these  praying  In- 
dians as  quickly  were  for  a  more  decent  and  English-way  of  living,  and 
they  desired  a  more  tixed  cohabitation.  At  several  places  did  they  now 
combine  and  settle  ;  but  the  place  of  greatest  name  among  their  towns, 
is,  that  oi  Natick. 

Here  it  was,  that  in  the  year  1651,  those  that  had  heretofore  lived 
like  the  reild  beasts  in  the  wilderness,  now  conopacted  themselves  into  a 
town  ;  and  they  first  applied  themselves  to  the  forming  oiiheir  civil  gov- 
ernment. Our  General  Court,  notwithstanding  their  exact  study  to  keep 
these  Indians  very  sensible  of  their  being  subject  unto  the  English  em- 
pire, yet  had  allowed  them  their  smaller  courts,  wherein  they  might 
govern  their  own  smaller  cases  and  concerns,  after  their  own  particular 
modes,  and  might  have  their  town-orders,  if  I  may  call  them  so,  pecu- 
liar to  themselves.  With  respect  hereunto,  Mr.  Eliot  on  a  solemn  fast, 
made  a  publick  vow,  that  seeing  these  Indians  were  not  prepossessed  with 
any  forms  of  government,  he  would  instruct  them  into  such  a  form,  as  we  had 
xvritten  in  the  word  of  God,  that  so  they  tnight  be  a  people  in  all  thitjgs  ru- 
led by  the  Lord.  Accordingly  he  expounded  unto  them  the  eighteenth 
chapter  of  Exodus  ;  and  then  they  chose  rulers  o{ hundreds,  of  ff ties,  of 
tens  ;  and  therewithal  entred  into  this  covenant. 

'  We  are  the  sons  of  Adam ;  we  and  our  forefathers  have  a  long  time 
'  been  lost  in  our  sins  ;  but  now  the  mercy  of  the  Lord  beginneth  to  find 
'  us  out  again  ;  therefore  the  grace  of  Christ  helping  us,  we  do  give  our 
'  selves,  and  our  children  unto  God,  to  be  his  people.  He  shall  rule  us 
'  in  all  our  affairs  ;  the  Lord  is  our  Judge,  the  Lord  is  our  Law-giver, 
'  the  Lord  is  our  King  ;  He  will  save  us  ;  and  the  wisdom  which  God 
'  has  taught  us  in  his  book  shall  guide  us.  Oh  Jehovah,  teach  us  wisdom  ; 
^  send  thy  spirit  into  our  hearts  ;  take  us  to  be  thy  people,  and  let  us 
'  take  thee  to  be  our  God.' 

Such  an  opinion  about  the  perfection  of  the  scripture  had  he,  that  he 
thus  expressed  himself  upon  this  occasion,  God  will  bring  nations  into  dis- 
tress and  perplexity,  that  so  they  may  be  forced  unto  the  scriptures  ;  all  gov- 
ernments will  be  shaken,  that  men  may  be  forced  at  length  to  pitch  upon  that 
firm  foundation,  the  Word  of  God. 

The  little  towns  of  these  Indians  being  pitched  upon  this  foundation, 
they  utterly  abandoned  that  poligamy  which  had  heretofore  been  com- 
mon among  tliem  ;  they  made  severe  laws  against  fornication,  drunken- 
ness, and  sabbath-breaking ,  and  other  immoralities  ;  and  they  next  be- 
gan  to  lament  afier  the  establishment  of  a  church-order  among  them,  and 
after  the  several  ordinances  and  privileges  ofachu^'ch-communian.  The 
churches  of  JVew-England  have  usually  been  very  strict  in  their  admis- 
jjions  to  chnrch-felhwship,  and  required  very  signal  demonstrations  of  a 


Book  HI.]        THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  ST3 

repenting  and  a  believing  soul,  before  they  thought  men  fit  subjects  t(/  be 
entrusted  with  the  rights  of  the  kingdom  of  Heaven.  but  they  seer.'jed 
rather  to  augment  than  abate  their  usual  strictness,  when  the  examination 
of"  the  Indians  was  to  be  performed.  A  day  was  therefore  set  apart, 
which  they  called,  JVatootomahfeackesuk,  or  a  day  of  asking  questions,  when 
the  ministers  of  the  adjacent  churches,  assisted  with  ail  the  best  inter- 
preters that  could  be  had,  publickly  examined  a  good  number  of  these 
Indians,  about  their  attainments  both  in  knowledge  and  in  venue.  And 
notwithstanding  the  great  satisfiction  then  received,  our  churches  being 
willing  to  proceed  surely,  and  therefore  slowly,  in  raising  them  up  to  a 
chtirch- state,  which  might  be  comprehended  in  our  consociations,  the  In- 
dians were  afterwards  called  in  considerable  assemblies  convened  for 
that  purpose,  to  make  open  confessions  of  theirya/7/i  in  God  and  Christ, 
and  of  the  efficacy  which  his  rvord  had  upon  them  for  their  conversion  to 
him  ;  which  confessions  being  taken  in  writing  from  their  mouths  by  able 
interpreters,  were  scanned  by  the  people  of  God,  and  found  much  ac- 
ceptance with  them. 

I  need  pass  no  further  censure  upon  them,  than  what  is  given  by  my 
grandfather,  the  well-known  Richard  Mather,  in  an  epistle  of  his  publish- 
ed on  this  occasion  ;  says  he,  '  There  is  so  much  of  God's  work  among 
'  them,  as  that  I  cannot  but  count  it  a  great  evil,  yea  a  great  injury  to 
'  God  and  his  goodness,  for  any  to  make  liiiht  of  it.  To  see  and  hear  Li- 
'  dians  opening  their  mouths,  and  lifting  up  their  hands  and  eyes,  in  pray- 
'  er  to  the  living  God,  calling  on  him  by  his  name  Jehovah,  in  the  media- 
'  tion  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  this  for  a  good  while  together  ;  to  see  and 
'  hear  them  exhorting  one  another  from  the  word  of  God  ;  to  see  and 
*  hear  them  confessing  the  name  of  Christ  Jesus,  and  their  own  sinful- 
'  ness  ;  hurc  this  is  more  than  usual  !  And  though  they  spoke  in  a  lan- 
'  guage,  of  which  many  of  us  understood  but  little,  yet  we  that  were  pre- 
'  sent  that  day,  we  saw  and  heard  them  perform  the  duties  mentioned 
'  with  such  grave  and  sober  countenances,  with  such  comely  reverence  in 
'their  gesture,  and  their  whole  carriage,  and  with  such  plenty  of  tears 
'  trickling  down  the  cheeks  of  some  of  them,  as  did  argue  to  us  that  they 
'  spake  with  the  holy  fear  of  God,  and  it  much  affected  our  hearts.' 

At  length  was  a  church-state  settled  among  them  :  they  entred,  as  our 
churches  do,  into  an  holy  covenant,  wherein  they  gave  themselves,  first 
unto  the  Lord,  and  then  unto  one  another,  to  attend  the  rules,  and  helps, 
and  expect  the  blessing  of  the  everlasting  gospel;  and  Mr.  Eliot,  having 
a  mission  from  the  church  of  Roxbuiy,  unto  the  work  of  the  Lord  Christ 
among  the  Indians,  conceived  himself  sufficiently  authorized  unto  the 
performing  of  all  church-work  about  them  ;  grounding  it  on  Jets  xiii.  1,  2. 
3,  4  ;  and  he  accordingly  administred,  first  the  baptism,  and  then  the  sup- 
per of  the  Lord  unto  them. 


(e)  The  Hindrances  and  Obstructions  that  the  devil  gave  xintohim. 

We  find  four  assemblies  of  prying  /nr/mns  besides  that  of  *Va/iV^.  in  our 
neighbourhooc^.  But  why  no  more  ?  Truly,  not  because  our  Eliot  was 
wanting  in  his  qff'ers  and  labours  for  their  good  ;  but  because  many  of 
the  obdurate  infidels  would  not  receive  the  gospel  of  salvation.  In  one 
of  his  lettars.l  find  him  giving  this  ill-report,  with  such  a  good  reason  for 
it  ;  hyn-Indians  are  all  naught,  save  one,  who  sometimes  comes  to  hear  the 
■word  ;  and  the  reason  zvhy  they  are  bad,  is  principally  because  their  sacbim 

Vol.   I.  '  65 


514  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  Hi, 

is  naught,  and  careih  not  to  pray  unto  God.  Indeed  the  sachims,  or  the 
princes,  of  the  Indians  generally  did  all  they  could  that  their  subjects 
might  not  entertain  the  gospel  ;  the  devils  having  the  sachims  on  their 
side,  thereby  kept  their  pos^session  of  the  people  too.  'Ibeir  paumaws 
or  clergy-men,  did  much  to  maintain  the  interest  of  the  devils  in  this 
wilderness  ;  those  children  of  the  devil,  and  enemies  of  alt  righteousness^ 
did  not  cease  to  pervert  the  right  waijs  if  the  Lord,  but  I  heir  sachims  or 
magistrate?  did  more  towards  it  ;  for  they  would  presently  raise  a  storm 
of  persecution  upon  any  of  their  vassals  that  should  pray  untu  the  eter- 
nal God. 

The  ground  of  this  conduct  in  them,  was  an  odd  fear,  that  religion 
would  abridge  them  of  the  tyi-aimy  ■ivhich  they  had  been  used  unto  ;  they 
always  like  the  devil  held  their  people  in  a  most  absolute  servitude,  and 
ruled  by  no  law  but  their  will,  which  left  the  poor  slaves  nothing  that 
they  could  call  their  own  ^  hey  now  suspected  that  religion  would  put 
a  bridle  upon  such  usurpations,  and  oblige  them  to  a  more  equal  and 
humane  way  of  government  ;  they  therefore  some  of  them,  had  the  im- 
pudence to  address  the  English,  that  no  motions  about  the  chi-istian  reli- 
gion might  ever  be  made  unto  them  ;  and  Mr.  Eliot  sometimes  in  the 
wilderness,  without  the  company  or  assistance  of  any  other  English-man, 
has  been  treated  in  a  very  tlireateningand  barbarous  manner  by  some  of 
these  tyrants  ;  but  God  inspired  him  with  so  much  resolution  as  to  tell 
them,  /  am  about  the  zcork  of  the  great  God,  and  my  God  is  with  me  ;  so 
that  I  fear  neither  you,  nor  all  the  sachims  in  the  country  ;  Vll  go  on,  and 
do  you  touch  me,  if  you  dare  !  Upon  which  the  stoutest  of  them  have 
shrunk  and  fell  before  him.  And  one  of  them,  he  at  length  conquered 
by  preaching  unto  him  a  sermon  upon  the  temptations  of  our  Lord  ;  par- 
ticularly, the  temptation  fetched  from  the  kingdoms  and  glories  of  the 
world. 

The  little  kingdoms  and  glories  of  the  great  men  among  the  Indians, 
was  a  powerful  obstacle  to  the  success  of  Mr.  Eliot's  ministry  ;  and  it  is 
observable,  that  several  of  those  nations  which  thus  refused  the  gospel, 
quickly  afterwards  were  so  devil-driven  as  to  begin  an  unju-t  and  bloody 
war  upon  the  English,  which  issued  in  their  speedy  and  utter  extirpation 
from  the  face  of  God's  earth.  It  was  particularly  remarked  in  Fhiiip 
the  ring-leader  of  the  most  calamitous  war  that  ever  they  made  upon  us  ; 
our  Eliot  made  a  tender  of  the  everlasting  salvation  to  that  king  ;  but 
the  monster  entertained  it  with  contempt  and  anger,  and  after  the  Indian 
mode  of  joining  signs  with  words,  he  took  a  button  npon  the  coat  of  the 
reverend  man,  adding,  That  he  cared  for  his  gospel,  just  as  much  as  he 
cared  for  that  button.  The  world  has  heard  what  a  terrible  mine  soon 
came  upon  that  monarch,  and  upon  all  his  people.  It  was  not  long  he- 
fore  the  hand  which  now  writei^,  upon  a  certain  occasion  took  oft'tht- jaw 
from  the  exposed  skull  of  that  blasphemous  leviathan;  and  the  renown- 
ed Samuel  Lee  hath  since  been  a  pastor  to  an  English  congregation,  sound- 
ing and  showing  the  praises  of  Heaven,  upon  that  very  spot  of  ground, 
where  Philip  and  his  Indians  were  lately  worshipping  of  the  devil. 

Sometimes  the  more  immediate  hauil  of  God,  by  cutting  oft  the  princi- 
pal opposers  of  the  gospel  among  the  Indians  made  way  for  Mr  Eliot's 
ministry.  As  1  re:nember,  he  relates  that  an  association  of  profane  bi- 
dians  near  our  Weymouth,  set  themselves  to  deter  and  seduce  the  neigh- 
bour Indians  from  the  right  ways  of  the  Lord.  But  God  quickly  sent  the 
small  pox  among  them,  which  like  n  great  >^lague  soon  swept  them  away, 
and  thereby  engaged  the  rest  unto  himself.     I  need  only  to  add,  that  one 


Book  HI.j  THE  HISTORY  OP  NEW-ENGLAND.  615 

attempt  made  by  the  devil,  to  prejudice  the  Pagans  against  the  gospel, 
had  something  in  it  extraordinary.  ^Vhile  Mr.  Eliot  was  preaching  of 
Christ  unto  the  other  Indians,  a  Dwinon  appeared  unto  a  prince  of  the 
Easrern- Indians,  in  a  shape  that  had  some  resemblance  of  Mr.  Eliot  or  of 
an  Eriglisk  minister,  pretending  to  be,  the  English-man's  God.  The  spec- 
tre comrnanded  him,  to  forbear  the  drinking  of  rum,  and  to  observe  the  sab- 
bath day,  and  to  deal  jusllij  with  his  neighbours,  all  which  things  had  been 
inculcated  in  Mr.  Eliot's  ministry  ;  promising  therewithal  unto  hint,  that 
if  he  did  so,  at  his  death  his  soul  should  ascend  unto  an  happy  place  ; 
otherwise  descend  unto  miseries  ;  but  the  apparition  all  the  while,  never 
said  one  word  about  Christ,  which  was  the  main  subject  of  Mr.  Eliot's 
ministry.  The  sachim  received  such  an  impression  from  the  apparition, 
that  he  dealt  justly  with  all  men,  except  in  the  bloody  tragedies  and  cru- 
elties he  afterwards  committed  on  the  English  in  our  wars  ;  he  kept  the  sab- 
bath-daylike -A  fast,  frequently  attending  in  our  congregations  ;  he  would 
not  meddle  with  any  mm.  though  usually  his  country-men,  had  rather  die 
than  undergo  such  a  piece  of  self-denial  ;  that  liquor  has  raeerly  enchant- 
ed them.  At  last,  and  not  long  since  this  Dixnion  appeared  again  unto  this 
Pagan,  reqtiiriag  him  to  kill  himself,  and  assuring  him  that  he  should 
revive  in  a  day  or  two,  never  to  die  any  more.  He  thereupon  divers 
ti:nes  attempted  it,  but  his  friends  very  carefully  prevented  it  ;  however 
at  length  he  found  a  fair  opportunity,  for  this  /bii/  business,  and  hanged 
himself;  you  may  be  sure,  without  he  expected  resurrection.  But  it  is 
easy  to  see  what  a  stumbling  block  was  here  laid  before  the  miserable 
Indians. 

(f)  The  Indian-Churches  at  Mashippaug,  and  elsewhere. 

The  same  spirit  which  acted  Mr.  Eliot,  quickly  inspired  others  else- 
where to  prosecute  the  work  of  rescuing  the  poor  Indians  out  of  their 
worse  than  Egypt iaa-dfirkne?:?,  in  which  evil  angels  had  been  so  long 
preying  upon  them.  One  of  these  was  the  godly  and  gracious  Richard 
Bourn,  who  soon  saw  a  great  effect  of  his  holy  labours.  In  the  year  1666, 
Mr.  £//o<  accompanied  by  the  honourable  governour,  and  several  magis- 
trates and  ministers  of  Plymouth  Colony,  procured  a  vast  assembl}'  at 
Mashippaug  ;  and  there  a  good  number  o( Indians,  made  confessions  touch- 
ing the  knowledge  and  belief,  and  regeneration  of  their  souls,  with  such 
understanding  and  affection  as  was  extreamly  grateful  to  the  pious  audito- 
ry. Yet  such  was  the  strictness  of  the  good  people  in  this  affnir,  that 
before  they  would  countenance  the  advancement  ot'  these  Indians  unto 
church  fellowship,  they  ordered  their  confessions  to  be  written  and  sent 
unto  all  the  churches  in  the  colony,  for  their  approbation  ;  but  so  approv- 
ed they  were,  that  afterwards  the  messengers  of  all  the  churches  giving 
their  presence  and  consent,  they  became  a  church,  and  chose  Mr.  Bourn 
to  be  their  pastor  ;  who  was  then  by  Mr.  Eliot  and  Mr.  Cotton  ordained 
unto  that  office  over  them.  From  hence  Mr.  Eliot  and  Mr.  Cotton  went 
over  to  an  island  called  AIartha''s  Vineyard,  where  God  had  so  succeeded 
the  honest  labours  of  some,  and  particularly  of  the  Mayhew's  as  that  a 
church  was  gathered. 

This  church,  ?t.{iQr fasting  and  prayer,  chose  one  Hiacooms  to  be  their 
pastor.  John  Tockinosh,  an  able  and  a  discreet  christian  to  be  their  teacher  ; 
Joihua  Mumineecheegs  and  John  JVanaso  to  be  ruling  elders  :  and  these 
were  then  ordained  by  Mr.  Eliot  and  Mr.  Cotton  thereunto.  Distance 
■>f  habitation,  caused  this  one  church  by  mutual  agreement  afterw.ards  to 


516  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  HI. 

become  tu^o;  the  pastor  and  one  ruling  elder  taking  one  part,  and  theteach- 
"er  and  one  ruling  elder,  another  ;  and  at  JS'untucket  another  adjacent  isl- 
aiitl,  was  another  church  of  Indians  quickly  gathered,  who  chose  an  Indian, 
John  Gibs,  to  be  their  minister,  'i  hese  churches  are  so  exact  in  their  ad- 
mif^Bioo,  and  so  solemn  in  tlieir  discipline,  and  so  serious  in  their  com- 
muiiion,  that  some  of  the  christian  English  in  the  neighbourhood,  which 
woula  have  been  loth  to  have  mixed  with  them  in  a  civil  relation,  yet 
havii  gladly  done  it  in  a  sacred  one. 

It  is  needless  for  me  to  repeat  what  my  father  has  written  about  the 
other  Indian  congrei!;itions  ;  only  there  having  been  made  mention  ofone 
Hiacooms,  I  am  wiliins;  to  aimex  a  passage  or  two  concerning  that  memora- 
ble Indian.  Thht  Indian  was  a  very  great  instrument  of  bringing  his  Pagan 
and  wretched  neighlours,  to  a  saving  acquaintance  wiih  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  ;  aid  God  gave  him  the  honour,  not  only  of  so  doing  much  for 
sor<;e,  but  al.-«o  of  iiiffering  much  from  others,  of  those  unhappy  salvages. 
O'lcc  purd-uiariv.  this,  Hincooms  received  a  cruel  blow  from  an  Indian 
prince,  wh'ch  if  ?uine  English  had  not  been  there,  might  have  killed  him, 
for  his  praying  unto  God.  And  afterwards  he  gave  this  account  of  his 
trial  in  it  ;  said  he  /  have  two  hands  ;  1  had  one  hand  for  injuries,  and  the 
ot!  er  for  God  ;  Zi'hile  I  did  receive  wrong  with  the  one,  the  other  laid  the 
greater  hold  on  God. 

Moreover,  the  powawes  did  use  to  hector  and  abuse  the  praying  In- 
dians at  such  a  rate,  as  tenifyed  others  from  jointing  with  them  ;  but 
once  when  those  witches  were  bragging,  that  they  could  kill  all  the  pray- 
ing Indinns.  if  they  would  ;  Hiacooms  replyed.  Let  all  the  powawes  in 
the  inland  come  together,  I'll  venture  my  self  in  the  midst  of  them  ;  let  them 
use  ail  their  witd.crafts ;  with  the  help  of  God,  Pll  tread  upon  them  all. 
By  this  courage,  he  silenced  the  powawes :  but  at  the  same  time  also  he 
heartned  the  people  at  such  a  rate  as  was  truly  wonderful  ■;  nor  could 
any  of  them  ever  harm  this  eminent  confessor  afterward  ;  nor  indeed 
any  proselyte  which  had  been  by  his  means  brought  home  to  God  ;  yea, 
it  was  observed  after  this,  that  they  rather  killed  than  cured  all  such  of 
the  heathen,  as  would  yet  make  use  of  their  enchantments  for  help  against 
their  sicknesses. 


""  (g)  Of  Mr.  Eliot's  Fellow -Labourers  in  the  Indian  work. 

So  little  was  the  soul  of  our  Eliot  infected  with  any  envy,  as  that  he 
longed  for  nothing  more  i\ran  fellow  labourers,  that  might  move  and  shine 
in  the  same  orb  with  himself;  he  made  his  cries  both  to  God  and  man. 
for  more  labourers  to  be  thrust  forth  into  the  Indian  harvest ;  and  in- 
deed it  was  an  harvest  oF  so  few  secular  advantages  and  encouragements^ 
th:it  it  must  be  nothing  less  than  a  divine  thrust,  which  could  make  any 
to  labour  in  it.  He  saw  the  answer  of  his  prayers,  in  the  generous  and 
vigorous  attempts  made  by  severd  other  most  worthy  preachers  of  the 
gospel  ,  to  gospelize  (  ur  perishing  Indians.  At  the  writing  of  my  father's 
letter  there  wevafnur  ;  but  the  number  of  them  increases  apace  among 
us  At  Martha's  Vmevard  the  old  Mr.  Mayhew.  and  several  of  his 
sons,  or  grandsons,  have  don^  very  worthily  for  the  souls  of  ihe  Indians  ; 
there  were  fifteen  years  ago,  by  computation,  about  fifteen  hundred 
seals  of  there  ministry  U{>on  that  one  ishmd.  In  Connecticut,  the  holy 
and  acute  Mr.  Filch,  has  made  noble  essays  towards  the  conversion  of 
the  Indians ;  but,  1  think,  the  prince  he  has  to  deal  withaK  being  an  ob- 


Book  III.]        THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  517 

stinate  infidel,  gives  unhappy  remora's  to  the  successes  of  his  ministry. 
And  godly  Mr.  Pierson,  has  in  that  colony  deserved  well,  if  1  mistake 
not,  upon  the  same  account  In  Massachuscts  we  see  at  this  day,  the 
pious  Mr.  Daniel  Gookin,  the  gracious  Mr.  Peter  Thatcher,  the  well  ac- 
complished and  industrious  Mr.  Grindal  Rawsoii  all  of  them  hard  at 
work,  to  turn  these  poor  creatures  from  darkness  unto  light,  and  from 
Satannnto  God.  In  Plymouth  we  have  the  most  active  Mr.  Samuel  Treat 
laying  out  himself  to  save  this  generation  ;  and  there  is  one  Mr.  Tupper, 
who  uses  his  laudable  endeavours  for  the  instruction  of  them. 

'Tis  my  relation  to  him,  that  causes  me  to  defer  unto  the  last  place, 
the  mention  of  Mr.  John  Cotton,  who  hath  addressed  the  Indians  in  their 
own  language  with  some  dexterity.  He  hired  an  Indian,  after  the  rate 
of  twelve  pence  per  day  for  fifty  days,  to  teach  him  the  Indian  tongue  ; 
but  his  knavish  tutor  having  received  his  whole  pay  too  soon,  ran  away 
before  tnsenty  days  were  out ;  however,  in  this  time  he  had  profited  so\ 
far,  that  he  could  quickly  preach  unto  the  natives. 

Having  told  my  reader,  that  the  second  edition  of  the  Indian  Bible  was 
wholly  of  his  correction  and  amendment  ;  because  it  is  not  proper  for 
me  to  say  much  of  him,  I  shall  only  add  this  remarkable  story  An 
English  minister  accompanied  by  the  governour  and  major-general,  and 
sundry  persons  of  quality  belonging  to  Plymouth,  made  a  journey  to  a 
nation  of  Indians  in  the  neighbourhood,  with  a  free  off'er  of  the  words 
whereby  they  might  be  saved.  The  prince  took  time  to  consider  of  it, 
and  according  to  the  true  English  of  taking  time  in  such  cases,  at  length 
he  told  them,  He  did  not  accept  the  tender  Tvbich  they  made  him.  They 
then  took  their  leaves  of  him,  not  without  first  giving  him  this  plain  and 
short  admonition,'//"  God  have  any  mercy  for  your  miserable  people,  he 'tmll 
quickly  find  a  way  to  take  you  out  of  the  way.  It  was  presently  after  this, 
that  this  prince  going  forth  to  a  battel  against  another  nation  of  Indians^ 
was  killed  in  the  fight  ;  and  the  young  prince  being  in  his  minority,  the 
government  fell  into  the  hands  of  protectors,  which  favoured  the  interest 
of  the  gospel.  The  English  being  advised  of  it,  speedily  and  prospe- 
rously renewed  the  tidings  of  an  eternal  Saviour  to  the  salvages,  who 
have  ever  since  attended  upon  the  gospel  :  and  the  young  sachim,  after 
he  came  to  age,  expressed  his  approbation  of  the  christian  religion  ;  es- 
pecially when  a  while  since,  he  lay  dying  of  a  tedious  distemper,  and 
would  keep  reading  of  Mr.  Baxter''s  call  to  the  unconverted,  with  floods 
X)f  tears  in  his  eyes,  while  he  had  any  strength  to  do  it. 

Such  as  these  are  the  persons,  whom  our  Eliot  left  engaged  in  the  In- 
dian-work,  when  he  departed  from  his  employment  unto  his  recompence. 
And  these  gentlemen  are  so  indefatigable  in  their  labours  among  the  In- 
dians, as  that  the  most  equal  judges  must  acknowledge  them  worthy  of 
much  greater  sa/anes  than  they  are  generously  contented  with.  But  one 
may  see  then,  who  inspired  that  clamorous  (though  contemptible)  perse- 
cutor of  this  country,  who  very  zealo  "sly  addressed  the  A.  B.  of  Can- 
terbury, that  these  ministers  might  be  deprived  of  their  little  stipends, 
and  that  the  said  stipends  might  go  to  maintain  that  worship  among 
us,  which  the  plantation  was  erected  on  purpose  for  the  peaceable 
avoiding  of. 

^h)  The  Sacred  andSolemn  Exercises  performed  in  the  Indian  Congrogstions. 

My  father's  account  of  the  exercises  performed  in  the  Indian  congrega- 
tions, will  tell  us  what  a  blessed  fruit  our  Eliot  saw  of  his  labours,  before 


518  THE  HlSTORt  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.       [Book  III. 

he  went  unto  those  rewards  which  God  had  reserved  in  the  Heavens  for 
hiiu.  Some  of  the  Indians  quickly  built  for  themselves  good  and  large 
meeting-houses  after  the  E:-glish  mode,  in  which  also  after  the  English 
mode,  they  attended  the  things  of  the  kingdom  of  Heaven.  And  some  of 
the  English  were  helpful  to  them  upon  this  account  ;  among  whom  I 
ought  particularly  to  mention  that  learned,  pious  and  charitable  gentle- 
man, the  worshipful  Samuel  Sewal,  Esq.  who,  at  his  own  charge  built  a 
meeting-house  for  one  of  the  Indian  congregations,  and  gave  those  In- 
dians cause  to  pray  for  him  under  that  character,  he  loveth  ou  nation, for 
he  hath  built  us  a  synagogue. 

It  only  remains  that  1  give  a  touch  or  two  upon  the  worship  which  ig 
attended  in  the  synagogues  of  the  Indians  And  first,  the  very  nam^?  of 
praying  Indians  will  assure  us  that  prayer  is  one  of  their  devotions  ;  l>e 
sure,  they  could  not  be  our  Eliot's  disciples  if  it  were  not  so.  But  how 
do  they  pray  ?  We  are  told,  it  is  without  a  form,  because  from  the  heart; 
which  is  as  I  remember,  Tertullians  expression  concerning  the  prayers 
in  the  assemblies  of  the  primitive  christians  ;  namely,  sine  monitore  quia 
de  pectore.  It  is  evident  that  the  primitive  christians  had  no  stated  litur- 
gies among  them  ;  that  no  forms  of  prayers  were  in  their  time  imposed  up- 
on the  ministers  of  the  gospel  ;  that  even  about  the  platform  of  prayer 
given  us  by  our  Lord,  it  was  the  opinion  of  Austin  himself,  notwithstanding 
the  advances  made  in  his  age  towards  what  we  count  superstitious  tha;  our 
Lord  therein  taught  not  what  words  we  should  use  in  prayer,  but  what 
things  we  should  pray  for.  And  whatever  scoffs  the  profanity  of  our  days, 
has  abused  that  phrase  and  i/iing"  withal,  Gregory  Nazianzen  in  his  days, 
counted  it  the  honour  of  his  father's  publick  prayers,  that  he  had  them 
from,  and  made  them  by  the  Holy  Spirit.  Our  Indians  accordingly  find, 
that  if  they  study  the  words  of  God,  and  their  own  sins  and  wants, 
they  shall  soon  come  to  that  attainment,  behold  they  pray  !  They  can  pray 
with  much  pertinence  and  enlargement ;  and  would  much  wonder  at  it, 
if  they  should  hear  of  an  English  clergy,  that  should  read  their  prayers 
out  of  a  book,  when  they  should  pour  out  their  souls  before  the  God  of 
Heaven. 

Their  preaching  has  much  of  Eliot,  and  therefore  you  may  be  sure 
much  of  scripture,  but  perhaps  more  of  the  christian  than  of  the  scholar 
in  it.  I  know  not  how  to  describe  it  better  than  by  reciting  the  heads  of 
a  sermon,  uttered  by  an  Indian  on  a  day  of  humiliation  kept  by  them,  at 
a  time  when  great  rains  had  given  much  damage  to  their  fruits  and  fields  ; 
st  was  on  this  wise  : 

.4  little  I  shall  say,  according  to  that  little  I  know. 
Genesis,  viii.  20,  21, 

And  Noah^Mj/i  an  altar  unto  Jehovah  ;  and  he  took  of  every  clean  hcast, 
and  of  every  clean  fowl,  and  offered  burnt- qff'erings  on  the  altar.  And  the 
Lord  smelled  a  sweet  savour,  and  the  Lord  said  tn  his  heart,  I  will  not  again 
curse  the  ground. 

'  In  that  Noah  sacrificed,  he  showed  himself  thankful  ;  in  that  Noah 
"■  worshipped,  he  shewed  himself  o-of%.  In  that  he  offered  clean  beasts, 
'  he  showed  that  God  is  an  holy  God.  And  all  that  come  to  God,  must 
'  be  pure  and  clean  Know,  that  we  must  by  repentance,  purge  our 
'  selves  ;  which  is  the  work  we  are  to  do  this  day. 

'  Noah  sacrificed  and  so  worshipped.  This  was  the  manner  of  old 
'■  time.     But  what  sacrifices  have  we  now  to  offer  !  1  shall  answer  by  that 


Book  III.]  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  419 

'  in  Psal  iv.  5,  Off'er  to  God  the  sacrifice  of  righteousness,  and  put  your  trtist 
'  in  the  Lord.  These  are  the  true  spiritual  sacrifices  which  God  requir' 
'  eth  at  our  hands,  the  sacrifices  of  righteousness  ;  that  is,  we  must  look  to 

*  our  hearts  and  ways  that  they  be  righteous  ;  and  then  we  shall  be  ac- 
'  ceptable  to  God,  when  we  worship  him.  But  if  we  be  unrighteous, 
'  unholy,  ungodly,  we  shall  not  be  accepted,  our  sacrifices  will  be  stark 
'  naught.  Again,  we  are  to  put  otcr  trust  in  the  Lord.  Who  else  is  there 
'  for  us  to  trust  in  ?  We  must  believe  in  the  word  of  God  ;  if  we  doubt  of 
'  God,  or  doubt  of  his  word,  our  sacrifices  are  little  worth  ;  but  if  we  trust 
'  stedfastly  in  God,  our  sacrifices  will  be  good. 

'  Once  more,  what  sacrifices  must  we  offer?  My  answer  is,  we  must 
'  offer  such  as  Mraham  offered.  And  what  a  sacrifice  was  that  ?  We  are 
'  told  in  Gen.  xxii.  12,  Now  I  know  that  thoufearest  me,  seeing  thou  hast 
'  not  witheld  thy  son,  thy  only  son  from  me.  It  seems  he  had  but  one  dear- 
'  ly  beloved  son,  and  he  offered  that  son  to  God  ;  and  so  God  said,  / 
'  know  thoufearest  me  !  Behold,  a  sacrifice  in  deed  and  in  truth  !  such  an 
'  one  must  we  offer.  Only,  God  requires  not  us  to  sacrifice  our  sons,  but 
'  our  sins,  our  dearest  sins.  God  calls  us  this  day  to  part  with  all  our 
'  sins,  though  never  so  beloved  ;  and  we  must  not  withold  any  of  them 
'  from  him.  If  we  will  not  part  withaW,  the  sacrifice  is  not  right.  Let 
'  us  part  with  such  sins  as  we  love  best,  and  it  will  be  a  good  sacrifice  ! 

'  God  smelt  a  sweet  savour  in  Noah's  sacrifice ;  and  so  will  God  receive 

*  our  sacrifices,  when  we  worship  him  aright.  But  how  did  God  mani- 
'  fest  his  acceptance  oi  Noah's  offering  :  it  was  by  promising  to  drown  the 
'  world  no  more,  but  give  us  fruitful  seasons.  God  has  chastised  us  of 
<  late,  as  if  he  would  utterly  drown  us  ;  and  he  has  drowned  and  spoiled 
'  and  ruined  a  great  deal  of  our  hay,  and  threatens  to  kill  our  cattel. 
'  It  is  for  this  that  we  fast  and  pray  this  day.  Let  us  then  offer  a  clean 
'  and  pure  sacrifice,  as  Noah  did  ;  so  God  will  smell  a  savour  of  rest,  and 
'  he  will  withold  the  rain,  and  bless  us  with  such  fruitful  seasons  as  we  are 

*  desiring  of  him.' 

Thus  preached  an  Indian  called  Nishokon,  above  thirty  years  ago  ; 
and  since  that  I  suppose,  they  have  grown  a  little  further  into  the  Nezv- 
English  way  of  preaching  :  you  may  have  in  their  sermons,  a  Kakkootom- 
wehteaonk,  that  is,  a  doctrine,  NahtootomTs>ehteaonk,  or  question,  a  Sainpoo- 
aonk,  or  an  answer,  Witcheayeuonk,  or  a  reason,  with  an  Ouwoteank,  or  an 
use,  for  the  close  of  all. 

As  for  holy-days,  you  may  take  it  for  granted,  our  Eliot  would  not  per- 
swade  his  Indians  to  an}'  stated  one.  Even  the  christian-festival  itself,  he 
knew  to  be  a  stranger  unto  the  apostolical  time  ;  that  the  exquisite  Fosh- 
us  himself  acknowledges,  it  was  not  celebrated  in  the  first  or  second 
century  :  and  that  there  is  a  truth  in  the  words  of  the  great  Cheminitius, 
Anniversarium  Diem,  Natalis  Christi,  celebratum  fuisse ,  apud  vetustissimos 
nunquam  legitur.  He  knew  that  if  the  day  of  our  Lord' s  nativity  were  to 
be  observed,  it  should  not  be  in  December  :  that  many  churches  for  di- 
vers ages  kept  it  not  in  December,  but  \n  January  ;  that  Chrysostam  him- 
self, about  four  hundred  years  after  our  Saviour,  excuses  the  novelty  of 
the  December  season  for  it,  and  confesses  it  had  not  been  kept  above  ten 
years  at  Constantinople  :  no,  that  it  should  rather  be  in  September,  in 
which  month  the  Jews  kept  the  feast  that  was  a  type  of  our  Lord's  Incar- 
nation ;  and  Solomon  also  brought  th»i  a7-k  into  the  temple  ;  for  our  Lord 
was  thirty  years  old  when  he  entred  upon  his  public  ministry  ;  and  he 
continued  in  it  three  years  and  an  half:  now  his  death  was  in  March,  and 
it  is  easy  then  to  calculate  when  his  birth  ought  to  be.     He  knew,  that 


§20  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  IIL 

indeed  God  had  hid  this  day  as  he  did  the  body  of  Moses,  to  prevent  idol- 
atry ;  but  that  antichrist  had  chose  this  day,  to  accommodate  the  Pagans 
in  their  licentious  and  their  debauched  Saturnalia  ;  and  that  a  Turtullian 
would  not  stick  to  say.  Shall  we  christians  who  have  nothing  to  do  with  the 
festivals  of  the  Jews,  which  were  once  of  divine  institution,  embrace  the  Sa- 
turnalia of  the  heathens  i^  How  do  the  Gentiles  shame  us,  who  are  more 
true  to  their  religioii,  than  we  are  to  ours  ?  None  of  them  will  observe  the 
Lord^s  day,  for  fear  lest  they  should  be  Christians  ;  and  shall  not  we  then 
by  observing  their  festivals,  fear  lest  we  be  made  Ethnicks  ?  In  fine,  it 
was  his  opinion,  that  for  us  to  have  stated  holy-days  which  are  not  ap- 
pointed by  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  is  a  deep  reflection  upon  the  wisdom 
of  that  glorious  Lord  ;  and  he  brought  up  his  Indians  in  the  principles 
which  the  old  Waldenses  had  about  such  unwarrantable  holy-days. 

Nevertheless,  he  taught  them  to  set  apart  their  days  for  both  fasting 
and  prayer,  and  for  feasting  and  prayer,  when  there  should  be  extraordi- 
nary occasions  for  them  ;  and  they  perform  the  duties  of  these  days  with 
a  very  laborious  piety.  One  party  of  the  Indians  long  since  of  their 
own  accord,  kept  a  day  of  supplication  together,  wherein  one  of  them 
discoursed  upon  Psal.  Ixvi  7,  He  rules  by  his  power  for  ever,  his  eyes  be- 
hold the  nations,  let  not  the  rebellious  exalt  themselves.  And  when  one 
asked  them  afterwards,  what  was  the  reason  of  their  keeping  of  such  a 
day,  they  replied,  It  was  to  obtain  five  mercies  of  God. 

'  First,  that  God  would  slay  the  rebellion  of  their  hearts.  Next,  that 
'  they  might  love  God  and  one  another.  Thirdly,  that  they  might  with- 
'  stand  the  temptations  of  wicked  men,  so  that  they  might  not  be  drawn 
'  back  from  God.  Fourthly,  that  they  might  be  obedient  unto  the  coun- 
'  cils  and  commands  of  their  rulers.  Fifthly,  that  they  might  have  their 
'  sins  done  away  by  the  redemption  of  Jesus  Christ:  and  lastly,  that 
'  they  might  walk  in  the  good  ways  of  the  Lord.'  I  must  here  embrace 
my  opportunity  to  tell  the  world,  that  our  cautious  Eliot  was  far  from  the 
opinion  of  those  who  have  thought  it  not  only  warrantable,  but  also  com- 
mendable to  adopt  some  heathenish  usages  into  the  worship  of  God,  for 
the  more  easy  and  speedy  gaining  of  the  heathen  to  that  worship.  The 
policy  of  treating  the  Pagan  rites  as  the  Jews  were  to  do  captives,  before 
they  married  them,  to  shave  their  hair,  and  pare  their  nails,  our  Eliot 
counted  as  ridiculous  as  pernicious.  He  knew  that  the  idolatries  and 
abominations  o(  Popery,  were  founded  in  this  way  of  proselyting  the  bar- 
barous nations,  which  made  their  descent  upon  the  Roman  empire;  and 
he  looked  upon  the  like  methods  which  the  Protestants  have  used,  that 
they  might  ingratiate  themselves  with  the  Papists,  and  that  our  separa- 
tion from  them  should  become  the  less  dangcrotis  and  sensible,  to  be  the 
most  sensible  i\nd  dangerous  wound  of  the  reformation.  Wherefore  as 
no  less  a  man  than  Dr.  Henry  Moor  says  about  our  compliances  with  the 
Papists,  which  are  a  sort  o( Pagans,  Their  converdon  and  salvatio7i  being 
not  to  be  compassed  by  needless  symbolizing  with  them  in  any  thing,  I  con- 
ceive our  best  policy  is  studiously  to  imitate  them  in  nothing  ;  but  for  all  in- 
different things,  to  think  rather  the  worse  of  them  for  their  using  of  them. 
As  no  person  of  honour  would  willingly  go  in  the  known  garb  of  irfamous 
persons.  Whatsoever  we  court  them  in,  they  do  but  turn  it  to  our  scorn  and 
contempt,  and  are  the  more  hardened  in  their  own  wickedness.  To  act  up- 
on this  principle,  is  the  design  and  glory  of  New-England !  And  our 
Eliot  was  of  this  perswasion,  when  he  brought  his  Indiaris  to  a  pure, 
plain  scripture  worship.  He  would  not  gratify  them  with  a  Samaritan 
sort  of  blended,  mixed  worship  ;  and  he  imagined,  a?  well  he^might.  that 


Book  111.]  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  5^1 

the  apostle  PauVs  first  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians  had  enough   in  it,  for 
e%'er  to  deter  us  all  from  such  unchristian  and  unhappy  temporizing. 

(i)  A  Comparison  between  what  the  NewEnglanders  have  done  for  the 
conversion  of  the  Indians,  and  what  has  been  dune  elsezchere  by  the  Ro- 
man Catholicks. 

It  is  to  be  confessed,  that  the  Roman  Catholicks  have  a  clergy  so  very 
numerous,  and  so  little  encumbred,  and  are  masters  of  such  prodigious 
ecclesiastial  revenues,  as  renders  it  very  easy  for  them  to  exceed  the 
Protestants  in  their  endeavours  to  christianize  the  Pagan  salvages.  Nor 
would  I  reproach,  but  rather  appZawri  their  industry  in  this  matter,  wish- 
ing that  we  were  all  touched  with  an  emidaiion  of  it.  Nevertheless, 
while  I  commend  their  industry,  they  do  by  their  clamours  against  the 
reformed  churches  upon  this  account,  obli:i;e  me  to  tax  divers  very  scan- 
dalous things  in  the  missions  which  they  make  pro  propaganda  fide 
throughout  the  world  ;  and  therewithal  to  compare  what  has  been  done 
by  that  little  handful  of  reformed  churches  in  this  country,  which  has  in 
divers  regards  out  done  the  furthest  efforts  of  Popery. 

The  attainments  which  with  God's  help  we  have  carried  up  our  Indians 
unto,  are  the  chief  honour  and  glory  of  our  labours  with  them.  The 
reader  will  smile  perhaps,  when  I  tell  him,  that  by  an  odd  accident  there 
are  lately  fallen  into  my  hands,  the  manuscripts  of  a  Jesuite,  whom  the 
French  employed  as  a  missionary  among  the  western  Indians ;  in  which 
papers  there  are,  both  a  catechism,  containing  the  principles  which  those 
heathens  are  to  be  instructed  in  ;  and  cases  of  conscience,  referring  to 
their  conversations.  The  catechism  which  is  in  the  Iroquoiae  language 
(a  language  remarkable  for  this,  that  there  is  not  so  much  as  one  labial 
in  it)  with  a  translation  annexed,  has  one  chapter  about  Heaven,  and 
another  about  hell,  wherein  are  such  thick  skulled  passages  as  these. 

'  Q,.   How  is  the  soyl  made  in  Heaven  ? 

'  A.  'Tis  a  ve.vy  fair  soyl,  they  want  neither  for  meats  nor  cloths  :  'tis 
■  but  zeishing  and  we  have  them. 

'  Q.  Are  they  employed  in  Heaven  ? 

'  A.  No,  they  do  nothings  the  fields  yield  corn,  beans,  pumpkins,  and 
-  the  like,  without  any  tillage. 

'  Q.    JVhat  sort  of  trees  are  there  ? 

'  A.  Always  green,  full,  and  florishing. 

'  Q.  Have  ihey  in  Heaven  the  same  sun,  the  same  wind,  the  sa)ne  thunder 
that  we  have  here  ? 

'  A.   No,  the  sun  ever  shines  ;  it  is  always  fair  weather. 

'  Q,.   But  how  their  fruits  ? 

'  A.  In  this  one  quality  they  exceed  ours  ;  that  they  are  never  wasted  ; 
you  have  no  sooner  plucked  one,  but  you  see  another  presently  hanging 
•  in  its  room.' 

And  after  this  rate  goes  on  the  catechism  concerning  Heaven.  Con- 
cerning/leW,  it  thus  discourses. 

'  Q,.    (Vhat  sort  of  a  soyl  is  that  of  hell? 

'  A.  A  very  wretched  soyl ;  'tis  afery  pit,  in  the  center  of  the  earth, 

'  Q.  Have  they  any  light  in  hell  ? 

'  A.  No.  'Tis  always  dark  ;  there  is  always  smoke  there  ;  their  eyes 
'  are  always  in  pain  with  it ;  they  can  see  nothing  but  the  devils. 

•  Q,.   What  shaped  things  are  the  devils  ? 

V^OL.  I.  G6 


^22  THE  HISTORY  OF  N'EW-ENGLAND.         [Book  iU, 

'  A.  Very  ill  shaped  things  :  they  go  about  nith  wizards  on,  imd  they 
•  terrify  men. 

'  Q.   IVIiat  do  theij  eat  in  hell  ? 

*  A.  They  are  always  hmigry,  but  ihe  damned  feed  on  hot  ashes  and 
'  serpents  there. 

'  Q.    What  water  have  they  to  drink  / 

'  A.  Horrid  water,  nothing  but  melted  lead. 

*  Q,.   Don't  they  die  in  hell  ? 

'  A.  No  :  yet  they  e?.t  one  another,  every  day ;  but  anon,  God  re- 
'  stores  and  renews  the  man  that  was  eaten,  as  a  cropt  plant  in  a  little  time 
'  repullulates.' 

It  seems  they  have  not  thought  this  divinity  too  gross  for  the  barbari- 
ans. But  1  shall  make  no  reflections  on  it ;  only  add  one  or  two  casez 
of  conscience,  from  their  directory. 

It  is  one  of  their  weighty  cases,  '  Whether  a  christian  be  bound  to 
'  pay  his  whore  her  hire  or  no  ?  To  this  father  Brutas  ans^vers,  thovgk 
he  be  bound  injustice  to  do  if,  yet  inasmuch  as  the  barba  rians  [and  you  must 
suppose  their  ichores  to  be  such]  use  to  keep  710  faith  in  such  matters,  the 
christians  may  chusc  whether  they  zvill  keep  any  too.  But  father  Pierron, 
with  a  most  profound  learning  answers,  He  is  not  bound  unto  it  all ;  inas- 
much as  no  man  thinks  himself  hound  to  pay  a  witc'i,  that  has  enchanted  him  ; 
and  this  business  is  pretty  much  a  kin  to  that.  Another  of  their  difficult 
cases  is,  '  Whether  an  Indian  ste.ding  an  hatchet  from  a  Dutch-mati,  be 
'  bound  to  make  restitution  ?  And  it  is  very  conscientiously  determined, 
'  that  if  the  Dutch-man  be  one  that  has  used  any  trade  with  other  Indians, 
'  the  thief  is  not  bound  unto  any  restitution  ;  for  it  is  certain,  he  gains 
'  more  by  such  a  trade  than  the  value  ofmany  hatchets  in  a  year.' 

I  will  tire  my  reader  with  no  more  of  this  ivretched  stulT.  But  let 
liim  understand  that  thfi  proselyted  Indians  of  Nerv-England  have  been 
instructed  at  a  more  noble  I'ate  ;  we  have  helped  them  to  the  sincere 
milk  of  the  word ;  we  have  given  them  the  whole  Bible  in  their  own  lan- 
guage ;  we  have  laid  before  them  such  a  creed  as  the  primitive  believers 
had,  with  such  explications  as  we  embark  our  own  souls  upon  the  assur- 
ance of.  And  God  has  blessed  our  education  of  these  poor  creatures  in 
such  a  measure,  that  they  can  pray  and  preach  to  better  edification  (give 
me  leave  to  say  it)  than  multitudes  of  the  Romifih-clergymen.  We  could 
have  baptised  many  troops  of  Indians,  if  we  would  have  used  no  other 
measures  with  them,  than  the  Roman  Catholicks  did  upon  theirs  at  Mary- 
land, where  they  baptised  a  great  crew  of /wc^/ans,  in  some  new  shirts, 
bestowed  upon  them  to  encourage  them  thereunto  :  but  the  Indians  in  a 
week  or  two,  not  knowing  how  to  wash  their  shirts  when  they  were 
grown  foul,  came  and  made  a  motion,  that  the  Roman  Catholicks  would 
give  more  shirts  to  them,  or  else  they  would  renounce  their  baptism. 
No,  it  is  a  thorough  paced  Christianity,  without  which  we  have  not  ima- 
gined OUT  hi  Hans  christianized. 

Nor  have  we  been  acted  with  a  Roman  Catholick  avarice,  and  falsity, 
and  cruelty  in  prosecuting  of  our  conversions  ;  it  is  the  spirit  of  an  Eliot, 
that  has  all  along  directed  us.  It  is  a  specimen  of  the  Popish  avarice 
that  their  missionaries  are  very  rarely  employed  but  where  bcver  and 
silver  and  vast  riches  are  to  be  thereby  gained  ;  their  ministry  is  but  a 
sort  of  engine,  to  enrich  Europeans  vvith  the  treasures  of  the  Indies  ;  thus 
one  escaped  from  captivity  among  the  Spaniards  told  me,  that  the  Span- 
ish friars  had  carried  their  gospel  into  the  spacious  country  o{ California, 
hut  finding  the  Indians  there  to  be  extremely  poor,  they  quickly  gave 


Book  HI]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  di:S 

over  the  work,  becanse  forsooth  such  a  poor  nation  Tjeas  Jiotv^orth  convert' 
ing.  Whereas  the  A''ew-Englanders  could  ex})cct  nothing  from  their  Li- 
dians.  We  are  to  feed  theiii  iind  cloath  them,  r;ither  than  receive  any 
t  ling  from  them,  vvnen  we  brmgthem  home  to  God.  Agrjin,  the  Popish 
falsity  disipostis  tuem  to  so  much  /egerdeinnia  in  their  applications,  as  is 
very  disagreeable  to  the  spirit  and  progress  of  the  gospel.  My  worthy 
friend,  Mynheer  DcUins,  who  has  been  sedulous  and  successful  in  his 
ministry  among  the  Alarpiu's,  assures  me,  that  a  French  prenicator,  ha- 
ving been  attempting  to  bring  over  those  Indians  unto  the  interest  (not 
of  our  Saviour  so  much  as)  of  Canada,  at  last  for  a  cure  of  their  infidel' 
ity,  told  them,  he  would  give  tliem  a  sign  of  God's  displeasure  at  thena 
for  it  ;  the  sun  should  svck  a  day  be  put  out.  This  terrified  them  at  a  s  id 
rate,  and  with  great  admiration  and  expectation  they  told  the  Dutch  of 
what  was  to  come  to  pass  ;  the  Dutch  replied,  This  u-as  no  more  than  ev- 
ery child  among  them  could  foretel ;  they  all  knew  there  xcould  then  be  an 
eclipse  of  the  sun;  but  '<  said  they)  speak  to  Monsieur,  that  he  ci-r-uld  get  the 
sun  extinguished  a  day  before,  or  a  day  after  zvhat  he  spoke  of,  and  if  he 
can  do  that,  believe  him.  When  the  Indians  thus  understood  what  a  trick 
the  Frencfi-man  would  have  put  upon  them,  they  became  irreconcileably 
prejudiced  against  all  his  oft'ers  ;  nor  have  the  French  been  since  able  to 
gain  much  upon  that  considerable  people.  The  jYeiv  Fnglanders  have 
used  no  such  stratagems  and  knaveries  ;  it  is  the  j)ure  light  of  truth,  which. 
is  all  that  has  been  used  for  the  affecting  of  tbe  rude  people,  whom  it 
was  easy  to  have  cheated  into  our  profession  Much  less  have  we  used 
that  Popish  cruelty,  v\hich  the  natives  of  Jmerica,  have  by  some  other 
people  been  treated  with.  Even  a  bishop  of  their  orsn,  hath  published 
very  tragical  histories  of  the  Spanish  cruelties  upon  the  Indians  of  this 
western  world.  Such  were  those  cruelties,  that  the  Indians  at  length 
declared,  they  had  rather  go  to  hell  -^ilh  their  ancestors,  than  to  the  same 
Heaven  Tjihich  the  Spaniards  pretended  unto  ;  it  is  indeed  impossible  to 
reckon  up  the  various  and  exquisite  barbarities,  with  which  these  exe- 
crable .Spa/u'arJs  murdered  in  less  than  fifty  years  no  less  than  fifty  mil- 
lions of  the  Indians  ;  it  seems  this  was  their  way  of  bringing  them  into 
the  sheepfold  of  our  merciful  Jesus  !  But  on  the  other  side,  the  good 
people  o(  JVeze- England  have  carried  it  with  so  much  tenderness  towards 
the  tawny  creatures  among  whom  we  live,  that  they  would  not  own  so 
much  as  one  foot  of  land  in  the  country,  without  a  fair  purchase  and  con- 
sent from  the  natives  that  laid  claim  unto  it  ;  albeit,  we  had  a  royal  char- 
ier from  the  King  o(  Great-Britain,  to  protect  us  in  our  settlement  upor> 
this  continent. 

I  suppose  it  was  in  revenge  upon  us  for  this  conscientiousness,  that  the 
late  oppressors  of  Nexso- Engl  and  acknowledged  no  man  to  have  any  title 
at  all  unto  one  foot  of  land  in  all  our  colony.  But  ws  did  and  we  do, 
think,  notwithstanding  the  banters  of  those  tories,  that  the  Indians  had 
not  by  their  paganism  so  forfeited  all  right  unto  any  of  their  possessions^ 
that  the  first  pretended  christians  that  could,  might  violently  and  yet  hon- 
estly seize  upon  them.  Instead  of  this,  the  people  of  JVeu'-England, 
knowing  that  some  of  the  En^^lish  were  sufficiently  covetous  and  en- 
croaching, and  that  the  Indians  in  streights  are  easily  prevailed  upon,  to 
sell  their  lands,  made  a  law.  That  none  should  purchase,  or  so  much  as  re- 
ceive any  land  of  the  Indians,  rcithout  the  cdlorvance  of  the  court  li  ea, 
and  some  lands  which  were  peculiarly  convenient  for  the  Indians,  our  peo- 
ple who  were  more  careful  of  them  than  they  were  of  themselves,  made 
^  law,  that  they  should  never  he  bought  out  of  their  hamh.     I  suppose  after. 


524  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [BooKiJi. 

this  it  would  surprise  mankind,  if  Ihey  should  hear  such  wonderful  crea- 
tures as  our  late  secretary  Randolfh  affirming,  This  barbarous  people' 
were  never  civilly  treated  by  the  late  government,  who  made  it  their  business 
to  encroach  upon  their  lands,  and  by  degrees  to  drive  them  out  of  all.  But, 
how  many  other  laws  we  made  in  favour  of  the  Indians,  it  is  not  easy  to 
reckon  up. 

it  ivas  one  of  ourlaivs,  '  That  for  the  further  encouragement  of  the 

*  hopeful  work  aijiong  them,  for  the  civilizing  and  christianizing  of  themj 
'  any  Ind.ati  that  should  be  brought  unto  civility,  and  come  to  live  order- 
'  ly  in  any  English  plantation,  should  have  such  allotments  among  the 
'  English,  as  ttie  English  had  themselves.     And  that  if  a  competent  nuui- 

*  ber  of  them,  shoul;!  so  come  on  to  civility,  as  to  be  capable  of  a  town- 
'  ship,  the  general  court  should  grant  them  lands  for  a  plantation  as  they 
'  do  unto  t!ie  English.^  Although  we  had  already  brought  up  their  claims 
unto  our  lands.  We  likewise  had  our  laws,  That  if  any  of  our  cattle  did 
any  damage  to  their  corn,  we  shoidd.  make  them  ample  satisfaction  ;  and 
that  we  should  give  them  all  manner  of  assistance,  in  fencing  of  their  ^fields. 
And  because  the  Indians  are  excessively  given  unto  the  vice  of  drunken- 
ness, which  was  a  vice  unknown  to  them,  until  the  English  brought 
strong  drink  in  their  way,  we  have  had  a  severe  law  against  all  selling 
or  giving  any  intoxicating  liquors  to  them.  It  were  well,  if  this  law  were 
more  severely  executed. 

By  this  time  1  hope,  I  have  stopped  the  calumnious  exclamations  of 
the  Roman  Cathobcks  against  the  churches  of  the  reformation,  for  neg- 
lecting to  evangelize  the  natives  of  the  Indies.  But  let  me  take  this  oc- 
casion to  address  the  christian  Indians  of  my  own  country,  into  some  of 
whose  hands,  it  is  likely,  this  little  book  may  come. 

11  '■  Behold,  ye  Indians,  what  love,  what  care,  what  cost,  has  been  used 

*  by  the  English  here,  for  the  salvation  of  your  precious  and  immortal 
'  souls.  It  is  not  because  we  have  expected  any  temporal  advantage  from 
'  you,  that  we  have  been  thus  concerned  for  your  good  ;  no,  it  is  God 
'  that  has  caused  us  to  desire  his  glory  in  your  salvation  ;  and  our  hearts 
'  have  bled  »vith  pity  over  you.  when  we  have  seen  how  horribly  the 
'  devil  oppressed  you  in  this,  and  destroyed  you  in  another  world.  It  i? 
'  much  that  h  is  been  done  for  you  ;  we  have  put  you  into  a  way  to  be  hap 

'  py  both  on  earth  vvhile  you  live,  and  in  Heaven  when  you  die.  Whal 
'  can  you  think  will  become  of  you,  if  you  slight  all  these  glorious  of- 
'  fers  !  Methinks  you  should  say  to  yourselves,  Fttoh  weh  kittinne  peh 
'  (juoh  humunan  mishanantamog  ne  mohsag  wadchanittvonk !  You  all  be^^ 
'  lieve  that  your  teacher  Eliot,  was  a  good  and  a  brave  man,  and  you 
'  would  count  it  your  blessedness  to  be  for  ever  with  him.  Neverthe- 
'  less,  !  am  to  tell  you,  that  if  you  do'nt  become  real,  and  thorough,  and 
'  holy  christians,  you  shall  never  have  a  comfortable  sight  of  him  any 
'  more.  You  know  how  he  has /erf  you,  and  cloathed  you,  as  well  as 
'  taught  you  ;  you  know  how  his  bowels  yearned  over  you,  even  as 
'  though  had  you  had  been  his  children,  when  he  saw  any  afflictions  come 
'  upon  you  ;  but  if  he  tind  you  among  the  wicked,  in  the  day  of  judgment, 
'■  which  he  so  often  warned  you  of,  he  will  then  be  a  dreadful  witness 
'  against  you,  and  when  the  Lord  Jesus  passes  that  sentence  on  you,  De- 
'  part  yc  cursed  into  everlasting  fire,  with  the  devil  and  his  angels,  even  your 
'  own  Eliot  will  then  say  amen  unto  it  all.  Now  to  deal  plainly  with  you, 
'  there  are  two  vices,  which  many  of  yon  are  loo  prone  unto,  and  which 
'  are  utterly  inconsistent  with  a  true  Christianity.  One  of  those  vices,  i.'^ 
'  that  of  idleness s.      If  you  had  a  disposition  to  follow  an  honest  calling- 


Book  III.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  62o 

•  what  should  hinder  you  from  growing  as  considerable  in  your  estates, 
'  as  many  of  your  English  neighbours  :  whereas,  you  are  now  poor,  mean, 

•  ragged,    starved,  contemptible    and  miserable  ;  and  instead   of  being 

•  able,  as  your  E7iglish  neighbours  do,  to  support  the  ordinances  of  God, 
'  you  are  beholden  to  them,  not  only  for  maintaining  of  those  blessed  or- 
'  dinances  among  you,  but  for  many  other  kindnesses  And  have  you  in- 
'  deed  forgot  the  commandment  of  God,  which  has  been  so  often  laid  be- 
'  fore  you,  Six  days  shall  thou  labour  !  For  shame,  apply  your  selves  to 
'  such  labour  as  may  bring  you  into  more  handsome  circumstances.  But 
'  the  other  of  these  vices,  is  that  of  drunkeymess.     There  are  godly  Eng- 

•  lish  neighbours,  of  whom  you  should  learn  to  pray  ;  but  there  are  some 
'  of  you  that  learn  to  drink,  of  other  profane,  debauched  English  neigh- 
'  hours.  Poor  creatures,  it  is  by  this  iniquity  that  Satan  still  keeps  pos- 
'  session  of  many  souls  among  you,  as  much  as  if  you  were  still  in  all 
'  your  woful  heathenism  ;  and  how  often  have  you  been  told,  Drunkards 

•  shall  not  enherif  the  kingdom  of  God  ?  1  beseech  you  to  be  sensible  of  the 

•  mischiefs  to   which  this  thing  exposes  you,  and  never  dream  of  escap- 

•  ing  the  vengeance  of  eternal  fire,  if  you  indulge  your  selves  in  this  ac- 

•  cursed  tiling. 

'  I  have  done,  when  I  have  wished,  that  the  gospel  of  the  Loi'd  Jesus 
'  may  always  run  and  be  glorified  among  yori  /' 


The  CoNCLi'sioN  :  or,  Eliot  Expiring. 

By  this  time,  I  have  doubtless  made  ray  reader  loth  to  have  me  tell 
what  now  remains  of  this  little  history  ;  doubtless  they  are  wishing  that 
this  John  might  have  tarried  unto  the  second  coming  of  our  Lord.  But. 
alas,  all-devouring  death  at  last  snatched  him  from  us,  and  slighted  all  those 
lamentations  of  ours,  My  father,  my  father,  the  chariots  of  Israel,  and  the 
horsemen  thereof ! 

When  he  was  become  a  sort  of  Miles  Emeritus,  and  began  to  draw  near 
his  end,  he  grew  still  more  heavenly,  more  savoury,  more  divine,  and 
scented  more  of  the  spicy  country  at  which  he  was  ready  to  put  ashore. 
As  the  historian  observes  of  Tiberius,  that  when  his  life  and  strength 
were  goin^  from  him,  his  vice  yet  remained  with  him  ;  on  the  contrary 
the  grace  of  this  excellei>t  man  rather  increased  then  abated,  when  every 
thing  else  was  d3'in^  with  him.  It  is  too  usual  with  old  men,  that  when 
they  are  past  work,  they  are  least  sensible  of  their  inabilities  and  inca- 
pacities, and  can  scarce  endure  to  see  another  succeeding  them  in  any 
part  of  their  office.  But  our  Eliot  was  of  a  temper  quite  contrary  there- 
unto ;  for  finding  many  months  before  his  expiration,  that  he  had  not 
strength  enough  to  edify  his  congregation  with  publick  prayers  and  ser- 
monsy  he  importuned  his  people  with  some  impatience  to  call  another 
minister  ;  professing  himself  unable  to  die  with  comfort,  until  he  could 
see  a  good  successor  ordained,  settled,  fixed  among  them.  For  this  cause, 
he  also  cried  mightily  unto  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  our  ascended  Lord, 
that  be  would  give  such  a  gift  unto  Roxbury,  and  he  sometimes  called 
his  whole  town  together  to  join  with  him  in  a  fast  for  such  a  blessing. 
As  the  return  of  their  supplications,  our  Lord  qtiickly  bestowed  upon 
them,  a  person  young  in  years,  but  old  in  discretion,  gravity  and  expe- 
rience ;  and  one  whom  the  church  of  Roxbury  hopes  to  find,  a  paMov 
'ifter  God^s  own  heart. 


528  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  III 

It  was  Mr.  Keheiiiiah  Walter,  who  being  by  the  unanimous  vote  and 
choice  of  the  church  there,  become  the  pastor  of  Roxbury,  immediately 
found  the  venerable  Eliot  embracing  and  cherishing  of  him,  with  the  ten- 
der affections  of  a  father.  The  good  old  man  like  old  Aaron,  as  it  were 
disrobed  him-elf,  with  an  unspeakable  satisfaction,  when  he  beheld  his 
garments  put  upon  a  son  so  dear  unto  him.  After  this,  he  for  a  >ear  or 
two  before  his  translation,  could  scarce  be  perswaded  unto  any  publich 
sei~vice,  but  humbly  pleaded,  what  none  but  he  would  ever  have  said, 
ft  would  be  a  wrong  to  the  souh  of  the  people,  for  him  to  do  any  thing  among 
ihem,  when  they  were  supplied  so  much  lo  their  advantage  otherwise.  If  I 
mistake  not,  the  last  that  ever  he  preached  was  on  a  publick /asi ;  when 
he  fed  his  people  with  a  very  distinct  and  useful  exposition  upon  the  eigh- 
ty-third psalm  ;  and  he  concluded  with  an  apology,  begging  his  hearers 
to  pardon  the  poo?-?iess,  and  meanness,  and  hrohenness,  (as  he  called  it)  of 
his  meditations  ;  but  added  he,  My  dear  brother  hete,  will  by'nd  by  mend  all. 

But  although  he  thus  dismis.«ed  himself  as  one  so  near  to  the  age  of 
ninety,  might  well  have  done,  from  his  publick  labours  ;  yet  he  would 
not  give  over  his  endeavours,  in  a  more  private  sphere,  to  do  good  vnto 
all.  He  had  always  been  an  enemy  to  idleness  ;  any  one  that  should 
look  into  the  little  diary  that  he  kept  in  his  Almanacks,  would  see  that 
there  was  with  h\m,  no  day  without  a  line ;  and  he  was  troubled  particu- 
larly, when  he  saw  how  much  time  was  devoured  by  that  slavery  to  to- 
bacco, which  too  many  debase  themselves  unto  ;  and  now  he  grew  old, 
he  was  desirous  that  his  works  should  hold  pace  with  his  life  ;  the  less 
time  he  saw  left,  the  less  was  he  willing  to  have  lost.  He  imagined  that 
he  could  now  do  nothing  to  any  purpose  in  any  service  for  God  ;  and 
sometimes  he  would  say  with  an  air  peculiar  to  himself,  I  wonder  for  what 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  lets  me  live  ;  he  knows  that  now  I  can  do  nothing  for 
him  !  And  yet  he  could  not  forbear  essaying  to  do  something  for  his  Lord  ; 
he  conceived,  that  though  the  English  could  not  be  benefited  by  any  gifts 
which  he  new  fancied  himself  to  have  only  the  ruins  of,  yet  who  can  tell 
but  the  negroes  might  !  He  had  long  lamented  it  with  a  bleeding  and  a 
burning  passion,  that  the  English  used  their  negroes  but  as  their  horses  or 
their  oxen,  and  that  so  little  care  was  taken  about  their  immortal  souls  j 
he  looked  upon  it  as  a  prodigy,  that  any  wearing  the  name  of  christians, 
should  so  much  have  tlie  heart  of  devils  in  them,  as  to  prevent  and  hind- 
er the  instruction  of  the  poor  blackamores,  and«onfine  the  souls  of  their 
miserables  slaves  to  a  destroying  ignorance,  meerly  for  fear  of  thereby 
losing  the  benefit  of  their  vassalage  ;  but  now  he  made  a  motion  to  the 
English  within  two  or  three  miles  of  him,  that  at  such  a  time  and  place 
they  would  send  their  negroes  once  a  week  unto  him  :  for  he  would  then 
catechise  them,  and  enlighten  them,  to  the  utmost  of  his  power  in  the  things 
of  their  everlasting  peace  ;  however,  he  did  not  live  to  make  much  pro- 
gress in  this  undertaking. 

At  length,  when  he  was  able  to  do  little  without  doors,  he  tryed  theo 
to  do  something  within  ;  and  one  thing  was  this.  A  young  boy  in  the 
neighbourhood,  had  in  his  mfancy  fallen  into  a  fire,  so  as  to  burn  himself 
into  a  perfect  blindness ;  but  this  boy  being  now  grown  to  some  bigness, 
the  good  old  man  took  him  home  to  his  house,  with  some  intentions  to 
make  a  scholar  of  him.  He  first  informed  him  of  and  from  the  scripture^ 
in  which  the  boy  so  profited,  that  in  a  little  time  he  could  even  repeat 
many  whole  f/mpCers  verbatim,  and  if  any  other  in  reading  missed  a  word, 
he  would  mind  them  of  it ;  yea,  and  an  ordinary  piece  of  Latin  was  bo- 


Book  III.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  527 

come  easy  to  the  lad  ;  but  having  his  own  eyes  closed  by  death,  he 
could  no  longer  help  the  poor  child  against  the  want  of  his. 

Thus,  as  the  aged  Polycarp  could  say,  These  eighty  six  years  have  I  serv- 
ed my  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  and  he  has  been  such  a  good  master  to  me  all  this 
while,  that  I  ~ji- ill  not  now  forsake  him.  Such  a  Polycarp  was  our  Eliot  ;  he 
had  been  so  many  years  engaged  in  the  sweet  service  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  that  he  could  not  now  give  it  over  :  it  was  his  ambition,  and  his 
privilege,  to  bring  forth  fruit  in  old  age  ;  and  what  veneration  the  church 
of  Smyrna  paid  unto  that  a/»ge/  of  theirs,  we  were  upon  the  like  accounts 
willing  to  give  unto  this  man  of  God. 

While  he  was  thus  making  his  retreat  out  of  this  evil  world,  his  dis- 
courses from  time  to  time  ran  upon,  the  coming  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ ; 
it  was  the  theme  which  he  still  had  recourse  unto,  and  we  were  sure  to 
have  something  of  this,  whatever  other  subject  he  were  upon.  On  this 
he  talked,  on  this  he  prayed  for  this  he  longed,  and  especially  when  any 
bad  news  arrived,  his  usual  reflection  thereupon  would  be,  Behold,  some 
of  the  clouds, in  which  we  must  look  for  the  coming  of  the  Son  of  Man.  At 
last,  his  Lord  for  whom  he  had  been  long  wishing,  Lord,  come.'  I  have 
been  a  great  zc'hilc  ready  for  thy  coming  !  at  last,  I  saj',  his  Lord  came  and 
fetched  him  away  into  the  joy  of  his  Lord. 

He  fell  into  some  languishments  attended  with  nfecer,  which  in  a  few 
days  brought  him  into  X\\e  pangs  (may  I  say  ?  or  joys)  of  death  ;  and  while 
he  lay  in  these  Mr.  Walter  coming  to  him,  he  said  unto  him.  Brother,  thou 
art  welcome  to  my  very  soul.  Pray  retire  to  thy  study  for  me,  and  give  me  leave 
to  be  gone  ;  meaning  that  he  should  not,  by  petitions  to  Heaven  for  his 
life,  detain  him  here.  It  was  in  these  languishments,  that  speaking  about 
the  work  of  the  gospel  among  the  Indians,  he  did  after  this  heavenly  man- 
ner express  himself.  There  is  a  cloiid  (said  he)  a  dark  cloud  upon  the  work 
of  the  gospel  among  the  poor  Indians  The  Lord  revive  and  prosper  (hat 
work,  and  grant  it  may  live  when  I  am  dead.  It  is  a  work,  which  J  have 
been  doing  much  and  long  about.  But  what  was  the  word  I  spoke  last  ?  I 
recal  that  word,  my  doings  !  Jilas,  they  have  been  poor  and  small,  and  lean 
doings,  and  Fll  be  the  man  that  shall  throw  thefirst  stone  at  them  all. 

It  has  been  observed,  that  they  who  have  spoke  many  considerable 
things  in  their  lives,  usually  speak  few  at  their  deaths.  But  it  was  other- 
wise with  our  Eliot,  who  after  much  speech  of  and  for  God  in  his  life- 
time, uttered  some  things  little  short  of  oracles  onh'is  death-bed,  which  'tis 
a  thousand  pities,  they  were  not  more  exactly  regarded  and  recorded. 
Those  authors  that  have  taken  the  pains  to  collect,  Apnphthegmata  Mo- 
rientum,  have  not  therein  been  unserviceable  to  the  living  ;  but  the 
Apophthegms  of  a  dying  FAiot  must  have  had  in  them  a  grace  and  a  strain 
truly  extraordinary  ;  and  indeed  the  vxdgar  error  of  the  signal  sweetness 
in  the  song  of  a  dying  swan,  was  a  very  truth  in  our  expiring  Eliot  ;  hi? 
last  breath  smelt  strong  of  Heaven,  and  was  articled  into  none  but  very 
gracious  notes  ;  one  of  the  last  whereof,  v/as,  Welcome  joy !  and  at  last 
it  went  away  calling  upon  the  standers  by,  to  Pray,  pray,  pray  !  which 
was  the  thing  in  which  so  vast  a  portion  of  it,  had  been  before  employed. 

This  was  the  peace  in  the  end  of  this  perfect  and  upright  man ;  thus 
was  there  another  star  fetched  away  to  be  placed  among  the  rest  that 
the  third  heaven  is  now  enriched  with.  He  had  once,  I  think,  a  pleas- 
ant fear,  that  the  old  saints  of  his  acquaintance,  especially  those  two 
deafrest  neisrhbours  of  his.  Cotton  of  Boston,  and  Mather  of  Dorchester, 
which  were  got  safe  to  Heaven  before  him,  would  suspect  him  to  be 
gone  the  wrong  way,  because  he  staid  so  lona;  behind  them.     But  the^ 


.^28  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  [Book  Hi 

are  now  together  with  a  blessed  Jesus,  beholding  of  his  glory,  and  cele- 
brating the  high  praises  of  him  that  has  called  them  into  his  marifellons 
light.  Whether  Heaven  was  any  more  Heaven  to  him,  because  of  his 
tinding  there,  so  many  saijits,  with  whom  he  once  had  his  desireable 
intimacies,  yea,  and  so  many  saints  which  had  been  the  seals  of  his  own 
ministry  in  this  lower  world,  I  cannot  say  ;  but  it  would  be  Heaven 
enough  unto  him,  to  go  unto  that  Jesus,  whom  he  had,  loved,  preached 
served,  and  in  whom  he  had  been  long  assured,  there  does  all  fullness  dwell. 
In  that  Heaven  1  now  leave  him  :  not  without  Gryimus^  pathetical  excla- 
mations [O  beatiim ilium  diem!]  '  Blessed  will  be  the  day,  O  blessed  the 
•^  day  of  our  arrival  to  the  glorious  assembly  of  spirits,  which  this  great 
'  saint  is  now  rejoicing  with.' 

Bereaved  New-England,  where  are  thy  tears,  at  this  ill-boding  fune- 
ral ?  We  had  a  tradition  among  us, '  That  the  country  could  never  per- 
'  ish,  as  long  as  Eliot  was  alive.'  But  into  whose  hands  must  this  Hippo 
fall,  now  the  Austin  of  it  is  taken  away  ?  Our  Elisha  is  gone,  and  now 
who  must  7iext  year  invade  the  land?  The  Jews  have  a  saying,  (^uando  Lu- 
minaria  patiuntur  Eclipsin,  malum  signum  est  mundo  ;  but  1  am  sure,  it  is 
a  dismal  eclipse  that  has  now  befallen  our  New-English  world.  I  confess, 
many  of  the  ancients  fell  into  the  vanity  of  esteeming  the  reliqties  of 
the  dead  saints,  to  be  the  towers  and  ramparts  of  the  places  that  enjoyed 
them  ;  and  tlie  dead  bodies  of  two  apostles  in  the  city,  made  the  poet 
cry  out, 

A  Facie  Hosiili  duo  propugnacnla  prcesunt. 

If  the  dust  of  dead  saints  could  give  us  any  protection,  we  are  not 
without  it  ;  here  is  a  spot  of  American  soyl  that  will  afford  a  rich  crop 
of  it,  at  the  resurrection  of  the  just.  Poor  New-England  has  been  as 
Glastenbury  of  old  was  called,  a  burying  place  of  saints.  But  we  cannot 
see  a  more  terrible  prognostick,  than  tombs  filling  apace  with  such 
bones,  as  those  of  the  renowned  Eliot'' s ;  the  whole  building  of  this  coun- 
try trembles  at  the  fall  of  such  a  pillar. 

For  many  months  before  he  dyed,  he  would  often  chearfully  tell  us, 
'  That  he  was  shortly  going  to  Jleaven,  and  that  he  would  carry  a  deal 
'  of  good  news  thither  with  him  ;  he  said,  he  would  carry  tidings  to  the 
'  old  founders  of  New-England,  which  were  now  in  glory,  that  church- 
'  work  was  yet  carried  on  among  us  :  that  the  number  of  our  churches 
'  was  continually  encreasing :  and  that  the  churches  were  still  kept  as 
'  big  as  they  were,  by  the  daily  additions  of  those  that  shall  be  saved.' 
But  the  going  of  such  as  he  from  us,  will  apace  diminish  the  occasions 
of  such  happy  tidings. 

What  shall  we  now  say  ?  Our  Eliot  himself  used  most  affectionately 
to  bewail  the  death  of  all  useful  men  ;  yet  if  one  brought  him  the  notice 
of  such  a  thing,  with  any  despondencies,  or  said,  O  Sir,  sack  an  one  is 
dead,  what  sliull  we  do  ?  He  would  answer.  Well,  but  God  lives,  Christ 
lives,  the  old  Saviour  o/"  New-England  yet  lives,  and  he  will  reign  till  aU  his 
enemies  are  made  his  footstool.  This,  and  only  this,  consideration  have 
we  to  relieve  us  ;  and  let  it  be  accompanied  with  our  addresses  to  the 
God  of  the  spirits  of  all  flesh,  that  there  may  be  Timothies  raised  up  in 
the  room  of  our  departed  Paids ;  and  that  when  our  Mosesh  are  gone, 
the  spirit  which  was  in  thopp  brave  men,  may  bo  put  upon  the  surviving 
•>Idprs  of  nvr  Israel . 


Book  III.]        THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  529 

The  last  thing  that  ever  our  Eliot  put  off,  was,  the  care  of  all  the  churchesy 
which  with  a  most  apostolical  and  evangelical  temper  he  was  conti!.u:;liy 
solicitous  about.  When  the  churches  of  Ne-s:- England  were  under  a 
very  uncomfortable  prospect,  by  the  advantage  which  men  that  sought 
the  ruine  of  those  golden  and  holy  and  reformed  societies,  had  obtained 
against  them,  God  put  it  into  the  heart  of  one  well  known  in  these 
churches,  to  take  a  voyage  into  England,  that  he  might  by  his  mediations 
at  Whitehall^  divert  the  storms  that  were  impending  over  us.  It  is  not 
easy  to  express  what  affection  our  aged  Eliot  prosecuted  this  undertak- 
ing with  ;  and  what  thanksgiving  he  rendered  unto  God  for  any  hopeful 
successes  of  it.  But  because  one  of  the  last  times,  and  for  ought  I 
know,  the  last  of  his  ever  setting  pen  to  paper  in  the  world,  was  upon 
this  occasion  ;  I  shall  transcribe  a  short  letter,  which  was  v-ritten  by  the 
shaking  hand,  that  had  heretofore  by  writing  deserved  so  well  from  the 
Church  of  God,  but  was  now  taking  its  leave  of  writing  for  ever.  It 
was  written  to  the  person  that  was  engaging  for  us,  and  thus  it  ran. 

♦  Reverend  and  beloved  Mr.  Increase  Mather. 

'  I  cannot  write.  Read  Neh.  ii.  10.  When  Sanballat  the  Horo'nite, 
'  and  Tobijah  the  servant,  the  Ammonite,  beard  of  it  ;  it  grieved  them 
'  exceedingly,  that  there  was  come  a  man  to  seek  the  welfare  of  the 
'  children  of  Israel. 

'  Let  thy  blessed  soul,  feed  full  and  fat  upon  this  and  other  scriptures. 
'All  other  things  I  leave  to  other  men  ;  and  rest, 

'  Your  loving  Brother, 

'JOHN    ELIOT. 

These  two  or  three  lines  manifest  the  care  of  the  churches  which 
breathed  in  this  great  old  man,  as  long  as  he  had  a  breath  to  draw  in 
the  world.  And  since  he  has  left  few  like  him  for  a  comprehensive  and 
universal  regard  unto  the  prosperity  of  all  the  flocks  in  this  wilderness, 
we  have  little  novv  to  comfort  us  in  the  loss  of  one  so  like  a  patriarch 
among  us,  but  only  this,  that  our  poor  churches,  it  may  be  hoped,  h^ve 
still  some  interest  in  the  cares  of  oar  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  fVho  walks  in 
the  midst  of  the  golden  candlesticks  .  Lord  !  make  our  churches  and  keep 
them,  yet  golden  candlesticks  !  Amen. 

But  I  have  not  obtained  the  end  of  this  history,  nor  may  I  let  this 
history  come  to  an  end^  until  I  do  with  some  importunity  bespeak  the  en- 
deavours of  good  mea  every  where,  to  labour  in  that  harvest  which  the 
blessed  Eliot  justly  counted  worthy  of  his  utmost  pains  and  cares. 
It  was  the  confession  oi  Themistocles,  that  the  victory  of  Aliltiades  would 
not  let  him  sleep  in  quietness  ;  may  those  of  our  Eliot  raise  a  like  em- 
ulation in  those  that  have  now  seen  the  life  of  this  evangelical  hero .' 
One  Robert  Baily  (a  true  son  of  Epiphanius)  many  years  ago  published 
a  book,  wherein  several  gross  lies,  by  which  the  name  of  that  John 
Cotton,  who  was  known  to  be  one  of  the  holiest  men  then  alive,  was 
most  injuriously  made  odious  unto  the  churches  abroad,  were  accom- 
panied with  some  reflections  upon  poor  JS'ew-England,  whereof  this  was 
one,  The  way  of  their  churches  hath  most  exceedingly  kindred  the  conver- 
sion of  the  poor  pagans  :  of  all  that  ever  crossed  the  American  seas,  they 
are  noted  as  m>st  neglectful  of  the  work  nf  conversion.  We  have  now 
seen  those  aspersions  and  calumnies  abundantly  wiped  away.     But  let 

Voi.   I.  67 


&3U  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  IH 

that  which  has  been  the  vindicatim  of  JVew- Engl  and,  he  also  the  ccmu- 
lation  of  the  world  :  let  not  poor  little  New-England^  be  the  only  pro- 
testant  country  that  shall  do  any  notable  thing  for  the  propagation  of  the 
foith,  unto  those  dark  corners  of  the  earth  which  are  ftdl  of  cruel  habita- 
tions. But  the  addresses  of  so  mean  a  person  as  my  self,  are  like  to  pre- 
vail but  little  abroad  with  men  of  learning  and  tigure  in  the  world.  How- 
ever, I  sh;d!  presume  to  utter  my  wishes  in  the  sight  of  my  readers  ;  and 
it  is  possible  that  the  great  God  who  def^pises  not  the  prayer  of  the  poor , 
may  by  the  influences  of  his  Holy  Spirit,  upon  the  hearts  of  some  whose 
eyes  are  upon  these  linos,  give  a  blessed  answer  thereunto. 

Wherefore,  may  the  people  of  jVaw- England,  who  have  seen  so  sen* 
sible  a  difference  between- the  estates  of  those  that  soil  rfrjw/:,  and  of 
those  that  preach  truth,  unto  the  miserable  salvages  among  them,  as  that 
even  this  alone  might  inspire  them,  yet  from  a  nobler  consideration  than 
that  of  their  own  outward  prosperity  thereby  advanced,  be  encouraged 
still  to  prosecute,  first  the  civilizing,  and  then  the  christianizing  of  the 
barbarians,  in  their  neighbourhood  ;  and  may  the  Kew-Englanders  be 
so  (nr  politick  as  well  as  religious,  as  particularly  to  make  •dinission  of  the 
gospel  unto  the  mighty  nations  of  the  IVehtern  Indians,  whom  the  French 
have  been  of  late  so  studiously,  but  so  unsuccessfully  tampering  with  ; 
lest  those  horrid  pagans,  who  lately  (as  it  is  credibly  affirmed)  had  such 
a  measure  of  dcvilism  and  insolence  in  them,  as  to  shoot  a  volley  of  great 
and  small  shot  against  the  Heavens,  in  revenge  upon  the  manin  the  Heav- 
ens, as  they  called  onr  Lord,  whom  they  counted  the  author  of  the  heavy 
calamities  which  newly  have  distressed  them  ;  be  found  spared  by  our 
Ions  suffering  Lord,  [who  then  ind<^ed  presently  tore  the  ground  asunder, 
with  immediate  and  horrible  thunders  from  tJoaven  round  about  them, 
but  killed  them  not !]  for  a  scourge  to  us,  that  have  not  used  our  ad- 
vantages to  make  a  ver'.uous  people  of  them.  If  a  King  of  the  West  Sax- 
ons long  since  ascribed  all  the  disasters  on  any  of  their  affaii's,  to  neg- 
ligencies  in  this  point,  methinks  the  jXew-Englandei's  may  not  count  it 
unreasonable  in  this  way  to  seek  their  own  prosperity.  Shall  we  dd 
wh;it  we  can  that  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  may  bestow  upon  America, 
(which  may  more  justly  be  called  Coiuinba)  that  salutation,  0  my  dove.' 

May  the  several  plantations,  that  live  upon  the  labours  of  their  «e^?'oes, 
no  more  be  guilty  of  su  h  a  prodigious  wickedness,  as  to  deride,  neglect, 
and  oppose  all  due  means  of  bringing  their  poor  negroes  unto  our  Lord  ; 
but  may  the  7nasters  of  whom  God  will  oue  day  require  the  souls  of  the 
slaves  committed  unto  them,  see  to  it,  that  \[keAb7-aham,  they  have  cate- 
chised servants  ;  and  not  imagine  that  the  Almighty  God  made  so  many 
thousands  of  reasonable  creatures  for  nothing,  but  only  to  serve  the  lusts 
of  Epicures,  or  the  gains  of  Mammonists ;  lest  the  God  of  Heaven  out  of 
meer  pity,  if  not  justice,  unto  those  unhappy  blacks,  be  provoked  unto  a 
vengeance  which  may  not  without  horrour,  be  thought  upon.  Lord,  when 
shall  we  see  Ethiopians  read  thy  scriptures  with  understa7idijis: .' 

May  the  English  nation  do  what  may  be  done,  that  the  Welch  may  not 
be  destroyedfor  the  lack  of  knowledge,  lest  our  indisposition  to  do  for  their 
souls,  bring  upon  us  all  those  judgments  of  Heaven,  which  Gildas  their 
coimtry-man,  once  told  them,  that  they  suffered  for  their  disregards  unto 
ours  ;  and  may  the  nef  mdous  m  issacres  of  the  English  by  the  Irish,  awak- 
en the  English  to  consider,  whether  they  h;ive  done  enough  to  reclaim 
the  Irish,  from  the  Popish  bigoltries  and  abominations,  with  which  they 
have  been  intoxicated. 


Book  III.}         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLANP.  6M 

May  the  several  factories  and  companies^  whose  concerns  lie  in  Jlsia, 
Africa,  or  America,  be  persuaded,  as  Jacob  once,  and  bt-fore  him  his 
grandfather  Abraham  was,  that  they  always  owe  unto  Goii  certain  propor- 
tions 0^  ihew possessions ,  by  the  honest pa?,;nenrs  of  which  liule  quit-rents, 
they  would  certainly  secwrc  and  enlarge  ttieir  enjoyment  oftlic  jjnucipal  ; 
but  that  they  are  under  a  very  particular  obligation  to  communicate  of 
our  spiritual  things,  unto  those  heathens,  by  whose  carnal  things  they 
are  enriched  ;  and  may  they  therelbre  make  it  their  study,  to  employ 
some  able  and  pious  ministers,  for  the  instruction  of  those  infidels  with 
whom  they  have  to  deal,  and  honoiirably  support  such  ministers  in  that 
employment. 

May  the  poor  Greeks,  Armenians,  Muscovites,  and  others,  in  the  eastern 
countries,  wearing  ihe  name  of  chj-isiians,  that  have  little  preaching  and 
no  printing,  and  few  Bibles  or  good  books,  now  at  last  be  furnished  with 
Bibles,  orthodox  catechisms,  and  practical  treatises  by  the  charity  of 
England  ;  and  may  our  presses  provide  good  store  of  good  books  for  them, 
in  their  own  tongues,  to  be  scatt^^red  among  them.  Who  knows  what 
convulsions  mighi  be  hastened  upon  the  whole  Mahometan  world  by  such 
an  extensive  charity. 

May  sufficient  nombers  of  great,  wise,  rich,  learned,  and  godly  men 
in  the  three  kingdoms,  procure  well  composed  societies,  by  whose  united 
counsels,  the  noble  design  of  evangelizing  the  world,  may  be  more  effectU' 
ally  carried  on  :  and  if  some  generous  persons  will  of  their  own  accord 
CO  nbine  for  such  consultations,  who  can  tell,  but  like  some  other  ce?e- 
brated  societies  heretofore  formed  from  such  small  beginnings,  they  may 
soon  have  that  countenance  of  authority,  which  may  produce  very  glo- 
rious effects,  and  give  opportunity  to  gather  vast  contributions  from  all 
well-disposed  people,  to  assist  and  advance  this  progress  of  Christianity. 
God  forbid,  that  Popery  should  expend  upon  cheating,  more  than  ten  times 
what  we  do  upon  saving  the  immortal  souls  of  men. 

Lastly,  may  many  worthy  men,  who  find  their  circumstances  will  al- 
low of  it,  get  the  language  of  some  nations  that  are  not  yet  brought  home 
to  God  ;  and  wait  upon  the  divine  providence,  fur  God's  leading  them  to, 
and  owning  them  in  their  apostolical  undertakings .  When  they  remem- 
her  what  Ruffinus  relates  concerning  the  conversion  of  the  Iberians,  and 
what  Socrates,  with  other  authors,  relates  concerning  the  conversion 
wrought  by  occasion  of  Frumentius  and  JEdesius,  in  the  Inner  India,  all  as 
it  were  by  accident,  surely  it  will  make  them  try,  what  may  be  done  by 
design  for  such  things  now  in  our  day  !  Thus,  let  them  see,  whether  while 
we  at  home  in  the  midst  of  wearisome  temptations,  are  angling  with  rods, 
which  now  and  then  catch  one  soul  for  our  Lord,  they  shall  not  be  fish- 
ing with  nets,  vvhich  will  bring  in  many  thousands  of  those,  concerning 
whom  with  unspeakable  joy  in  the  day  of  the  Lord,  they  may  say,  Behold 
I  and  the  children  which  God  has  given  me  !  Let  them  see,  whether,  sup- 
posing they  should  prosper  no  farther  than  to  preach  the  gospel  of  the 
kingdom  in  all  the  world  for  a  witness  unto  all  nations,  yet  the  end  which 
is  then  to  come,  will  not  bring  to  them  the  more  happy  lot,  wherein  they 
shall  stand,  that  are  found  so  doing. 

Let  no  man  be  discouraged  by  the  difficidties,  which  the  devil  will  be 
ready  to  clog  such  attempts  against  his  kingdom  with  ;  for  I  will  take 
leave  so  to  translate  the  words  of  the  wise  man,  Prov.  xxvii.  4.  What 
is  able  to  stand  before  zeal  ?  1  am  well  sati*fvcd.  that  if  men  had  the  wis- 
dom, to  discern  the  signs  of  the  times,  they  would  be  all  hands  at  work,  to 


532  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.       [Book  III. 

spread  the  name  of  our  Jesus  into  all  the  corners  of  the  earth.     Grant 
it,  0  my  God  ;  and  Lord  Jesus,  come  quickly. 


Ji  Copy  of  a  Letter  from  the  very  Reverend  Mr.  Richard  Baxter,  to  Mr- 
increase  Mather  (^then  in  London.) 

Written  upon  the  sight  of  Mr.  Eliot's  Life  in  a  former  Edition. 

Dear  Brother, 

*  I  Thought  1  had  been  near  dying  at  12  o'clock,  in  bed  ;  but 
'  your  book  revived  me  :  1  lay  reading  it,  until  between  one  and  two  I 
'  knew  much  of  Mr.  £/io;'s  opinions,  by  many  letters,  which  I  had  from 
'  him.  There  was  no  man  on  earth,  whom  I  honoured  above  him.  It 
'  is  his  evangelical  work,  that  is  the  apostolical  succession  that  I  plead 
'  for.  I  am  now  dying,  1  hope,  as  he  did.  It  pleased  me  to  read  from 
'  him,  my  case,  [my  understanding  faileth.,  my  memory  faileth,  my  tongue 
'fuileth,  (and  my  hand  and  pen  fail)  but  my  charity  faileth  not.]  That 
'  word  much  comforted  me.  I  am  as  zealous  a  lover  of  the  New-Eng- 
'  land  churches,  as  any  man,  according  to  Mr.  Nuyes,  Mr.  JVortons,  Mr. 
'  Mitchels,  and  the  Synod^s  model. 

'1  loved  your  father,  upoA  the  letters  1  received  from  him.  I  love 
'  you  better  for  your  learning,  labours,  and  peaceable  moderation.  I 
'  love  your  son  better  than  either  of  you,  for  the  excellent  temper  that 
'  appeareth  in  his  writings.  O  that  godliness  and  wisdom  thus  increase 
'  in  all  families  !  He  hath  honoured  himself  Aa//'  as  vmch  as  Mr.  Eliot: 
'  I  say,  but  half  as  much;  for  deeds  excel  words.  God  preserve  you, 
'  and  JVew- England  !  Pray  for, 

'  Your  fainting , 

August  3,  >  languishing  Friend, 

1691.     i  RI.  BAXTER.* 


REMAINS: 

OR, 

SHORTER  ACCOUNTS  OF  SUNDRY  DIVINES. 

USEFUL  IN  THE 

CHURCHES  OF  JS*EW-EJ\*GL1J^1). 


GATHERED  BY  COTTON  MATHER, 


THE  FOURTH  PART. 

WHERETO  IS  MORE  LARGELY  ADDEU, 

THE  LIFE  AND  DEATH  OF  THE  REVEREND 
MR.  JOHJS*  BAILEY. 


INTRODUCTION. 

Reader, 

Peruse,  /  pray  and  ponder  these  words  of  the  {ncomparabU  Tmrt- 
tine. 

Singularem  Dei  Griitiacn,  non  possumus,  quin  ^ternis  Laudibus,  Ce- 
lebremus,  quod  Novissimis  hisce  sasculis,  restituta  Evangelii  Luce,  tot 
tantosq;  Viros,  Doctrina  &.  Insigni  Pietate  Praeditos,  ad  Opus  Reforma- 
tionis  Inchoandum  &  Promovendum  Vocaverit  ;  qui  uberrima  Rerum  Sa- 
crarum  Scientia  imbuti,  &  Heroico  Spiritu  donati,  tanquatn  [  HiilQ  ^^i^Jli^JI 
Viri  Prodigis,  Tubae  Evangelicae  Sonitu,  &  Veritatis  Divinae  Fulgore, 
Tenebras  Erroris  Crassissimas  faelicis.«ime  fugarunt,  Antichristi  Regnvm 
Concusserunt,  &  Ecclesiatn  a  Mullis  saeculis  misere  Captivam,  and  Ty 
rannidis  Jugo  plusqam  ierreo  tantutn  non  oppressam,  e  Babylone  Mysti 
ca  gloriose  Evocarunt. 

Thou  art  prepared  then  to  proceed  in  what  remains  of  our  History. 

Reader,  thou  knowest  the  way  for  a  man  to  become  wise,  was  thus  declur- 
ed  by  an  oracle^  si  conroior  fi^^ret  Mortuis. 

And  thou  wilt  not  forget  that  lesson  sometimes  given  ; 

'  Since  we  have  lived  here,  and  since  we  are  to  die,   and  yet  live  after-: 

*  death,  and  others  will  succeed  us  when  we  are  dead,  we  are  greatly  con- 

*  cerned,  to  send  before  us  a  very  good  treasure,  to  carry  with  us  a  rem 

*  good  conscience,  and  to  leave  behind  us  a  very  good  example/ 


534  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  HL 

Behold  some  of  them,  who  did  so  ! 

It  hath  been  remarked,  that  rahen  Sarah  called  her  husband  Lord ;  her 
speech  was  all  an  heap  of  sinful  infidelity  ;  there  was  but  one  good  word  in 
it  :  yet  the  spirit  of  God,  long  after  lakes  notice  of  that  wor4-  And  xvhy 
should  not  we  then  tdke  notice,  of  many  a  good  work,  occurring  in  the  lives 
of  those,  concerning  whom  yet  we  do  not  pretend  or  suppose,  that  ihey  lived 
altogether  free  from  iotiriuities  I  their  intirmilies  were  but  humanities. 


CHAPTER  I. 

RjiMAiNS  of  the  first  Classis. 

The  surviving  friends  of  the  rest,  mentioned  in  the  first  catalogue  of 
confessors,  by  whom  the  gospel  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  was  brought  in- 
to this  wilderness,  having  supplied  me  with  so  few  and  small  informa- 
tions concerning  them,  that  I  am  of  the  opinion,  Frcfstat  nvlta  quavi  Pau- 
ca  dicere.  Let  all  their  vertues  then  be  galaxied  into  this  one  indistinct 
lustre,  they  were  faithful  servants  of  Christ,  and  sufferers  for  their  be- 
ing so. 

Nor  is  it  unlikely  that  there  might  be  some  among  those  good  men, 
who  yet  might  be,  in  so  little  exiraordinary,  that  there  might  be  the  same 
account  given  of  them,  that  there  was  of  a  certain  Bishop  of  Rome,  in  the 
second  century,  Kihil prceclari  de  Gubernatione  ^factis  ejus  commemorari 
potest ;  and  although  we  JVew- England ers  do  dwell  in  so  cold,  and  so  clear 
an  air,  that  more  of  the  smaller  stars  may  be  seen  by  our  consvierers  than 
in  many  other  places,  yea,  and  not  only  the  JVebulosa  of  Cancer  it  self, 
but  even  the  lesser  stars  which  compose  that  cloud,  are  considered  iimong 
us  ;  nevertheless,  for  us  to  attempt  the  writing  of  their  lives,  would  carry 
too  much  fondness  in  it  :   nor  do  we  forget  that  Suum  est  cuiq;  ordivulgus. 

Moreover,  there  were  divers  of  these  worthy  men,  who  by  removing 
back  to  England  upon  the  turn  of  the  tijnes,  have  almost  released  us  fiom 
such  a  large  account  of  them,  as  otherwise  might  have  been  expected 
from  us  :  and  yet  some  good  acco^int  of  not  a  few  among  them,  is  to  be 
reported.  I  remember,  Dr.  Pafin  in  his  travels,  tells  us,  that  in  a  cer- 
tain Mus(Kum  at  Vienna,  he  saw  a  cherry-stone,  on  which  were  engraved 
above  an  hundred  portraitures,  with  different  ornaments  of  the  head  upoo 
them.  I  must  now  endeavour  a  tenth  part  of  an  hundred  portraitures, 
with  different  o-naments  of  the  mind  upon  each  of  them  ;  nevertheless  I 
am  to  take  up  almost  as  little  room  as  a  cherry  stone  for  them  all.  Par- 
ticularly, 

Mr.  RICHARD  BLINMAN.  After  a  faithful  discharge  of  his  minis- 
try, at  Glocester,  and  at  New-London,  he  returned  into  England  ;  and  liv- 
ing to  a  good  old  age,  he  who  wherever  he  came,  did  set  himself  to  do 
good,  concluded  his  life  at  the  city  of  Bristol,  where  one  of  the  last  things 
he  did,  was  to  defend  in  print  the  cause  of  infant-baptism. 

Mr.  SAMUEL  EATON.  He  was  the  son  of  Mr.  Richard  Eaton,  the 
vicar  of  Great  Burdworth  in  Cheshire,  and  the  brother  of  Mr.  Theophilus 
Eaton,  the  renowned  Governour  of  New-Haven.  His  education  was  at 
the  University  of  Oxford  ;  and  because  it  will  doubtless  recommend  him 
to  find  such  a  pen,  as  that  which  wrote  the  Athence  Oxonienses  thus  char- 


Book  III.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  535 

acterising  of  him,  reader,  thou  shalt  have  the  very  words  of  that  writer 
concerning  him  :  After  he  had  left  the  university,  he  entred  into  the  sacred 
function,  Viok  orders  according  to  the  Church  of  England,  and  -was  beneficed. 
in  his  country  :  but  having  been  puritanically  educated,  he  did  dissent  in 
some  particulars  thereof.  Whereupon  finding  his  plac.  too  ucarm  for  hivfiy 
he  revolted,  and  went  into  New-England,  and  preached  among  the  brethren 
there.  But  let  us  have  no  more  of  this  Wood  !  Mr.  Eaton  was  a  very  holy 
man,  and  a  person  of  great  learning  and  judgment,  and  a  most  incompara- 
ble preacher.  But  upon  his  dissent  from  Mr.  Davenport,  about  the  nar- 
row terms,  and  forms  of  civil  government .  by  Mr.  Davenport,  then  forced 
upon  that  infant  colony,  his  brother  advised  him  to  a  removal  :  and  call- 
ing at  Boston  by  the  way,  when  he  was  on  his  removal,  the  church  there 
were  so  highly  affected  with  his  labours,  thus  occasionally  enjoyed  among 
them,  that  they  would  fain  have  engaged  him  unto  a  settlement  in  that 
place  But  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  had  more  service  for  him  in  Ol^-Eng- 
land,  than  he  could  have  done  in  New  ;  and  therefore  arriving  in  Eng- 
land, he  became  the  pastor  of  a  church  at  Duckenfield,  in  the  parish  of 
Stockfort.  in  Cheshire,  and  afterwards  at  Stockport;  and  a  person  of  emi- 
nent note  and  use,  not  only  in  that,  but  also  in  the  neighbour-county. 

After  the  restoration  of  K.  Charles  II  he  underwent  first  silencing, 
and  then  much  other  suffering,  from  the  persecution,  which  yet  calls  for 
a  national  repentance.  He  was  the  author  of  many  books,  and  especially- 
some  in  defence  of  the  christian  faith,  about  the  God-head  of  Christ,  against 
the  Socinian  blasphemies  :  and  his  help  was  joined  unto  Mr.  Timothy  Tai^ 
lors  in  writing  some  treatises  entituled.  The  Congregational  Way  Justified. 
By  these  he  out-lives  his  death,  which  fell  out  at  Denton,  in  the  parish  of 
Manchester  in  Lincashlre,  (where  says  our  friend  Rabshakeh  Wood,  he  had 
sheltered  hims-lf  am't  ig  the  brethren  after  his  ejection)  on  the  ninth  day  of 
January,  1664,  and  he  was  buried  in  the  chapel  there. 

Mr.  WILLIAM  HOOK.  This  learned,  holy,  and  humble  man,  was 
born  about  1600,  and  was  for  some  time  a  collegue  with  Mr.  Davenport, 
in  the  pastoral  charge  of  the  church  at  our  New-Haven;  on  the  day  of 
his  ordination,  whereto  he  humbly  chose  for  his  text  those  words  in  Judg. 
vii.  10.  Go  thou,  with  Pharah  thy  servayit ;  and  as  humbly  raised  his  doc- 
trine, That  in  great  services,  a  little  help  is  better  than  none  ;  which  he 
gave,  as  the  reason  of  his  own  being;  joined  with  so  considerable  a  Gideon 
as  Mr.  Davenport.  After  this  returning  into  England,  he  was  for  some 
while,  minister  at  Axmouth  in  Devonshire,  and  then  master  of  the  Savoy 
on  the  Strand,  near  London,  and  so  chaplain  to  the  greatest  man,  then  in 
the  nation.  He  was  the  author  of  divers  composures  that  saw  the  light  ; 
whereof  perhaps  one  of  the  most  memorable  is  that  about.  The  Privele- 
ges  of  the  Saints  on  Earth  above  those  in  Heaven.  But  there  was  one  of  his 
composures,  which  did  more  nearly  concern  himself,  than  perhaps  his 
persecutors  did  imagine  ;  and  that  was  about,  The  Slaughter  of  the  Wit- 
nesses :  for  he  bore  a  part  in  that  slaughter,  when  his  testimony  to  the 
kingly  office  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  in  bis  church,  procured  him  the 
condition  of  a  silenced  non  co  for  mist,  from  Alay  24.  1662,  in  March  21, 
1677,  when  he  died  in,  or  near  London,  and  went  from  the  priviledges  of 
labours  among  the  saints  on  earth,  to  thofie  o{ rewards  among  the  saints  in 
Heaven.  He  lies  buried  m  the  sleeping-place  on  the  north  si<ie  of  the  New 
Artillery  Garden. 


636  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  Hi 

Mr.  ROBERT  PECK.  This  light  having  been  by  the  persecuting 
prelates,  put  under  a  bushel,  was,  by  the  good  providence  of  Heaven, 
fetched  away  unto  New-England,  about  the  year  1638,  where  the  good 
people  of  our  Hnigham  did  rejoice  in  the  light  for  a  season.  But  within  two 
or  three  years,  the  invitation  of  his  friends  at  Hingham  in  England,  per- 
swaded  him  to  a  return  unto  them  ;  where,  being  though  a  great  person 
for  stature,  yet  a  greater  for  spirit^  he  was  greatly  serviceable  for  the 
good  of  the  church. 

Mr.  HUGH  PETERS.  A  brief  narrative  of  his  life,  both  before  and 
after  his  abode,  for  about  seven  years,  in  the  charge  of  the  church  at  Sa- 
lem, the  reader  may  find  at  the  conclusion  of  his  advice  to  his  daughter. 
published  under  the  title  of,  A  Dying  Father^s  last  Legacy  to  an  only  Child  : 
and  indeed,  I  heartily  recommend  it  unto  his  reading.  The  narrative  of 
his  death  has  also  been  long  since  published  unto  the  world  :  and  it  re- 
ports those  to  have  been  amongst  his  last  words.  Oh  !  this  is  a  good 
day  !  He  is  come  that  I  have  long  looked  for,  and  I  shall  be  with  him  in  glory  ! 

Mr.  THOMAS  PETERS.  He  came  over  unto  New-England,  in  the 
time  of  the  civil  war  ;  and  staying  but  about  three  years,  he  returned 
into  England.  A  worthy  man,  and  a  writer  of  certain  pieces,  which  will, 
I  suppose,  preserve  his  memory  among  those  that  are  strangers,  as  I  am 
thereunto. 

Mr.  SAXTON.     He  was  a  Yorkshire  man  ;  a  sludious  and  a  learn- 

ed person,  a  great  Hebrician.  The  unsettled  condition  of  the  colony, 
and  some  unhappy  contention  in  the  plantation,  where  he  lived,  put  him 
upon  removing  from  Scituate,  first  unto  Boston,  and  so  unto  England,  in 
his  reduced  age.  I  find  in  honest  Mr.  Ryther^s  devout  book,  entituled, 
A  Plat  for  Mariners,  this  passage  related  concerning  him  :  '  An  old  Pu- 
'  ritan  minister,  [Mr.  Saxion,  of  Leeds,  in  Yorkshire,]  in  a  storm,  coming 

*  from  New-England,  when  they  were  all  expecting  the  vessel  to  sink,  he 

*  said,  Oh,  who  is  now  for  Heaven,  who  is  hound  for  Heaven  /' 

I  $ay  nothing,  because  I  know  nothing  of  Mr.  Brecy  ;  but  this,  he  also 
returned  into  England.  But  the  less  of  him,  the  more  might  be  written 
of  Mr.  Giles  Firmin,  who  visited  New-England  in  his  younger  years,  but 
afterwards  became,  in  England,  an  eminent  preacher  of  the  gospel,  and  a 
writer,  as  well  as  a  preacher  of  it.  Among  the  rest  of  his  books,  that 
golden  one,  which  is  entituled.  The  Real  Christian,  does  really  prove 
the  title  to  be  his  own  character  ;  and  the  rest,  as  well  as  that,  prove  him 
to  be  an  able  scholar,  as  well  as  a  real  christian.  I  suppose  him  to  be 
yet  living  in  a  fruitful  old  age,  at  Ridgewel,  in  Essex :  but  such  demonstra- 
tions, he  hath  still  given  of  his  aft'ections  to  New-England,  on  all  occa- 
sions, that  he  might  have  justly  resented  it,  as  an  injury,  if  he  had  been 
wholly  omitted  in  the  catalogue  of  them  that  have  deserved  well  of  that 
country. 

Besides  these  persons,  there  are  some  others,  of  whom  a  larger  ac- 
count might  be  endeavoured. 

Thrre  shall  bo  all  that  we  will  offer. 


Book  III.]  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  537 

CHAPTER  II. 
The  Life  of  Mr.  Thomas  Ali.en. 

It  vvas  a  computation  made  in  that  year,  when  our  colony  was  just 
for'y  years  old,  and  our  land  h.id  seen  rest  forty  years,  that  of  nninisters 
which  had  then  come  from  England  unto  us,  chietly  in  the  ten  first  years, 
there  were  ninety  four :  of  which  number,  thirty  one  were  then  alive; 
thirty-six  had  retired  unto  Heaven ;  twenty-seven  had  returned  back  to 
Europe. 

Of  those^r5<  comers,  who  again  left  the  country,  soon  after  the'iv first 
coming,  one  was  that  worthy  man  Mr.  Thomas  Allen,  who  after  he  had 
for  some  time  approved  himself  a  pious  and  painful  minister  of  the  gos- 
pel in  our  C'harlcstown.  saw  cause  to  return  back  into  England ;  where 
he  lived  unto  a  good  old  age,  in  the  city  of  JVorTn'ich. 

The  name  of  Allen  being  but  our  pronunciation  of  the  Saxon  word,  Al- 
wine,  which  is  as  much  as  to  say  beloved  of  all.  expressed  the  fate  of  this 
our  Allen,  among  the  generality  of  the  v/ell-disposcd.  And  being  a  man 
greatly  beloved,  he  applied  himselfto  enquire  much  into  the  times,  where- 
in his  predecessor  Daniel,  was  an  hard  student,  when  the  angel  came  to 
call  him  so. 

Though  he  staid  not  very  long  in  this  country,  yet  this  country  lays 
claim  especially  to  two  of  his  composures,  which  have  been  serviceable 
unto  the  world.  The  former  of  these  was  printed  here  ;  namely,  An  in- 
vitation unto  thirty  sinners  to  come  unto  their  Saviour  ;  prefaced  and  as- 
sisted into  the  li;iht  by  our  worthy  Higginson.  But  the  latter  was  print- 
ed beyond  the  sea;  and  enlituled,  A  Chain  of  Scripture  Chronology: 
wherein  the  author  was  disposed  like  the  illustrious  Bucholtzer,  who  be- 
ing weary  of  controversy,  betook  himself  to  chronology,  saying,  Malle  se 
Computare  quain  Disputare.  This  is  a  most  learned  and  useful  piece  ; 
and  all  my  further  account  of  the  author  shall  be  in  the  words  of  the  fam- 
ous Greenhill,  in  his  epistle  before  it.     Says  he, 

'  This  work  having  had  its  conception  in  a  remote  quarter  of  the  world, 
'  it  was  latent  in  his  closet,  the  greatest  part  of  seven  years  ;  as  Joash 
'  sometimes  was  kept  secret  in  a  chamber  of  the  temple,  before  he  was 
'  brought  to  public  view,  by  the  means  of  Jelwjadah,  that  good  old  high 
'  priest :  and  it  had  still  been  suppressed  had  not  the  author  heenpressed, 
'  and  charged  with  hiding  ofa  talent  in  a  napkin,  by  such  another  as  Je- 
'  hojadah  was  [Mr.  John  Cotton]  whose  soul  is  now  amongst  the  saints  in 
'  Heaven,  resting  from  its  manifold  labours,  and  whose  name  both  is,  and. 
'  ever  will  be  precioxis  in  all  the  gates  of  the  daughters  of  Sion,  through  all 
'  ages.  When  Moses.  Daniel  and  John  were  in  suffering  conditions,  they 
'  had  much  lizht  from  God,  and  gave  forth  much  truth  concerning;  the 
'  church  and  the  times:  and  many  of  our  reverend,  learned,  and  godly 

*  brethren,  being  through  the  iniquity  of  the  times  driven  into  America, 
'  by  looking  up  unto  God,  and  by  searching    of  the   scriptures,   received 

*  and  found  much  Z('g-,'i^  concerning  the  c/u<rcA  and  the  times;  and  have 

*  made   us,  and  ages  to  come,  beholden  to  them,  by  communicating  the 
'  same  ;  amongst  whom  nonv,  is  this  learned  and  judicious  author.' 

From  the  epitaph  of  Helvicus,  the  great  chrotiologist,  we  will  presume 
to  borrow  a  tetrastich,  for  this  great  student  in  chronology 

Vol.  I.  68 


■y68  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  Hi'. 

EPITAPHiUM. 

Angelicos  inter  ccetus,  Jinimasq;  Beatas; 

Spirttus  Allexi  Gatidia  Mille  Capil  : 
i^d  Litui  SoTiitum  dum  Corpus  4*  Ossa  resurgatit. 

Tolus  nt  Allenus  Vivificatus  ovet. 


CHAPTER  HI. 

The  Life  of  Mr.  John  Knowles. 

Our  blessed  Saviour  has  denounced  that  righteous  and  fearful  curse, 
apon  those,  who  despise  the  offers  of  his  glorious  gospel,  Whosoever  shall 
not  receive  you,  nor  hear  your  n-ords,  it  shall  be  more  tolerable  for  Sodom 
and  Gomorrah  in  the  day  of  judgment,  than  for  that  city.  And  the  excel- 
lent KnovL-les.  was  an  eminent  person  among  those  embassadors  oj  Heaven. 
in  the  quarrel  of  whose  entertainment,  the  King  of  Heaven,  wonderfully 
accomplished  that  prediction.  If  j\'etf-£no/an(/ hath  been  in  some  re- 
spects ImmanueV s  land ,  it  is  well  ;  but  this  I  am  sure  of,  Immamtel-Col- 
lege  contributed  more  than  a  little  to  make  it  so,  a  fellotv  whereof  once 
was  our  Mr.  John  Knon-les. 

He  was  among  the  first  comers  into  Keza-  England,  joined  as  a  colleague 
with  Mr.  Philips  at  Watertozt-n.  But  as  he  began,  so  he  ended  his  pious 
days  in  Englav.d;  between  which  there  occurred  one  very  re/narA^aZii/e 
providence,  now  to  be  related. 

In  the  year  1641,  one  Mr.  Bennet,  a  gentleman  from  Virginia,  arrived 
at  Boston,  with  letters  from  well-disposed  people  there,  unto  the  minis- 
ters o( jYczv-England,  bewailing  their  sad  condition,  for  the  want  of  the 
glorious  gospel,  and  entreating  that  they  might  hence  be  supplied  with 
ministers  of  that  gospel.  These  letters  were  openly  read  at  Boston  up- 
on a  lecture-day  ;  whereupon  the  ministers  agreed  upon  setting  apart  a 
day  {or fasting  and  prayer,  to  implore  the  direction  of  God  about  this  bu- 
siness ;  and  then  the  churches  of  Walertown,  Braintree,  and  Rori'ley,  ha- 
ving each  of  them  two  ministers  apiece,  Mr.  Philips  o{  lVaterto7i;n,  Mr. 
Thompson  of  Braintree,  and  Mr.  Miller  ofRoTvley,  were  pitched  upon  for 
the  intended  service  ;  whereof  the  General  Court  so  approved,  that  it 
was  ordered,  the  governour  should  recommend  these  persons  by  his  let- 
ters to  the  governour  and  council  at  Virginia. 

Mr.  Philips  being  indisposed  for  the  voyage,  Mr.  Kiioxu'les  went  in  his 
room  ;  and  Mr.  Miller's  bodily  weaknesses,  caused  him  also  to  decline 
the  voyage.  But  the  two  churches  of  JVatej-toicn  and  Braintree.  though  they 
loved  their  ministers  very  well,  yet  cheerfully  dismissed  them  unto  this 
great  concern  ;  accounting  it  their  honour  that  they  had  such  desireable 
persons,  by  whom  they  might  make  a  mission  of  the  gospel,  unto  a  peo- 
ple that  satin  the  region  and  shadoTn  of  death. 

On  October  7,  1642,  they  began  their  voyage  :  at  Rhode-Island,  they 
lay  long  wind-boimd  ;  and  they  met  with  so  many  other  difficulties,  that 
they  made  it  eleven  weeks  of  dangerous  passage,  before  they  arrived 
at  Virginia  :  nevertheless,  tbey  had  this  advantage  in  the  way,  that  they 
took  in  a  third  tninister  for  their  assistance  ;  namely,  Mr.  James^  then  at 


Book  III.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  6^9 

Though  their  hazardous  retardations  in  their  voyage,  made  them  some- 
times to  suspect,  whether  they  had  a  clear  call  of  God  unto  their  under- 
taking, yet  the  success  of  their  ministry,  when  they  came  to  Virginia,  did 
sufficiently  extinguish  that  suspicion.  They  had  little  encouragement 
from  the  rw/ersof  the  place,  but  they  had  a  kind  entertainment  with  the 
people  ;  and  in  the  several  parts  of  the  country  where  they  were  bestow- 
ed, there  were  many  persons  by  their  ministry  brought  home  to  God. 

But  as  Austin  told  mankind,  the  devil  ~Ji'as  never  turned  christian  yet : 
the  porcers  of  darkness  could  not  count  it  for  the  interest,  that  the  light 
ofthe  gospel  powerfully  preached,  should  reach  those  dark  places  of  the 
earth.  The  rulers  of  that  province  did  not  allow  of  their  publick  preach- 
ing ;  but  instead  thereof,  an  order  was  made,  That  such  as  zz'oidd  not 
conform  to  the  ceremonies  of  the  Church  o/"  England,  shoidd  by  such  a  day, 
depart  the  country.  By  which  order,  these  holy,  f;iithful,  painful  minis- 
ters, were  driven  away  from  the  Virginia  coast :  but  when  they  return- 
ed, as  they  left  behind  them,  not  a  few  seals  of  their  ministry',  so  they 
brought  with  them  some,  who  afterwards  proved  blessings  to  Kext'-Eng- 
land. 

Well,  before  the  day  fixed  for  the  departure  of  these  ministers  came, 
the  Indians  far  and  near  having  entred  into  a  conspiracy,  to  cut  otf  the 
English  in  those  territories,  executed  it  in  an  horrible  mass^tc re,  where- 
by at  least  three  hundred  poor  English  Virginians,  were  at  once  barba- 
rously butchered,  which  massacre  was  also  accompanied  with  a  grievous 
mortality,  that  caused  many  sober  persons  to  remove  out  of  that  colony, 
and  others  to  acknoivledge  the  justice  of  God  upon  them,  for  the  ill  treats, 
which  had  been  given  to  the  ministers  of  his  gospel,  and  the  gospel 
brought  by  those  ministers. 

After  this,  did  Mr.  Knordes  remove  back  to  England,  where  he  was  a 
preacher  at  the  Cathedral,  in  the  city  of  Bristol,  and  lived  in  great  credit 
and  service  for  divers  years. 

But  when  the  act  of  uniformity ,  made  such  a  slaughter  ofnon-confor7nisis; 
Mr.  Knowles  was  one  ofthe  ministers  which  were  silenced  by  that  act. 
And  after  that  civil  death,  he  lived  in  London  a  collegue  to  the  famous 
Mr.  Kentish,  and  a  blessing  to  the  Church  of  God. 

Exercising  his  ministry  in  the  city  oi London,  he  underwent  many  g-ner« 
ous  persecutions,  and  received  as  many  glorious  deliverances. — But  when 
some  of  his  friends  discouraged  him,  with  fears  of  his  being  thrown  into 
prison,  if  he  did  not  affect  more  of  privacy,  he  replied,  In  truth,  I  had 
rather  be  in  a  gaol,  where  I  might  have  a  number  of  souls,  to  whom  I  anight 
preach  the  truths  of  my  blessed  Master,  than  live  idle  in  my  own  house,  with- 
out any  such  opportunities. 

He  lived  unto  a  very  great  age,  and  staid  longer  out  o{  Heaven,  than 
the  most  of  them  that  live  in  Heaven  upon  earth.  But  in  his  great  age, 'he 
continued  still  to  do  grea?  g-oof/ ;  wherein  his  labours  were  so  fervent 
and  eager  that  he  would  sometimes  preach  till  he  fell  dow7i ;  and  yet  have 
a  youthful  readiness  in  the  matter  and  spirit  of  his  preaching.  His  last 
falling  down  was  a  flying  up ;  and  an  escape  to  that  land  where  the  wea,- 
ry  are  at  rest. 

EPITAPHIUM. 

Vis  Scire,  Quis  Sim?  Nomen  est  Kkoi.esius  Dixi  Satis ! • 


340  THE  HISTORY  OV  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  HI. 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Elisha''s  bones.     The  Life  of  Mr.  Henry  Whitfield. 

Cupiditalem  Imitandi fecit ;  Spem  abstulix. 

There  has  been  a  trite  proverb,  which  1  wish  indeed  were  so  thread- 
"bare  as  to  be  never  used  more  ; 

Jlngelicus  Juvenis,  senibus  Saianizat  in  Jlnnis. 

which,  though  it  were  pity  it  should  ever  speak  EngJish,  has  been  Eng- 
lished, A  young  saint,  an  old  devil.  I  remember  Erasmus  believes,  the 
devil  himself  was  the  author  of  that  proverb.  This  1  am  sure,  the  pro- 
verb was  none  of  Solomon'' s.  who  says.  Train  up  a  child  in  the  nay  that  he 
should  go,  and  when  he  is  old,  he  will  not  leave  it.  Inileed  a  young  sinner 
may  make  an  old  devil ;  a  young  hypoaite,  a  young  dissembler,  pretend- 
ing to  saintship,  may  do  so  ;  but  a  youug  saint  will  certainly  make  an 
old  angel. 

And  so  did  our  blessed  Whitfield.  He  was  a  gentleman  of  good  ex- 
traction by  his  birth  ;  but  of  a  better  by  his  new-birth  :  nor  did  liis  neiv- 
birth  come  very  long  after  his  birth.  He  did  betimes  begin  his  journey 
heavenwards  ;  but  he  did  not  soon  tire  in  that  journey  ;  nor  did  the  ser- 
pent by  the  way,  the  adder  in  the  path,  prevail  to  make  him  come  short 
home  at  last. 

His  father  being  an  eminent  lazvycr,  designed  this  his  youngest  son,  to 
be  a  lawyer  also,  and  therefore  afforded  him  a  liberal  education,  first  at 
the  university,  and  then  at  the  Inns  of  Court.  But  the  gracious  and  early 
operations  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  on  l)is  heart,  inclined  him  rather  to  be 
preacher  of  the  gospel,  and  in  his  inclinations  he  was  encouraged  by  such 
eminent  ministers,  a«  Dr  Stanton,  Mr.  Byfield,  and  others. 

He  was  very  pious  in  his  childhood,  and  because  pious,  tl  erefoiepray- 
crful ;  yea,  so  addicted  unto  prayer,  that  in  ihe  very  school  it>elf,  he  would 
be  sometimes  praying,  when  the  scholars  about  him  imagined  by  his  pos- 
tures, that  he  had  only  been  intent  upon  his  hook. 

As  he  grew  up,  he  grew  exceedingly  in  his  acquaintance  with  God, 
with  Christ,  and  with  the  exceeding  riches  of  s^rccc  displayed  in  the  new 
covenant.  And  he  gained  such  a  grounded  assurance  of  his  own  saving 
interest,  in  that  covenant,  that  he  had  not  for  forty  years  together,  fallen 
into  any  miscarriage,  which  made  any  considerable  breach  upon  that 
assurance. 

Oke/y  in  Surrey,  was  the  place  where  the  providence  of  the  Lord  Je- 
sus Christ  now  stationed  him  ;  where  his  labours  were  blessed  unto  the 
good  of  many,  not  only  in  his  own  town,  but  in  all  the  circumjacent 
countr3^  from  whence  on  holy-days,  the  people  would  flock  to  hear  him. 
At  length,  observing  that  he  did  more  good,  by  preaching  sometimes 
abroad,  than  by  preaching  always  at  home,  and  enjoying  then  a  church- 
living  of  the  first  magnitude,  besides  a  fair  estate  of  his  own,  he  procured 
apd  maintained  another  godly  minister  at  Okely ;  and  by  means  thereof, 
he  had  the  liberty  to  preach  in  many  places,  which  were  destitute  of 
ministers,  where  his  labours  were  successful  in  the  conversion  of  mann' 
i5onls  unto  God. 


Book  III.]  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  S41, 

He  was  one  who  abounded  in  liberality  and  hospitality ;  and  his  house 
was  always  much  resorted  unto.  He  was  for  twenty  years,  a  conformist ; 
but  yet  a  pious  non-confonnist  was  all  this  while  very  df^ar  'I'lto  hiai  : 
and  such  persecuted  servants  of  Ciirist,  as  Mr.  Cotton.  .Mr.  iiuoker,  Mr. 
Goodwin,  and  Mr.  A'j/e,  then  molested  for  their  non  conjorymty,  were 
sheltered  under  his  roof.  At  last,  being  present  at  the  conference  be- 
tween Mr.  Cotton,  and  some  other  famous  divines  upon  the  controver- 
sies of  church- discipline,  there  appeared  so  much  of  scripture  and  reason 
on  that  -ide,  that  Mr.  WkiifielJ  also  became  a  non  conformist.  But  now, 
finding  it  impossible  for  him,  to  proceed  in  the  public  exercise  of  his  min- 
istry, he  obtained  a  godly  successor ,  he  embraced  a  modest  secession,  and 
he  resigned  his  place  with  the  true  spirit  o{ self-denial. 

He  now  sold  his  personal  estate,  and  came  over  to  JVew -England,  in  the 
year  1639,  with  a  multitude  of  poor  people,  out  o(  Surrey.,  Kent,  and  Sus- 
sex, who  could  not  live  without  his  ministry.  With  these,  he  began  a 
new  plantation,  about  twenty  miles  from  Kezij- Haven,  and  called  it  Guil- 
ford :  where  he  mightily  encouraged  the  people  to  bear  with  a  christian 
patience  and  fortitude,  the  difficulties  of  the  wilderness,  which  they  were 
come  into  j  not  only  by  his  exhortations,  but  also  by  his  own  exemplary 
contentment,  with  low  and  mean  things,  after  he  had  once  lived  in  a 
more  splendid  manner,  than  most  other  ministers. 

His  way  of  preaching  was  much  like  Dr.  Sibs'' ;  and  there  was  a  mar- 
vellous majesty  and  sanctity,  observable  in  it,  He  carried  much  author- 
ity with  him  ;  and  using  frequently  to  visit  the  particular  families  of  his 
flock,  with  profitable  discourses  on  the  great  concerns  of  their  interiour 
state,  it  is  not  easy  to  describe  the  reverence  with  which  they  enter- 
tained him. 

He  sojourned  eleven  years  at  Guilford,  living  with  his  large  family  of 
ten  children,  mostly  on  his  own  estate,  which  was  thereby  exceedingly 
exhausted.  But  the  inconveniences  of  Keiv-England,  and  invitations  to 
Oldy  at  length  overcame  him,  to  return  into  his  native  country  :  and  at 
the  time  of  parting,  the  whole  town  accompanied  him  unto  the  water-side, 
with  a  spring  tide  of  tears,  because  they  should  see  his  face  no  more. 

This  was  in  the  year  1650. 

How  highly  his  ancient  friends  then  welcomed  him  ;  how  highly  the 
greatest  persons  in  the  nation  then  respected  him  ;  how  faithfully  he 
then  discharged  his  ministry  in  the  city  of  Winchester ;  how  many  servi- 
ces he  occasionally  did  for  Keiv-England  ;  and  how  triumphantly  at  last 
he  flew  away  to  Heaven  ;  must  be  no  part  of  this  history. 

But  let  the  excellent  words  of  Lupichius  in  his  epitaph,  be  borrowed 
for  an  epitaph  to  this  rare  person  ;  inasmuch  as  no  words  can  more  lire- 
lihj  express  the  very  spirit  of  all  his  life. 

Dum  mihi  Vitafuit,  Tibi,  Christe,  Fidelis  vt  cssem, 

Mente  Pia  Studui,  Dogma  Sonando  Tunm. 
Tu  mihi  DcditioE, — Tu  Divitiwc/;  fuisti ; 

Til  mihi  Dcfuncto,  Gloria.  Pita,  Sabis. 


542  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  [Book  IIJ: 

CHAPTER  V. 

Remains  of  the  Second  Classis. 

Of  our  second  catolague  ;ire  now  fallen  asleep,  Arnold,  the  author  of 
a  savoury  discourse,  published  under  the  title  of  David  serving  his  gen- 
eration :  Bishop,  Bulkly,  Carter,  Dean,  Hanford  [of  which  worthy 
man,  let  the  reader,  here  in  a  crotchet,  as  we  go  along,  refresh  himself 
with  one  crotchctly  passage :  he  was  near  forty  years  a  faithful,  painful, 
and  pious  minister  at  JVorwalk,  even  from  the  first  settlement  of  that 
plantation  :  but  though  he  had  the  comfort  of  seeing  a  good  and  great 
success  to  his  ministry  there,  yet  there  were  times  wherein  the^j^re  of 
contention  annoyed  the  affairs  of  that  church  exceedingly :  and  in  this 
Jire,  there  once  happened  such  a  smoke,  that  the  people  made  this  one  of 
their  articles  to  the  council  againsthim,  that  in  a  certain  paper  of  his, 
he  had  Opprobriously  called  them  Indian  devils :  the  council  there- 
upon with  wonder.,  calling  for  the  paper,  wherein  the  reproachful  terms 
was  to  be  looked  for,  found  his  expression  to  have  been  only  thus,  Every 
individual  among  them  :  which  occasioned  a  very  joco-serious  reflection 
upon'the  ridiculous  errors  and  follies  that  attend  a  quarrelsome  disposi- 
tion ;]  Hough,  Newton.  And  into  this  catalogue  I  am  content  that  there 
should  be  received  (for  the  saints  of  this  catalogue  aheady  departed  have 
received  him)  honest  Mr.  J\'ichoias  Baker  of  Scitvate ;  who,  though  he 
had  but  a  private  education^  yet  being  a  pious  and  zealous  man  ;  or  as 
Dr.  Arrowsmith  expresses  it,  so  good  a  logician,  that  he  could  offer  up 
to  God  a  reasonable  service,  so  good  an  arithmetician,  that  he  could  wisely 
number  his  days  ;  and  so  good  an  orator,  that  he  perswaded  himself  to  be 
a  good  christian  ;  and  being  also  one  of  good  natural  parts,  especially  of  a 
strong  memory,  was  chosen  pastor  of  the  church  there  ;  and  in  the  pas^ 
toral  charge  of  that  church,  he  continued  about  eighteen  years,  until 
that  horror  of  mankind,  and  reproach  of  medicine,  the  Stone  (under 
which  which  he  preached  patience,  by  a  very  memorable  example  of  it  ; 
never  letting  fall  any  word  worse  than  this,  which  was  an  usual  word 
with  him,  Jl  mercy  of  God  it  is  no  worse  .')  put  an  end  unto  his  days. 

But  he  that  brings  up  the  rear,  is  Mr.  John  Woodbridge,  of  whom  we 
are  able  to  speak  a  little  more  particularly. 

He  was  born  at  Stanton,  ne  ^r  Highworth,  in  Wiltshire,  about  the  year 
1613,  of  which  parish  his  father  was  minister  ;  and  a  minister  so  able 
and  faithful,  as  to  obtain  an  high  esteem  among  those  that  at  all  knew  the 
invaluable  worth  of  such  a  minister.  His  mother  was  daughter  to  Mr. 
Robert  Parker,  and  a  daughter  who  did  so  virtuously,  that  her  own  per- 
sonal character  would  have  made  her  highly  esteemed,  if  a  relation  to 
such  a  fither  had  not  farther  added  unto  the  lustre  of  her  character 

Our  John  was,  bv  his  worthy  parents,  trained  up  in  the  way  that  he 
should  go,  and  sent  unto  Oxford,  when  his  education  and  proficiency  at 
school  had  ripened  him  for  the  university  ;  and  kept  at  Oxford,  until  the 
oath  of  conformity  came  to  be  required  of  him  ;  which  neither  his  father, 
nor  his  conscience  approving,  he  removed  frona  thence  unto  a  course  oi 
more  private  studies.  The  rigorous  enforcing  of  the  unhappy  ceremonies, 
then  causing  many  that  understood,  and  regarded  the  second  commandment 
in  the  laws  of  Heaven,  to  seek  a  peaceable  recess  for  the  pure  worship  of 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  an  American  desart  ;  our  young  Woodbridge 
with  the  consent  of  Isis  parents,  undertook  a  voyage  to  JVew-Englaud 


Book  III.]        THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  54^ 

about  the  year  1634,  and  the  company  and  assistance  of  his  worthy  uncle 
Mr.  Thomas  Parker,  was  not  the  least  encouragement  of  his  voyage. 

He  had  not  been  long  in  the  country,  before  JS'eii^berry  began  to  be 
planted  ;  where  he  accordingly  took  uplands,  and  so  seated  himself,  that 
he  comfortably  and  industriously  studied  on,  until  the  advice  of  his  father's 
death  obliged  him  to  return  into  England ;  where,  having  settled  his  atfrtirs, 
he  returned  again  unto  jYext)- England,  bringing  with  him  his  two  brothers  ; 
whereof  one  died  by  the  way.  He  had  married  the  daughter  of  the 
Honourable  Thomas  Dudely,  Esq.  and  the  town  ol  Jindover  then  tirst  peep- 
ing into  the  world,  he  was  by  the  hands  of  Mr.  Wilson  and  Mr.  Worcester, 
Sept.  16,   1644,  ordained  the  teacher  of  the  congregation  there. 

Here  he  continued  with  good  reputation,  discharging  the  duties  of  his 
ministrj/^,  until  upon  the  invitation  ot  his  friends  he  went  once  more  to 
England,  in  the  year  1647,  where  he  soon  found  employment  (besides 
his  being  a  chaplain  to  the  commissioners  treatmg  with  the  King  at  the  isle 
of  Wight)  first  at  the  considerable  town  of  Andover,  and  afterwards  at 
Burford  St.  Martins,  in  Wiltshire  ;  at  the  last  of  which  places,  he  con- 
tinued until  the  return  of  Episcopacy  first  sequestred  him,  and  they  being 
outed  of  the  school  at  Newberry,  the  infamous  Bartholomew-act,  caused 
him,  in  the  year  1663,  (with  his  now  numerous  family)  to  come  once 
more  unto  New-England.  Here  it  was  not  long  before  the  church  of 
Newberry  solicited  him  to  become  an  assistant  unto  his  aged  uncle  Mr. 
Parker;  and  in  answer  to  their  solicitations,  he  bestowed  his  constant, 
learned  and  holy  labours  upon  them. 

At  last,  there  arose  little  differences  between  him  and  some  of  the  peo- 
ple upon  certain  points  of  church- discipline,  wherein  his  largeness  and 
their  straitness,  might  perhaps  better  have  met  in  a  temper ;  and  these 
difiFerences  ended  not,  without  his  putting  an  end  unto  hi?  own  ministry 
among  them  5  after  which,  the  remarkable  blessing  of  God  upon  his  own 
f^rivate  estate,  abundantly  made  up  to  him  the  publick  stipend  which  he 
had  parted  withal.  The  country  hereupon  in  token  of  their  value  for 
him,  chose  him  a  magistrate  of  the  colony,  that  so  he  miofht  in  yet  a  more 
extensive  capacity,  be  a  minister  of  God  unto  them  for  good  ;  and  upon  the 
alteration  of  the  government,  he  was  made  a  Justice  of  Peace,  in  which 
office  he  continued  unto  the  last. 

He  had  issue  twe/ue  children,  whereof  c/erera  lived  unto  the  age  of  men 
and  women  :  and  he  had  the  consolation  of  seeing  three  sons,  with  two 
sons-in-law,  improved  in  the  ministry  of  the  gospel,  and  four  grandsons 
happily  advancing  thereunto.  A  person  he  was,  truly  of  an  excellent 
spirit  ;  a  pious  disposition  accompanied  him  from  his  early  childhood,  and 
as  he  grew  in  years,  he  grew  in  proofs  and  fruits  of  his  having  been  sanc- 
tified from  his  infancy.  He  spent  much  of  his  time  in  holy  meditations, 
by  which  the  foretasts  of  Heaven,  were  continually  feeding  of  his  devout 
soul  ;  and  he  abounded  in  all  other  devotions  of  serious,  heavenly,  ex- 
perimental Christianity. 

He  was  hy  nature  wonderfully  composed,  patient,  and  pleasant ;  and 
he  was,  by  grace  much  more  so  :  he  had  a  great  command  of  his  pas- 
sions, and  coidd,  and  would,  and  often  did  forgive  injuries,  at  a  rate  that 
hardly  can  be  imitated.  It  was  rarely  or  never  observed,  that  worldly 
disappointments  made  any  grievous  impressions  upon  his  mind  ;  but  as  once 
when  word  was  brought  him,  that  a  sore  disaster  had  befallen  many  of 
his  cattel,  the  messenger  was  exceedingly  surprized,  on  his  beholding 
the  only  resentments  gf  this  good  ma^  thereupon  to  be  in  these  humble 


544.  THE  HISTORY  OF  NE\V-ENGLAN1>.         [Book  HL 

expressions,  which  were  the  first  he  uttered,  What  a  mercy  it  is,  ihai  this 
is  the  first  time  that  ever  I  met  with  such  a  disaster  ! 

This  was  the  trame  of  mind  with  which  he  still  entertained  all  disas- 
terous  occurrences.  Only  he  was  obsprvably  overwhelmed  by  the  death 
of  his  most  religious,  prudent  and  taithful  consort,  when  she  was  July  1 , 
1691,  fifty  years  after  his  first  marriage  unto  her,  torn  away  from  the  de- 
sire of  his  eyes.  His  value  for  the  zi)holc  zvorld,  was,  altera  manner,  ex- 
tinguished in  this  loss,  of  what  was  to  him  the  best  part  of  it ;  and  be 
sometimes  declared  himself  desirous  to  be  gone,  whenever  the  Loi'd  of 
Heaven  should  please  to  call  him  thither. 

At  last,  about  the  beginning  of  March,  1695,  the  strangury  arrested 
him  ;  and  he,  who  hnd  been  a  great  rmder,  a  great  scholar,  a  great  chris- 
tian, and  a  pattern  of  goodness  in  all  the  successive  stations,  wherein  the 
Lord  of  Hosts  had  placed  him,  on  March  17,  the  day  of  the  christian- sab- 
bath, after  much  pain,  went  unto  bis  everlasting  rest;  having  a  few  min- 
utes before  it.  refused  a  glass  of  offered  wine,  saying,  I  am  going  where  I 
shall  have  better ! 

His  age  was  about  eighty-two. 

Let  him  now  report  the  rest  himself,  in  an  epitaph,  like  that  on  the 
*omb  o£  Christianus  Machabaus. 

Qunm  Vivens  Potui  fantum  sperare,  Quiete 
Mortutis  in  Solida  nunc  Statione  fruor . 


CHAPTER  VI. 

Remains  of  the  Third    Classis. 

Several,  in  onr  third  catalogue,  have  upon  the  late  revolutions,  re- 
turned back  to  Europe,  and  several  are  yet  living  in  service  and  esteem 
among  ourselves. 

Article  (I.)  But  of  those  that  are  gone  unto  the  better  world,  we  have 
cause  particularly  to  remember  Mr.  Thomas  Gilbert,  whose  history  is, 
it  may  be,  sufficiently  related  in  his  epitaph,  which  is  at  this  day  to  be 
read  on  his  tomb  in  Charlestown. 


Here  is  interred  the  body  of  that  reverend,  sincere,  zealous,  devout  and  faith 
ful  minisler  of  Jesus  Christ,   Mr.   THOMAS   GILBERT,  sometime 
pastor  of  the  church  of  Christ,  at  Chedle,  in   Cheshire  :  also, 
sometime  pastor  of  the  church  of  Christ  at  Eling,  in  Old-Eng- 
land :  who  was  the  proto-martyr,  the  first  of  the  minis- 
ters that  silvered  deprivation,  in  the  cause  ©/"non- 
conformity in  England  :  and  after,  betaking 
himself  to  New-England,  became  pastor 
of  the    church  of  Christ,  in  Tops- 
field  ;  and  at  sixty-three  years 
nf  age,  departed  this  life. 
Interred   October 

?R,  in7o. 


KooK  III.]        THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENOLAND.  Mo 

Omnia  praeterunt,  praeter  amare  Deum. 

These  things  pass  for  ever^  vain  world,  axaay  ; 
But  love  to  God,  this,  this  endures  for  ay. 

Gilberti  hie  tcnuem,  Lectores,  Ceruilis,  Uinbram, 
Longe  hAc  Clara  Mugis  Stella  Micausq;  fuit. 

3ic  fuit  in  Vita  Gilbertus,  sicq;  Recessu, 
Sicce  detur  nobis  Vivere,  sicq;  Mori. 

Lehere  q/"  Gilbert,  but  a  shadow  flight ; 
He  was  a  star  of  more  ilhistrious  light. 
Such  Gilbert  was  in  life,  such  in  his  death  ; 
God  grant  we  may  so  live,  so  yield  our  breath. 

Article  (H.)  On  Dec  28,  1674,  died  Mr.  John  Oxenbridge,  a  successor 
to  four  famous  Johns,  in  the  pastoral  charge,  of  the  first  church  in  Bos- 
ion.  He  was  horn  in  Daventry,  Northamptonshire,  5 ?Ln.  30,  16(J8.  Both 
Cambridge  and  Oxford  contributed  unto  his  liberal  education  ;  and  in  one 
of  those  universities  he  proceeded  Master  of  Jirts,  in  the  year  16.31. 
The  year  following,  he  became  a  publick  preacher  of  the  gospel  ;  and 
after  this,  taking  successively  two  voyages  to  Barmudaz,  he  at  length  re- 
turned into  England,  and  in  the  year  1644,  became  a  pastor  to  a  church 
in  Beverly.  I  find  him  after  this,  a  fellow  of  EaUin-Collcdge  :  but  in  the 
general  shipwrack  that  befel  the  non-conformists,  A.  C.  1662,  I  fijid 
him  swimming  away  to  Surriiiam,  in  .America.  From  thence  he  came  to 
Barbados,  in  the  year  1667,  and  to  New-England,  in  the  year  1669, 
where  he  succeeded  Mr.  Davenport,  and  continued  until  his  last  remove, 
which  was  to  the  City  of  God. 

The  abilities  and  inclinations  of  this  worthy  man,  are  discovered  in 
several  of  his  published  composures.  In  England  he  published  several 
discourses  on.  The  Duty  of  Watchfulness.  He  also  published.  Jl  Proposi- 
tion of  propagating  the  Gospel  by  Christian  Colonies, in  the  Continent  ofGui- 
anai,  being  some  Gleanings  of  a  larger  Discourse  That  larger  discourse 
is  yet  sleeping:  but  upon  perusal  of  the  MSS.  I  am  sensible,  that  there 
is  in  it  a  grateful  variety  of  entertainment.  After  he  came  to  New  Eng- 
land, he  published  a  sermo72,  preached  at  the  anniversary  election  of  our 
governour  and  assistants.  And  he  likewise  published  a  sermon  about 
Seasonable  seeking  of  God. 

The  piety  which  breathed  in  these  composures,  was  but  what  he  main- 
tained in  his  daily  walk  ;  and  sometimes  he  found  the  leisure  to  articidafe 
the  breathings  of  it  in  writing.  We  read  concerning  Balaam.  The  Lord 
put  a  word  in  his  mouth  :  it  should  seem,  his  heart  was  not  holily  affected 
with  what  was  expressed  by  his  mouth.  But  the  word  was  in  the  heart, 
as  well  as  in  the  mouth  of  our  Oxenbridge  ;  and  his  pen  also  sometimes 
transcribed  his /tear;;.     Once  thus  particularly, 

'  Certain  late  experiments  of  the  grace  of  God  in  Christ,  to  /.  O.  a 
■poor  worm,  who  desires  to  record  them,  to  the  praise  of  bis  grace. 

'Nov.  19,  1666,  was  a  dark  day;  my  bodily  spirits  beinir  very  low 
'  (though  without  pain.)  and  my  heart  shut  up,  that  I  could  not  look  up 
'  to  God.  This  made  me  to  apprehend  the  sad  condition  of  a  soul  de- 
'sertedofGod  in  a  time  of  affliction  ;  but  the  Lord  sufffred  not  this  dark 
'  maze  to  continue.  For  that  night  he  thawed  my  heart,  and  opened  it 
*  with  some  freedom  to  himself. 

Vol.   I,  C9 


m&  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  IIL 

'  But  uhat  shnll  I  say  for  the  strange  and  strong  consolaiion?,  with 
'  which  he  tilled  my  soul,  on  the    i20  antl  21st  of  November?  JSo  words 

*  can  express  what  I  have  felt  in  my  heart,  1  was  wholly  taken  up  with 
'  j^he  thoughts  of  the  kindness  of  (Jod.  1  said,  What  Love  is  like  this  love  ? 
'  i.md  zdio  is  a  G  id  like  unto  tJcee  ?  and  what  remains  for  me.  but  to  love 
'  and  to  praise  thee  forever  ?  Now  death  was  no  dark  thing  to  me, 
'  neither  was  any  concern  of  this  life  consi-derable.  And  now  I  have  said, 
'  Who  can  lay  any  thing  to  my  charge,  since  Christ  hdih  satisfied  by  his 
'  death,  and  hath  gotten  a  release  by  his  resurrection,  and  lives  for  ever  to 
'  perfect  my  salvation  ?  This  hath  been  a  great  stay  to  me  in  my  solitary 
'  condition  ;  tliough  berelt  of  such  relations,  a  precious  wife,  and  two  such 
'  children.     But  the  Lord  Jesus  liveth  lor  ever,  to  do  all  for  me,  and  be 

*  all  to  me.  And  I  do  the  more  admire  and  adore  the  great  God.  in  his 
'  condescending  so  much  to  so  vile  a  worm,  that  hath  been  so  full  of  fears 
'  and  doubts,  and  hath  so  much  displeased  my  Lord  Jesus  and  his  Holy 
'  Spirit.     That  which  grieved  me  most,  of  late  months,  is,  the  vnfixtdness 

*  of  my  thoughts  on  God  :  and  Oh,  that  the  Lord  may,  by  his  establishing 
'  spirit,  confirm  these  comforts  on  me,  so  that  I  may  enjoy  them  in  death, 
'  and  improve  them  for  the  good  of  others  in  life.  1  know  Satan  is  a 
'  wrangler  ;  hut  my  Advocate  is  able  to  silence  him  !' 

When  the  Lord  of  this  faithful  servant  came  to  call  for  him,  he  was 
found  in  his  master's  work.  Towards  the  close  of  a  sermon,  which  he 
was  preaching  at  Boston  lecture,  he  was  taken  with  a  degree  of  an  Apo- 
plexy (as  John  Cyril,  the  worthy  Bohemian  pastor  was  in  the  beginning  of 
the  former  century,  Apop/exia  in  media  ad  popidiim  condone  co7-reptvs) 
which  in  two  or  -three  days,  ended  his  pilgrimage.  Thus  he  had  the 
wish  of  some  great  men,  Oportet  Concionatorem,  cad precantem  aut  Prcdi- 
cantem,  Mori. 

EPITAPHIUM. 

l'i.ci,<^^  qucm  dederas  Cursuin,  in  Te  Christe peregi. 

Article  (Hi.)  On  March  24,  1678-9,  expired  that  excellent  man.  Mr. 
Thomas  VValley,  about  the  age  of  sixty-one.  1  can  not  recover  the  day 
of  his  birth,  let  it  content  my  reader,  that  the  primitive  christians  did 
happily  confound  the  distinction  of  the  two  times  mentioned  by  the  wise 
man,  a  time  to  be  born,  and  a  time  to  die,  calling  the  day  of  a  saint's  death, 
by  the  name  of  their  Natalitia. 

'i'his  man  of  a  thousand,  was  a  well  accomplished  scholar ;  but  his  ac- 
complishments especially  lay  in  that  which  the  great  Gregory  asserts  to 
be,  Ars  Artvum,^' Scientia  Scie7itiariim,  namely,  Animarxnn  Regimen. 

He  was  a  christian  in  whom  the  graces  of  Christ  very  richl}'  adorned, 
but  most  of  all,  that  which  has  most  of  Christianity  in  it,  iiujiility  ;  the 
happy  vertue  which  we  may  address,  with  the  ackriOuledgment  once  made 
unto  Fnlix,  By  thee  Xi:e  enjoy  great  quietness  :  and  by  that  vertue  be  was 
eminently  serviceable  to  make  all  quiet,  wherever  he  came.  He  was  a 
divine,  well  furnished  with  the  knowledge  necessary  to  master  builder  in 
the  Church  of  God,  and  particularly  knowing  in  those  points  of  divinity y 
which  j\'on  Lectio  docet,sed  Unctio,  non  Litera,  sed  Spirilus,  ivm  Eriiditio, 
^ed  Exercitaiio. 

He  w' us  a  preacher,  who  made  Christ  the  main  subject  of  his  preoch' 
ing  ;  and  who  had  such  a  regard  for  soxds,  that  he  thought  much  of  nnth- 
i"S>  b^  whicli  he  might  recommend  a  Christ  unto  the  souls  even  of  tb^ 


Book  III.]        THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  54'? 

meanest,  as  well  as  of  the  greatest:  being  disposed,  like  that  great  king 
of  France,  who  being  funnel  instnicting  his  kitchen-boy  in  the  matters  of 
religion,  and  being  asked  uith  wonder  the  reason  of  it,  tinswered,  llie 
jneariest  has  a  soul  as  frecious  as  my  oav^,  and  bougld  hjj  tke  blood  of  Christ 
as  well  as  mine  !  It  maybe  I  cannot  give  a  truer  description  of  this  onr 
Wallky,  than  in  the  words  of  him  that  writes  ihe  life  of  the  famous^ 
Belgic  Walljkus  :  '  He  was  diligent  in  visiting  his  parishioners,  whereby 
'  he  reformed  many  which  were  given  to  viciousness.  He  satisfied 
'  doubting  consciences,  and  extricated  them  out  of  the  snares  of  Satan. 
'  He  comforted  those  that  were  cast  down,  with  the  a5)prehension  of 
'  God's  wrath  for  their  sins.  He  ministered  relief  to  widows,  orphans, 
'  and  such  as  were  destitute  of  humane  help.  His  company  was  never 
'  grievous.' 

His  being  such  a  one,  did  but  render  him  the  more  likely  to  be  found 
a  non-conformist,  when  the  act  of  uniformity  struck  dead  so  many  futhful 
ministers  of  the  gospel  in  the  English  nation.  When  the  Church  oi  Eiig- 
land  under  the  nety/or//;.  which  its  canons  after  the  year  1G60,  depraved 
it  into,  was  pressing  its  unscriptural  rites  our  Jl' dley  replied,  with  Tertid- 
lian,  si  ideo  dicetur,  licere,  qaianon  prohibeat,  Scriptura,  ccquc  retorqiiebi- 
iur,  ideo  nan  licere,  quia  Scriptura  non  Juheat. 

If  the  Church  of  England.,  in  the  days  of  jYeu)- England's  first  plant- 
ing, did  so  want  reformation,  that  these  colonies  must  be  planted  for  the 
sake  thereof,  how  piVach  more  vvould  the  second  model  of  it  affright  such 
conscientious  dissenters  as  our  IValley,  unto  congregations  that  were  more 
thoroughly  refor'ned  ?  For.  as  one  writes.  '  Though  the  Church  of  E,ng- 
'  land  WAS  never  so  reformed,  as  Geneva,  France.  Holland,  and  other  re- 
'  formed  churches  ;  yet  there  is  as  vast  a  ditference  between  the  old 
'  Church  of  England  and  the  new  one,  as  between  Nebuchadnezzar ,  when 
'  sitting  on  his  throne  and  glittering  in  his  glory,  and  Nebuchadnezzar 
'  when  grazing  among  beasts  in  the  field,  with  his  hair  like  birds'  feath- 
♦  ers,and  nails  like  eagles'  claws.'  The  effect  of  all  was,  that  Mr.  Wal- 
ley  was  driven  from  the  exercise  of  his  ministry  in  London,  to  New- Eng- 
land;  where  he  arrived  about  the  year  1063. 

Here  he  had  n  great  service  to  do  ;  for  if  the  Apostle  Pavl  thought  it 
beseeming  an  apostie,  to  write  a  part  of  canonical  scripture,  about  the 
agreement  of  no  more  than  two  godly  persons  [Phil.  iv.  2.]  certainly  it 
must  be  a  great  service  to  bring  a  divided  church  of  godly  persons  uuto 
a  good  agreement,  in  Thebes,  he  th  it  could  reconcile  any  quarrelsome 
neighbours,  was  honoured  with  a  4;-a?-/a?irf.  The  honour  of  a  gar/anc/, 
was  on  that  score,  highly  due  to  our  Walley. 

The  church  of  Barnstable  had  been  miserably  broken  with  divisions 
until  this  prudent,  patient,  and  Holy  Wam-ky  appeared  among  them  : 
and, 

Qwum  Pietate  Gravem,  ac  Meritis  hunc  Forte 
Virum  jam  Conspexere,  Silent. 

As  among  the  Suevians  it  was  a  law.  that  in  a  fray,  where  swords  were 
drawn,  if  any  one  did  but  cry.pcace,  they  must  end  the  quarrel,  or  else, 
he  died  that  struck  the  next  blow  after  peace  was  named.  Thus,  after 
our  Wai.ley,  with  his  charming  wisdom,  cried  peace,  that  flock  was 
happily  united  ;  and  he  continued  in  much  peace,  and  witii  much  fame, 
feeding  of  it,  all  the  rest  of  his  days. 

I  will  now  so   far  discover  my  self,  as  to  applaud  this  worthy  man,  for 
two  things,  which  it  may  be,  many  good  men  will  count  worthy  rather., 
of  reproach  than  applause. 


648  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  ill. 

One  is  this  :  in  my  father'?  preface  to  his  discourses  on  the  JVew-Jc' 
rusalem,  i  meet  uith  this  pjtssage  Tkovgh  it  hath  been  generally  thought, 
that  the  first  resurrection  spoken  of  in  the  Apocalypse,  is  to  be  understood 
only  i-i  a  mysiicul  sense;  yet  some  of  the  first,  and  eminent  teachers  in 
these  caurche^,  believed  tiie  first  resurreriion  to  be  corporal  So  did  Mr. 
D.iveaport,  Air.  Hook,  and  of  later  years,  that  man  of  an  excel leiU  spirit, 
Mr.  ThoiUris  VViiU.^y,  pastor  of  thechi.rch  in  Barnstable.  Thus  did  our 
pious  ciiiiiast,  Walley,  it  seems,  come  to  his  thousihts  as  Joseph  Mede 
before  iii-o  did,  aod  hs  in  the  times  of  more  illumination  learned  men 
must  aii.l  aill  -.  Postquaniali-t  omnia  frnstra  tentassem,  tandem  Rei  ipsius 
Lla--itvdine  perslrictus,  paradoxu  kuccubui. 

Anotiier  i?  this  :  on  a  j^reat  occasion,  our  Walhy  declared  himself  in 
these  words.  It  would  not  consist  with  our  profession  of  love  to  Christ  or 
saints,  to  trouble  those  that  peaceably  differ  from  the  generality  of  God's 
■people,  in  lesser  things ;  those  that  are  like  to  live  in  Heaven  with  us  at  last, 
we  should  eniieavour  they  might  live  peaceably  with  its  here.  A  well  bound- 
ed tohraiion  were  very  desireable  in  all  christian  commonwealths,  that  there 
niay  be  no  just  occasion  for  any  to  complain  of  cruelty  or  persecution  ; 
but  It  must  be  such  a  toleration,  that  God  may  not  be  publick^y  blasphemed, 
nor  idolatry  practir^ed.  With  such  candor  did  he  express  himself  against 
the  way  v\ell  decryed  by  Gerhard,  A  Verba  ad  Ferrum,  ab  Atramento  ad 
Armamfnta.  a  Pe7inis,  ad  Bipcnnes,  confugere. 

I  cannot  find  any  more  than  one  published  composure  left  behind  ; 
wiiicl.  IS  entitulled.  Balm  in  Gilead  to  heal  Sion's  Woiinds  :  being  a  ser- 
mon preuih.'d  before  the  General  Court  of  the  colony  of  A''ew- Plymouth , 
June  1  lo69  the  day  of  election  there  :  in  which,  let  it  be  remembred, 
he  expressly  foretels,  that  New-England,  would  e^er  long  lose  her  holinesSy 
her  rigiileoiisi.ess,  Jier  peace,  and  her  liberty, 

EPITAPHIUM. 

O  Mors,  Qualem  Virum  Extinxisti  ! 

Sed  bene  habet ; 
Virtus  Wall5:i  Immortalis  est. 

Article  (IV.)  The  small  stay  of  the  Reverend  Mr.  Samuel  Lee  iu 
this  country,  where  he  was  pastor  of  the  church  at  N'ew-Bristol  [from 
the  year  168(3,  to  the  year  1691,]  will  excuse  me,  if  I  say  little  of  him  ; 
and  yet  the  great  worth  of  that  renowned  man,  will  render  it  inexcusable 
to  say  nothing  at  all. 

All  that  1  shall  say  is,  that  if  learning  ever  merited  a  statue,  this  grear 
man,  has  as  rich  an  one  due  to  him.  as  can  be  erected  ;  for  it  must  be 
granted,  that  hardly  ever  a  more  universally  learned  person  trod  the 
American  strand. 

Live,  O  rare  Lee,  live,  if  not  Inour  works,  3'etin  thy  oxen  ;  ten  or  twelve 
of  which,  that  have  seen  the  light,  will  immortalize  thee.  But  above 
all,  tiiy  book  De  Excideo  Antichristi,  shall  survive  and  assist  the  funeral 
of  the  monster,  whose  nativity  is  therein-  with  such  exquisite  study  cal- 
culated ;  and  thy  bock  entituled  Orbis  Miracidum ;  or  the  The  Temph 
of  Solomon,  shall  proclaim  thee  to  be  a  miracle  for  thy  vast  knowledge. 
and  a  pillar  in  the  temple  of  thy  God  ! 

In  his  return  for  England,  the  French  took  him  a  prisoner,  and  unciv- 
illy detaining  him,  he  died  iu  France  ;  where  he  found  the  grave  of  an 


Book  III.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  543 

herelick,  and  was  therein  (after  some  sort,  like  Wickl^  and  Bucer)  made 
a  martyr  after  his  death. 


CHAPTER  VII. 


d  Good  Man  making  a  Good  End.  The  Life  and  Death  of  the  Rev- 
erend Mr.  John"  Baily,  comprised  and  expressed  in  a  Sermon,  on 
the  day  of  his  Funeral.     Thursday  16  D.  10  W.  1697. 

Pulchra  siuit  Verba  ex  Ore 
Ea  Facientium.     Adag.  Judaic. 

Reader, 

We  are  not  so  anse,  as  the  miserable  Papists !  among  them,  a  person 
of  merit  shall  at  his  death,  be  celebrated  and  canonized  by  all  men 
agreeing  in  it,  as  in  their  common  interest,  for  to  applaud  his  life.  Among 
Us,  let  there  be  dues  paid  unto  the  memory  of  the  most  meritorious  per- 
son after  his  decease  ;  many  of  the  survivers  are  offended,  I  had  almost 
said  enraged  at  it  :  they  seem  to  take  it  as  a  reproach  unto  themselves 
(and  it  may  be,  so  it  is .')  that  so  much  good  should  be  told  of  any  man, 
and  that  all  the  little  frailties  and  errors  of  that  man,  (and  whereof  no 
meer  man  was  ever  free  !)  be  not  also  told  with  all  the  unjust  aggrava- 
tions that  envy  might  put  upon  them,  Thi?  folly  is  as  inexpressible 
an  injury  to  us  all  ;  as  it  cannot  but  be  an  advantage  unto  mankind  in 
general,  for  interred  vertue  to  be  rewarded  with  a  statue 

If  ever  I  deserved  well  of  my  country,  it  has  been  when  I  have  given 
to  the  world  the  histories  and  characters  of  eminent  persons,  which 
have  adorned  it.  Malice  will  call  some  of  those  things  romances  ;  buv 
that  malice  it  self  may  never  hiss  with  the  least  colour  of  reason  any 
more,  I  do  here  declare,  let  any  man  living  evince  any  one  material 
mistake  in  any  one  of  those  composures,  it  shall  have  the  most  publjck 
recantation  that  can  be  desired.  In  the  mean  time,  while  some  impotent 
cavils,  nibbling  at  the  statufs  which  we  have  erected  for  our  "worthies-. 
take  pains  to  prove  themselves,  the  enemies  of  New- England,  a7id  of  re- 
ligion, the  statues  will  out-live  all  their  idle  nibbles  ;  the  righteous  ziilt  be 
hadin  everlasting  remembrance,  when  the  -wicked  who  see  it  andaregrieV' 
od,  shall  gnash  Tcith  their  teeth  and  melt  away. 

A  Good  Man  viaking  a  Good  End. 

Uttered,  Thursday  16  D.  10  M.  1G97. 

i  bring  you  this  day  a  text  of  sacred  scripture,  which  a  faithful  servan'. 
©f  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  lately  gone  unto  him,  did  before  his  going,  or- 
der for  you  as  his  legacy.     Give  your  attention. 

'Tis  that  in  Psal.  xxxi.  5.     Into  thine  hand  I  commit  my  spirit. 

That  holy  and  worthy  minister  of  the  gospel,  whose /u/jera/  is  this 
day  to  be  attended,  haviny  laboured  for  the  conversion  of  men  unto  God, 
at  length  grew  very  presagious  that  his  labours  in  the  evangelical  ministry., 
drew  near  unto  an  end.     While  he  was  vet  in  health,  and  not  got  bevon<l 


550  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.       [Cook  HI. 

the  fifty-fourth  year  of  his  age,  he  did,  with  such  a  presage  upon  his 
mind  (having  first  written  on  this  wise  in  his  c?iari/.  Oh!  that  Christ's 
death  7night  Jit  me  for  my  o-wn  .')  begin  to  study  a  sermon  on  this  very 
text,  Into  thine  hand  I  commit  my  spirit.  But  his  great  master,  who 
favoured  him  with  such  a  presage,  never  gave  him  an  opportunity  to 
finish  and  utter,  what  he  had  began  to  study.  His  life  had  all  this  while, 
Iteen  a  practical  commentary  upon  his  doctrine  ;  yea,  it  was  an  endeavour 
to  imitate  our  blessed  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  is  said  [Acts  i.  1.] 
first  to  do,  and  then  to  teach:  and  now,  behold!  his  death  must 
-expound  and  apply  the  doctrine  which  he  would  have  preached  unto 
"US.  He  must  show  us,  how  to  do  that  important  work  of  commit- 
ting a  departing  spirit  into  the  hands  of  God,  no  otherwise  than  by 
the  actual  doing  of  that  work  himself.  While  therefore  he  lay  dy- 
jng,  he  asked  one  of  his  dearest  relations.  Dost  thou  kno-w  what  I  am 
doing  /  She  said,  no  ;  he  then  added,  /  am  rendring,  I  nm  rendring  ! 
jneaning,  I  suppose,  his  own  spirit  unto  the  Lord.  But  while  he  was  do- 
ing of  that  work,  and  with  humble  resignation  committing  his  own  spirit  into 
the  hands  of  God,  he  desired  of  me,  that  I  would  preach  upon  the  text, 
about  which  he  had  been  under  such  intentions.  Wherefore  [if  at  least 
I  may  be  thought  worthy  of  such  a  character  !]  you  are  now  to  consider 
me,  shall  I  sa}',  as  executing  the  will  of  the  dead?  or,  as  representing  a 
'man  of  God,  whom  God  hath  taken.  The  truths  which  we  shall  now  in- 
culcate, will  be  such,  as  you  are  all  along  to  think,  </iese  are  the  things 
•which  a  saint  now  in  glory  would  have  to  be  inculcated.  And  when  we 
liave  briefly  set  those  truths  before  you,  we  will  describe  a  little  that 
excellent  saiiit,  as  from  whom  you  have  them  recommended  :  we  will 
describe  him  chiefly,  with  strokes  fetched  from  his  own  diaries,  out  of 
"ivhich,  in  the  little  time  1  have  had  since  his  death,  1  have  collected  a 
few  remarkables. 

Our  Psalmist,  the  illustrious  David,  now,  as  we  may  judge,  drew  near 
tinto  his  end  :  and  we  may  say  of  the  Psalm  here  composed  by  him. 
These  are  among  the  last  zvords  o/"  David,  the  man  who  rcas  raised  up  on 
high.  The  sighs  of  the  Psalmist  here  collected,  seem  to  have  been  oc- 
•casioned  by  the  sufferings,  which  he  underwent,  when  his  own  subjects 
took  up  arms  against  him.  Nevertheless,  as  our  psalter  is  all  over  the 
Book  of  the  Messiah,  so  this  particular  Hymn  in  it,  is  contrived  elegantly 
to  point  out  the  sufferings  oj  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  unto  us.  In  the  text 
HOW  before  us,  the  Psalmist  apprehending  himself  in  danger  of  death, 
does  the  great  work  of  a  dying  man  :  which  is,  to  commit  a  surviving 
spirit,  into  the  hand  of  God.  But  in  doing  this,  he  entertains  a  special 
consideration  of  God,  for  his  enconrjagement  in  doing  it  :  this  is.  Thou  hast 
redeemed  me,  O  Lord  God  of  truth,  it  is  the  Messiah  that  hath  redeemed 
vs ;  it  is  the  Messiah  whose  name  is  the  Truth;  David  upon  a  view  of 
the  Messiah,  said.  This  is  the  man,  who  is  the  Lord  God.  VVherefore,  in 
committing  our  spirits  unto  God,  our  Lord  Christ  is  to  be  distinctly  con- 
sidered ;  and  he  was,  no  doubt,  by  David  considered.  The  power  of 
God  is  called  his  hand  ;  the  wisdom,  of  God  is  called  his  hand  ;  but  above 
all,  the  Christ  of  God,  who  is  the  power  of  God,  and  the  wisdom  of  God, 
he  is  the  hand  of  God  ;  by  Him  it  is,  that  the  God  of  Heaven  doth,  what 
he  doth  in  the  Avorld  :  and  he  is,  for  that  cause  r.lso  styled.  The  arm  of 
the  Lord.  It  is  therefore  to  the  power  and  xcisdom  and  goodness  of  God, 
in  Christ,  that  our  expiring  spirits  are  to  be  committed. 

There  was  indeed  a  wonderful  time,  when  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  him- 
self made  a  wonderful  use  of  this  very  lest.     We  i-ejid  in  Luke  xxiii.  46, 


Book  III.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  551 

When  Jesus  had  cried  zvith  a  loud  voice,  he  said  Father,  into  thy  hands  I 
commend,  my  Spirit  ;  and  having  said  thus,  he  gave  up  the  Ghost.  Sirs, 
God  uttered  his  voice,  at  this  rate,  and  the  earth  trembled  at  it!  And  well 
it  might,  lor  never  did  there  such  an  amazing  thing  occur  upon  the  earth 
before.  Now,  our  Lord  having  said,  Into  thy  hands  I  commend  my  Spirit, 
stopped  at  those  words  ;  for  he  was  himself  tiie  Redeemer,  the  Lord  God  of 
Truth..  But  as  for  us,  we  are  to  consider  God,  as  in  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  when  we  commit  our  spirits  into  his  hands.  As  Luther  could  say, 
J\~olo  Devm  Absolution,  1  tremble  to  have  to  do,  with  an  absolute  God ; 
that  is  to  say,  a  God  xvithout  a  Christ :  so,  we  may  all  tremble  to  think 
oi  committing  our  spirits  into  the  hands  of  God,  any  otherwise  than  as  he 
is,  m  Christ  reconciling  the  zi-orld  nnfo  himself.  We  are  truly  told  in  Heb. 
X.  31,  It  is  a  fearful  thing  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  living  God.  Our 
spirits  are  by  sin  become  obnoxious  to  the  fearful  wrath  of  God  ;  and 
wo  to  U3.  if  our  Spirits  fall  into  his  hands,  not  having  his  m-rath  appeased  I 
Sirs,  we  commit  briars  and  thorns,  and  wretched  stubble  to  infinite  flames, 
if  we  commit  our  spirits  into  the  hands  of  God,  not  in  a  Christ,  become 
our  friend.  We  deliver  up  our  spirits  unto  a  devouring  f  re,  and  unto 
everlasting  burnings,  if  we  approach  the  Holy,  Holy,  Holy  Lord  God  Al- 
mighty ;>ny  otherwise  than  through  the  Immanuel,  our  Mediator.  We 
are  lo  c  imnit  our  souls  unto  our  faithful  Creator :  but  if  he  be  not  our^ner- 
ciful  Redeemer  too,  then  He  that  made  us  will  not  have  mercy  on  us.  Whea 
Hezekiak  was,  as  he  thought,  a  dying,  he  turned  his  fice  to  the  wall  f  I 
suppose  it  was  to  that  side  of  the  upper  chamber,  the  praying  chamber^ 
where  he  lay,  that  had  God''s  window  in  it,  the  windoui  that  opened  it 
self  towards  the  ark  in  the  temple.  When  we  commd  our  spirits  into 
the  hand  of  God.  ive  are  to  turn  our  face  towards  that  ark  of  God,  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ.  We  have  this  matter  well  directed  by  the  words  of 
the  dying  martyr  5^e/)/ieH,  in  Acts  vii.  59,  He  said,  Lord  Jesus,  receive- 
my  spirit. 

And  now  there  is  a  weighty  case,  that  lies  before  us  ; 

After  u-hat  manner  should  Tue  commit  our  spirits  unto  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
that  so  t!ie  eternal  safety  and  ix^elfare  of  our  spirits,  may  be  effectually 
provided  for  ? 

If  our  faithful  Baily  were  now  alive,  I  do  not  know  any  one  case,  that 
he  would  more  livelily  have  discoursed  among  you  :  but  1  know,  that  he 
would  have  discoursed  on  this,  with  a  soid  full  of  inexpressible  agonies. 
He  was  a  man,  who  h.v.\  from  a  child,  been  full  of  solicitous  cares  about 
his  own  soul  ;  and  from  hence  in  part  it  was,  that  when  he  became  a 
preacher  of  the  gospel,  he  preached  nothing  so  much,  as  the  cares  that 
all  men  should  have,  about  the  conversion  of  their  souls  unto  God,  and. 
the  sincerity  of  their  souls  before  him.  Tliere  were  many  great  points 
of  our  christian  faith,  which  he  still  treated  with  shorter  touches,  be- 
cause his  thoughts  were  continually  swallowed  up  with  the  vast  concern 
of  not  being  deceived,  about  the  marks  of  a  regenerate  and  a  sanctified 
soul,  and  hopes  of  being  found  in  Christ  at  a  dying  hour.  He  was  none 
of  those  preachers,  Qtd  luduntin  Cathedra,  ^'  lugent  in  Gehenna.  Those 
two  words,  a  soul  and  eternity,  were  great  words  unto  him  ;  and  his  very 
soul  was  greatly,  and  always  under  the  awe  of  them.  Hence  the  very 
spirit  of  his  preaching  lay  in  the  points  of  turning  from  sin  to  God  in 
Christ,  and  the  tryal  of  our  doing  so,  and  the  peril  of  our  not  doing  it. 
Wherefore,  as  far  as  alas,  one  of  mv  sinful  coldness  in  those  dreadful 


■'>52  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  Hf. 

points  can  do  it,  1  will  set  before  you  in  a  fevp  minutes,  what  I  apprehend, 
my  dead  friend  would  have  to  be  spoken,  upon  these  points,  in  relation 
to  the  case  that  is  now  to  be  considered. 

I.  Let  every  mortal  man  be  very  sensible,  that  he  hath  an  immortal 
spirit  in  him,  and  prize  that  spirit  exceedingly.  How  shall  we  commit  a 
spirit  into  the  haiids  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  if  this  thing  be  not  realized 
unto  us,  that  zve  have  a  spirit,  which  xa-ill  be  horribly  miserable  to  all  eter- 
?iity,  if  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  look  not  after  it ! 

Could  that  mouth,  which  is  this  day  to  be  laid  in  the  dust,  once  more 
be  opened  among  us,  I   know  what  voice  would  issue  from  it  :   with  a 
very  zealous  vivacity,  1   know  this  voice  would  be  uttered,  Man,  thov. 
fiast  a  soul,  a  smtl  within  thee  ;  a  soul  that  is   to    exist  throughout   eternal 
agee  ;  Oh  !  prize  that  soul  of  thine  at  the  greatest  rate  imaginable.     I  say 
then;  we  must  be  sensible,  that  we  have  spirits  which  are  distinct  from 
our  bodies,  and  which  will  out-live  them  :   spirits  which  are  incorporeal 
substances,   endued  with  rational  faculties  ;  and  though  inclined  vnto  our 
humane  bodies,  yet  surviving  after  them.     An  infidel  Pope  of  Rome,  once 
lyiny;  on  his  death-bed,  had  such  a  speech  as  this  ;  I  shall  now  quickly  be 
certified  and  satisfied,  whether  I  have  an  immortal  soul  or  no  !     Woful  man, 
if  he  were  not  until  then  certified  and  satisfied  !    God  Ibrbid,  that  there 
should  be  so  much  as  one  Epicurean  swine  among  us,  dreaming,  thatmaa 
is  nothing  but  a  7neer  lump  of  matter  put  into  inotion      Shall  a  man  dare 
to  think,  that  he  his  not  a  rational  s<nd  in  him,  which  is  of  a  very  differ- 
ent nature  from  his  body  j*  Truly,  his  very  thinking  is  enough  to  confute 
his  monstrous  unreasonableness :  meer  body  cannot  think ;  and  I  pray,  of 
what  figure  is  a  rational  atom?  The  oracles  of  God  have  therefore  assur- 
ed us,  that  the  fathers  of  our  bodies,   are  not  {he  fathers  o{  spirits  ;  no, 
these  have  another  father .'     And,  that  the  spirits  of  men  may  go  from 
their  bodies ;  and  be  caught  up  to  the  third  Heaven  too  !   Well  ;  but  'when 
our  bodies  crumble  and  tumble  before  the  strokes  of  death,  are  not  our 
spirits  overwhelmed  in  the  ruines  of  our  bodies,  like  Sampson,  when  the 
Philistean  temple  fell  upon  him  ?  No  ;  they  are  sparks  of  immortality, 
that  shall  never  be  extinguished  ;  they  must  live,  and   move,  and  think, 
until  the  very  Heavens  be  no  more.     Among  other  evidences,   that  our 
spirits  are  immortal,  there  is  no  contemptible  one,  in  the  presages,  which 
the  spirits  of  such  good  men,  as  he  which  is  anon  to  be  interred,  have 
h^d  of  their  speedy  passage  in  a  world  of  spirits.     Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
who  gave  his  own  blood  for  the  purchase  of  our  souls,   and  can   tell, 
sure  !  what  it  is  that  he  has  purchased  ;  he  has   expressly  told   us    in 
Matth.  X.  28,  They  which  kill  the  body,  are  not  able  to  kill  the  soul.     Our 
blessed  Apostle  Paul,  a  mighty  student  and  worker  for  souls,  was  not  fed 
with  fmcies,  when  he  took  it  for  granted,   in  Phil.  i.  21,  that  when  he 
should  be  dissolved,  he  should  be  with  Christ  immediately.     Do,  try  thou 
fool- hardy  creature,  to  perswade  thy  self,  that  thou  hast  not  an  immortal 
soul:  thou  canst  not,  for  thy  soul,  render  thy  self  altogether,  and  ever- 
more perswaded  of  it :  with  very  dreadful  suspicions,  of  its  immortality, 
will  thy  own  conscience,  a  certain  faculty  of  thy  soul  terriiy  thee,  when 
God  awakens  it.     I  have  known  a  sturdy  disputer  against  the  immortali- 
ty of  the  soul,  go  out  of  the  world  with  this  lamentable  out-cry.  Ok!  my 
soul,  my  sojil ;  what  shall  I  do  for  my  poor  soul  ?    Sirs,  let  this  principle 
stand  like  the  very  pillars  of  Heaven  with  every  one  of  us,  that  we  have 
immortal  souls  to  be  provided  for.     But  if  a  man  have  an  immortal  soul 
within  him,  what  will  be  the  natural  consequence  of  it  ?  The  conse- 
quence is  plainly  this  ;  that  since  the  soul  is  immortal,  it  should  be  very 


Book  HI.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  553 

precious.  It  was  infinitely  reasonable  for  the  soul  to  be  called,  as  it  was 
in  Psal.  xxii.  20,  My  soul,  my  darling.'  Oh  !  there  should  be  nothinc;  so 
dear  to  a  man  as  that  soul  of  his,  that  shall  endure  when  all  other  things 
are  changed  :  for,  O  my  soul,  of  thy  years  there  shall  be  no  end.  The  in- 
terests of  our  spirits  are  to  be  much  greater  things  unto  us,  than  the  in- 
terests of  our  bodies.  What  will  become  of  our  souls  ?  That,  that  is  a 
thing  that  should  lie  much  nearer  to  our  hearts,  than  what  will  become 
of  our  lives,  our  names,  our  estates.  We  should  set  an  high  value  ou 
our  spirits,  and  often  meditate  on  the  text,  which  was  once  given  to  a 
great  man,  for  his  daily  meditation  in  iVIatt.  xvi.  26,  What  is  a  man  pro- 
fited, if  he  gain  the  nhole  raorld   and  lose  his  ozt'n  soxil. 

II.  Let  every  man  in  this  world  that  hath  an  immortal  spirit,  be  above 
all  things,  thoughtful  for  the  welfare  of  that  spirit  in  another  world. 
When  we  commit  a  spirit  into  the  liands  of  the  Lord  .lesus  Christ,  it  is, 
that  so  it  m;iy  escape  that  wretchedness,  and  attain  that  blessedness  ia 
another  world,  whereof  oyr  Lord  hath  in  his  word  advised  us.  When 
that  emhas'^ador  of  Christ,  who  is  lately  gone  back  unto  him,  vvas  resident 
among  us,  there  was  no  one  thing  that  he  more  vigorously  insisted  on 
than  this  ;  Oh !  there  is  nothing  so  dreadful,  as  that  hell,  which  every  nncked 
soul  shall  be  turned  into  :  there  is  nothing  so  joyful  as  that  Heaven  which  is 
prepared  for  every  godjy  soid  :  and  there  is  nothing  of  so  inuch  ctmcern- 
ment  for  you,  as  to  flee  from  that  wrath  to  come,  and  lay  hold  on  that  life 
eternal.  I  say  accordingly  ;  there  are  astonishing  dangers,  whereto  our 
souls  are  exposed  by  our  sins.  Our  spirits  are  in  danger  of  being  for 
ever  banished  from  the  communion  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  into  a  state 
of  easeless  and  endless  horror  ;  our  spirits  are  in  danger  to  be  plunged 
into  doleful  torments,  among  the  devils  that  have  been  our  tempters  : 
our  spirits  are  in  danger  to  be  seized  by  the  justice  of  that  God  against 
whom  we  have  sinned,  and  laid  under  everlasting  impressions  of  his  in- 
dignation. There  Are  spirits  in  prison;  there  is  danger  lest  the  ven  ■ 
geauce  of  God  chain  up  our  spirits  in  that  fiery  prison  (It  was  but  a 
little  before  he  went  unto  Heaven,  that  our  Baily  in  twenty-six  discours- 
es on  Rev.  vi.  8,  opened  the  treasures  of  that  wrath  among  us.)  And 
we  should  now  be  so  thoughtful  of  nothing  upon  earth,  as  how  to  get  our 
spirits  delivered  from  this  formidable  hell.  The  fittest  language  for  us, 
tvould  be  like  that  in  Psal.  cxvi.  3,  4,  The  pains  of  hell  are  getting  hold 
on  me  ;  O  Lord,  I  beseech  thee  to  deliver  my  soul.  Rut  then  there  is  a 
great  salvation,  which  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  has  wrought  for  us  ;  and 
that  salvation  is,  the  salvation  of  the  sold.  Our  spirits  may  be  released 
from  the  bonds,  which  the  sentence  of  death,  by  the  laze  of  God  passed 
upon  them,  has  laid  them  under.  Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  satisfying  of 
the  law,  by  his  death  in  our  stead,  hath  procured  this  release  for  the 
spirits  of  his  chosen.  There  are  the  spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect; 
and  there  is  perfect  light,  and  perfect  love,  and  perfect  joy,  among  those 
glorified  spirits.  Our  spirits  may  be  advanced  into  the  society  of  angeh ; 
and  be  with  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  Heaven,  the  spectators  and  parta- 
kers of  his  heavenly  glory.  Now,  we  should  be  more  thoughtful  to 
make  sure  of  such  a  Heaven  for  our  spirits,  than  to  ensure  any  thing  on 
earth.  We  should  wish  for  nothing  so  much  as  that  in  I  Sam.  xxv.  29, 
A  soul  bound  up  in  the  bundle  of  life.  There  are  souls  which  our  Lord 
.Fesus  Christ  has  bundled  like  so  many  slips,  to  be  transplanted  into  the 
sweet  garden  of  Heaven  ;  say  now,  O  man,  with  all  possible  ardour  of 
$oul,  Oh  !  may  my  soul  he  one  of  them! 

Vol.  ^.  70 


i,54  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  HI. 

When  our  fallier  Jacob  was  a  dying,  he  seems,  upon  the  occssion  of 
mentiouing  a  serpent,  immediately  to  call  to  mind  the  mischiefs  which 
had  heen  done  by  the  old  serpent  unto  our  spirits  :  whereupon  he  cried 
out.  Gen.  xlix.  18,  /  have  zvaited  for  thy  Balvotion  [for  thy  JESUS  I]  O 
Lord.  That  our  spirits  may  not  he  d^fitioyed  in  our  dying,  this,  this  is 
the  thing  that  we  should  be  concerned  for  ;  that  they  may  be  saved  by  a 
Jesns,  from  the  mischiefs,  which  the  old  serpent  has  brought  upon  them. 

ni.  When  we  commit  our  spirits  into  the  hands  of  our    Lord   Jesus 
Christ,  we  must  believe  in  Vim,  as  fully  able  to  save  uv.r  spirits  unto  ihe 
utterw-oat.      It  is  by  faith  acted  unto  the  uttermost,  that  we  are  to  commit 
our  spirits  into  the  hands  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  :   now  the  acts  of  this 
faifh  are  admir-ihly  expressed  in  2  Tim.  i    12,  I  knoro  K-hom  I  have  believ- 
ed, and  I  am  per>:rvaded,  that  he  is  able  to  keep  that  uhich  I  have  committed 
unto  him.      We  would  have  onr  spirits  preserved  from  the  direful  anger 
of  G^d,  which  threatens  to  swallow  them  up  :   say  now.  Lord  Jesus,  lam 
jjerswaded,  thou  art  able  to presirve  me.      We  would  have  our  spirits  en- 
riched witli  the  kno%vledge  and  image,  and  fnyour  of  God,  in  his  kingdom  : 
sav  now.  Lord  Jesus,  I  am  persxn'oded,  thou  art  able  to  enrich  me.      We  are 
therefore  to  place  our  fiiith  on  the  sacrifice  which  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
h  (Ih  oflered  xmto  God,   on  the  behalf  of  his  people.     We  read   in  Job 
xxsiii.  22,    When  a  soul  drat<i-s  near  unto  the  grave,  if  there  b"a  messenger 
with  him,  an  interpreter,  then  he  says,  deliver  him  from  going  donn  to  the 
pit,  I  have  found  a  ransome.     Some  of  the  ancients  take  tbat,  AngAus  In- 
tcrpres,  to  be  Christ  the  Mediator.     Sirs,  when  your  souls  are  drau-ing 
near  unto  the  grave,  it  is  high  time  to  believe  on  that  ransome,  which  0?te 
amons  a  thousand  has  paid  unto  God  for  us.      We  must  believe,  that  the 
S'tcrifice  of  the  soxd  of  the  Messiah,  when  he  Zi'as  cut  njf,  hut  not  for  him- 
self ,  is  a  valuable  sacrifice,  a  sufficient  sacrifice,  and  a  sacrifice  which  the 
wondrous  grace  of  God  invite?  us  to  depend  upon  ;  and  with  a  firm  de- 
pendance  on  that  sacrifice,  we  must  plead,  O  let  my  soul  be  delivered  from 
going  dozen  to  the  pit,  since  God  has  found  such  a  ransome  for  me  !     But 
while  we  rely  on  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  as  he  has  been  sacrificed  for  us 
here  below,  we  must  also  reply  upon  him,  as  he  is  now  above,  in  the  Ho- 
ly of  holies,  interceding  for  us.     And  that  our  faith  in  committing  our 
spirits  unto  onr  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  m?y  he  a  truly  christian  faith.     We 
must  believe  him  to  be  no  less  than  the  Lord  God  of  Truth  ;  to  be  God 
as  well  as  man  ;  to  he  God  and  man  in  one  person.     That  man  is  a  very 
foolish  man.  who  will  trust  his  own  soul  with  any  one  less  than  the  God 
who  made  our  soul,  and  who  alone  can  save  it.    Our  belief  must  pronounce 
our  Lord  J(?sus  Christ,  the  same  thiit  his  Bible  has  pronounced  him  ; 
the  true  God,  the  great  God,  and  God  over  all ;  one  who  is  every  where, 
and  who  knows  every  thing.     This  article  of  our  f  lith,  wl.ich  the  modern 
/c:c'S  deny,  is  indeed  so  incontestable,  that  I  could  presently  overwhelm 
them  with  an  army  of  testimonies,  from  the  Rabbles  amonu  (he  ancient 
Jews,  confessing,  that  the   Messiah  must  he   very  Jehovah   himself.     I 
beseech  you,  let  no  man  dare  to  die  in  any  doubt,  whether  the  Lord  Je- 
sus Christ,  unto  whooi  he  commits  his  own  soul,  be   not   more  thnn   a 
meer  man.     Believing  him  to  be  God,  let  us  believe,   that  his  blood  is 
price  enough  to  obtain  for  us  the  everlastins;  h;ippiness   of  our  spirits  ; 
what  can  our  spirits  v^ant  that  the  blood  of  God  cannot  obtain  ?    Let  us 
beheve,   that  his   Holy  Spirit  can   fit  our  spirits  for.   and  fill  our  spirits 
vvi'ii  eternal  glories  ;  the  Spirit  o^ Christ  is  the  Spirit  of  God :     What 
caa't  he  do  for  us  ?  Let  us  believe,  that  he  has  legions  and  myriads,  and 
millions  of  blessed  spirits  to  be  our  convoy,  and  safeguard  from  those 


Book  III.]  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  J35 

evil  spirits,  which  are  waiting  to  arrest  our  spirits  at  our  dissolution  : 
he  IS  uod  among  '.he  ihousajiJs  of  his  augels,  in  his  holy  place  :  ihey  v\ill 
i\y  like  9»vift  11<is1il-s  ol  lightning  to  succour  us,  when  ever  iie  shall  com- 
mand th<^ui  so  to  do.  VVli,it  shall  we  s  'y  ?  \v  nen  Jacob  fell  asleep  with 
his  nead  lying  upon  a  stone,  he  had  a  virion  ofajigels  concerped  for  him. 
Truly,  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is,  the  Stone  of  Israel,  if  you  do  not  fall 
asleep,  till  3'ou  have  hiid  your  heads  and  hopes  on  that  Stone,  you  shall 
then  see  armies  of  angels  about  you,  to  secure  you. 

IV.  When  we  comruit  our  spirits  into  the  hand  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  we  must  submit  unto  .ill  his  gracious  operations  upon  our  spirits. 
We  commit  our  spirits  into  the  hand  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Clirist,  we  say  : 
well,  he  then  demands  of  us,  as  in  -Mark  x.  51,  fVhat  x^ilt  thou,  that  I 
should  do  unto  ihee  /  And  1  pray,  mark  it  ;  if  thare  be  any  article  of 
grace  rdiVMys  wrought  by  the  Lord  Jesus  Ciirist,  for  the  spirits  of  his 
elect,  Wuicn  you  do  not  consent  unto,  he  will  not  receive  your  spirits  ; 
no,  he  will  destroy  them  dreadfully.  Some  commit  tlieir  spirits  ir.to  the 
hand  of  the'  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  they  say  ;  but  they' are  not  willing  that 
the  hand  ot'the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  should  ever  do  for  them,  all  that  uiust 
done,  in  all  that  are  brought  home  uuto  God.  Perhaps  they  would  have 
their  spirit  rescued  f  om  the  hands  of  the  devils  hereafter;  but  ti^ey  do 
not  iiearcily  co  nmil  their  spirits  into  the  hands  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
for  to  have  all  the  lust^  that  make  thsir  spirits  like  devils,  here  embitter- 
ed, and  er  idicated.  They  would  have  easy  spirits,  it  may  be,  but  Oh  1 
they  are  loth  to  have  holy  spirits  This  halving  of  it,  thou  hypocrite, 
t'iis  halving  of  a  Christ,  will  hang  the  millstones  of  damnation  about  the 
neck  of  thy  soul  for  ever  The  Lord  Je-us  Christ  puts  this  question 
unto  us,  Poor  sinner  what  shall  I  do  for  thy  spirit  ?  No  man  can  aright 
commit  a  spirit  into  the  hand  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  until  lie  have  se- 
riously pondered  on  that  ijuestion.  Ponder  it  Sirs,  in  the  fear  of  G^d  ! 
but  then  let  our  answer  to  it,  be  according  to  that  in  2  Thess.  i.  1 1,  That 
he  would  fulfil  all  the  good  pleasure  of  his  goodness  in  you,  and  the  work  of 
faith  with  power.      in  committing  your  spirits  into  the  hanil  of  the  Lord 

Jesus  Christ,  Oh  !  let  3'our  hearts,  being  made  willing  in  the  day  of  his 
poxver,  declare  themselves  willing  to  have  him  do  for  you,  all  that  he  is 
willingto  do.  It  is  the  proposal  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  Shall  my  obe- 
dience to  my  Father  furnish  thee  with  that  attonenieut,  and  that  righteous- 
ness whereby  thy  spirit  shall  stand  without  fault  before  the  throne  of  God  ? 
Reply,  Lord,  I  comtnit  my  spirit  into  thy  hand,  for  thee  to  justify  it.  The 
proposal  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  unto  us  is,  .]//  the  maladies  of  thy  spir- 
it, shall  I  heal  them  all  ?  Reply,  Lord,  I  commit  my  spirit  into  thy  hand, 
as  into  the  hand  of  the  Lord  my  healer  ;  O  let  that  hand  (f  thine  open  this 
blind  mind,  and  subdice  this  base  will,  and  rectifie  all  these  depraved  affec- 
tions ;  and  on  all  accounts  renew  a  right  spirit  within  me.  iMan,  commit 
thy  spirit  into  the  hand  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  with  such  a  disposition  ; 
and  then  rest  assured,  that  spirit  shall  never  be  lost. 

V.  if  you  would  successfully  commit  your  spirits  into  the  hand  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  when  you  die,  you  are  to  do  it  for  your  spirits  before 
you  die.  Indeed,  what  sliould  all  our  life  be,  but  a  jjreparation  for  death  ? 
And  all  of  our  life  truly  is  liitle  enough.  So  thought  our  devout  Baily. 
It  was  the  counsel  which  he  often  gave  to  his  friends.  Let  not  one  day  pass 
you,  without  an  earnest  prayer,  that  you  may  have  a  Christ  for  to  stand  by 
you  in  a  dying  hour.  And  his  own  practice  was  according  to  that  coun- 
sel, as  is  well  known  to  them  that  lived  with  him  in  his  family.  Sirs, 
you  are  not  sure,  that  when  the  decretory  hour  of  death  overtakes  you. 


556  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  (Book  III 

you  shall  have  one  minute  of  an  hour  allowed  you,  to  commit  your  spir- 
its into  the  hand  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Is  not  a  sudden  death  a  fre- 
qutnt  .sight  ?  There  are  very  many  so  suddenly  snatched  away  by  the 
Wiaii«ind  of  the  vengeance  of  the  Almighty,  that  they  have  not  oppor- 
tunity so  much  as  to  say,  Lord  have  mercy  vj)on  me  !  And  let  me  tell  you, 
that  a  sudden  deah  is  most  likely  to  be  the  portion  of  those  who  most 
presumptuously  put  ofi  to  a  death  bed,  the  work  of  committing  their  spir- 
its into  the  hand,  that  can  alone  befriend  them.  I  have  read,  that  of 
old,  according  to  the  laws  of  Persia,  a  malefactor  had  liberty,  for  an 
hour  belore  his  execution,  to  aL*k  what  he  would,  and  what  he  asked 
was  granted  him.  One  that  was  under  sentence  of  death,  being  admit- 
ted unto  the  use  of  this  liberty,  desired  neither  one  thing  nor  another, 
but  only,  that  he  u.ighl  see  the  King''s  face ;  which  being  allowed  him,  he 
so  plied  tiie  King  in  that  hour  that  he  obtained  his  pardon  :  whereupon 
the  Persians  altered  their  custom,  and  covered  the  face  of  the  malefac- 
tor, that  ne  might  never  see  the  King  any  more,  1  will  not  now  enquire, 
how  fir  this  passage,  will  illustrate  ihe  story  of  Human ;  but  I  will  ob- 
serve that  the^'uce  of  God  is  the  name  of  the  .Messiah;  and  in  this  ob- 
serv.ition,  1  h..ve  given  you  a  golden  key  to  come  at  new  treasures  in 
scores  of  scriptures.  And  I  will  apply  it  with  saying,  you  have  it,  may 
be,  au  hour  and  no  more  allowed  you  to  address  the  face  of  God  in  th^ 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  in  this  hour  you  may  obtain  his  favour  and  mercy, 
and  pardon.  Do  not  slip  this  hour,  lest  it  be  too  late.  Or,  peradven- 
ture  (and  alas,  it  is  but  a  peradventure  !)  you  should  upon  a  death-bed 
have  space  enough  to  commit  your  spirits  into  the  hands  of  the  Lord,  are 
you  sure  that  you  shall  then  have  the  grace  to  do  it  ?  It  is  a  solemn  cau- 
tion th.it  is  given  us,  in  Phil.  ii.  12.  13,  Work  out  your  ozi'n  salvation  with 
fear  and  trembling  ;  for  it  is  God  that  works  in  you,  both  to  will  and  to  do 
of  his  own  good  pleasure.  Even  so  fear  and  tremble,  to  delay  committing 
your  spirits  into  the  hand  of  the  Lord,  so  much  as  one  day  longer  ;  you 
do  not  know,  that  God  will  please  to  work  in  you,  for  the  doing  of  it, 
when  your  last  moments  are  upon  you. 

I  have  read  it,  as  the  observation  of  some  very  experienced  ministers, 
that  they  never  handled  in  their  ministry  any  subjects  more  successfully 
than  those  which  led  them  to  discourse  against  procrastination  in  the  con- 
cerns of  their  souls.  OurJSaiV^was  niuchin  makingofthis  experiment.  Ma- 
ny a  man  inserts  that  clause  in  his  last  will,  I  bequeath  my  sonl  unto  God  that 
gave  it.  But  in  the  name  of  God,  art  thou  certain  that  he  will  accept  of 
it  ?  The  law  says,  Legato  renunciari  potest,  and  LegaUan  accipere  memo 
nolens  cogitur ;  one  may  refuse  a  legacy,  there  is  no  compelling  oi>e  to 
accept  it.  It  is  true,  our  compassionate  Lord  will  ever  accept  a  poor 
soul,  whenever  it  is  with  a  true  faith  brought  unto  him.  \ea,  butit 
may  be,  be  will  not  accept  of  thy  soul,  inasmuch  as  thou  hast  no  true 
faith  to  bring  it  withal  :  faitli,  which  is  not  of  onr  selves,  it  is  the  gift  of 
God!  wherefore,  O  man.  if  thou  hast  any  regard  unto  thy  never  dying 
soul  go  thy  ways  presently,  and  earnestly  commit  it  unto  the  Lord  be- 
fore a  dying  hour.  As  the  apostle  said.  This  I  say,  brethren,  the  time  is 
short:  even  so  this  I  say,  my  friend,  thy  time  it  may  be  shorter  than 
thou  art  well  aware  of  WTiat  sh  ill  I  say  ?  I  say.  Boast  not  thy  self  of  to 
morrow.      I  say.  This  7iight  thy  soul  may  be  required. 

And  if  thy  fiithless  heart,  have  the  assistances  of  the  divine  grace 
witheld  from  it,  when  the  damp  sweats  of  death  are  upon  thee,  there, 
is  yet  another  objection,  with  which  the  God  of  Heaven  will  thunder- 
strike  thy  attempts  to  commit  thy  spirit  into   his  Jiand.     That  is  this  : 


Book  III.]  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLANU.  6bi 

That  spirit  of  thine,  is  it  thy  own  to  dispose  of?  Hast  thou  not  already  oth- 
errvise  disposed  of  it?  It  is  a  rule  in  law,  J\'c7no  potest  legare,  quod  suum 
jam  non  est,  no  man  can  by  will,  demise,  devise,  dispose  of  tljat,  of  which 
he  had  made  sale  before,  it  is  said  of  a  very  ungodly  man,  in  i  Kings 
xxi.  25,  He  sold  himself  to  Tuork  xvickedtiess.  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord.  Un- 
godly sinner,  the  devil  has  often  bargained  with  thee,  about  th}  soul  : 
he  hath  said,  By  deliberate  sinning  against  Heaven,  do  thou  make  over  thy 
soul  to  me,  and  thou  shall  have  the  short  pleasures  of  sin  for  it.  God  icnows 
how  often  thou  hast  thus  bargained  away  thy  soul  to  the  devil  ;  and  since 
thou  hast  not  in  all  thy  life  revoked  that  bargain,  then  though  Ihou  do 
at  thy  death  cry  unto  him.  Lord,  receive  this  poor  soul  of  mine  !  how 
justly  may  he  say.  No  not  I !  thou  hast  sold  that  soul  to  another;  and  let 
him  keep  it  forever  !  There  will  also  be  this  further  to  be  said,  WhatpoTs;- 
er  hast  thou  to  dispose  of  thy  spirit  ?  hast  thou  any  thing  at  all  at  thy  omn 
disposal  ? 

It  is  a  rule  in  law.  Semis  non  potest  Cundere  Testamenium  ;  a  slave  can- 
not make  a  will  :  he  has  nothing  of  his  own  to  dispose  of.  It  is  said  in 
Joh.  viii.  34,  Whosoever  practiselh  sin,  is  the  slave  of  sin.  It  may  be, 
thou  hast  all  this  while  been  a  very  slave  ;  thy  lust  is  thy  lord,  a  lust  of 
uncleanness,  of  drunkenness,  of  worldliness,  it  hath  utterly  enslaved 
thee.  And,  what  ?  not  got  out  of  that  slavery  before  thy  dim  eyes,  and 
cold  lips,  and  faltering  tongue,  and  failing  breath,  hath  put  over  thy  soul 
into  the  hand  of  the  Lord  !  How  justly  may  he  say,  slave,  thou  art  not 
able  to  do  for  thy  v.'retched  soul,  what  thou  dost  noxc  pretend  unto.  The 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  will  not  cast  off  thy  soul  with  such  objections,  if  thou 
seek  the  Lord  xchile  he  may  be  found,  and  call  iipon  Jnin  zvhile  he  is  near.  I 
earnestly  testify  unto  you,  the  vilest  and  oldest  sinner  among  ycu  all,  may 
come  and  be  xcelcome  unto  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  if  you  will  cume  now, 
while  it  is  the  acceptable  time,  now  while  it  is  the  day  of  salvation  Though 
thou  art  never  so  bad,  yet  come  and  heartil}'  complain  to  him  of  all  thy 
badness,  and  he  will  do  good  unto  thy  soul  1 

I  am  sure  my  Bailv,  Avould  have  said  nothing  more  heartily  than  this 
among  you  ;  you  heard  him  often  say  it,  Coine  in  to  the  mercy  of  my  Lord, 
for  yet  there  is  room!  But  it  is  to  be  feared,  that  if  thou  stay  till  the  last 
assaults  of  death  are  made  upon  thee,  the  door  of  mercy  will  be  shut,  and 
so  when  the  shrieks  are.  Lord,  Lord,  open  to  mc !  all  the  answers  will 
be  rebukes  and  fiery  thunders. 

VI.  Often  committing  our  spirits  into  the  hand  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
while  we  live,  let  us  endeavour  after  such  characters  upon  our  spirits^ 
as  may  assure  us,  that  he  will  receive  us  when  we  die. 

Indeed  when  we  first  commit  our  spirits  into  the  hand  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Chiist,  we  are  to  bring  them  with  no  other  characters  but  those  of 
r^in  and  hell  upon  them.  If  we  then  commit  our  spirits  into  the  hand  of 
the  Lord  Jesus  Chiist,  under  the  encouragement  of  any  laudable  qualifi- 
cations and  recommendations  in  them,  .^/i.'  Lord,  thou  wilt  abhor  us  and 
cast  us  off '.  In  our  first  believing  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  he  enquires 
of  us.  What  spirit  is  that  which  thou  dost  noxa  commit  into  my  hand  ?  our 
ansv/er  must  be,  Lord,  it  is  a  guilty  spirit,  a  filthy  spirit,  a  spirit  fill  of 
sin  and  hell,  as  ever  it  can  hold,  and  a  spirit  horribly  under  the  curse  oF 
God. 

Sirs,  If  you  answer  any  otherwise  than  so,  the  Redeemer  of  spirits 
will  not  receive  your  spirits.  But  when  we  commit  our  spirits  into  the 
hand  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  in  the  last  actions  of  our  life,  it  is  to  be 
supposed,  that  we  only  repeat  what  we  have  done  before,  and  that  our 


558  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  HI. 

Lord  Jesus  Christ  has  already  received  our  spirits  on  our  doing  of  it. 
Oh  !  it  is  a  dreadful  thing  for  a  d3ing  nana  to  think,  The  Lord  nezer  yet 
received  (his  poor  soiil  oj  mine  ;  for  I  never  till  now  committed  it  unlo 
the  Lord .'  when  such  persuns  commit  their  spirits  into  the  hand  ot  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  under  the  dimness  of  the  anguish  of  death,  it  is  as 
one  says,  Jis  if  one  should  bequeath  unto  an  honourable  person  some  greasy 
dish  clout,  or  some  dirty  shoe-clout 

It  is  of  unutterable  concernment,  for  every  man  to  get  the  symptoms 
of  a  received  soul  upon  hJfn,  now  befure  his  last  surrender  of  a  disires- 
sed  soul :  and  for  a  m;iii  to  be  able  to  Si.y  at  the  last,  Lord,  I  commit  a 
poor  sinful  spirit  now  into  thy  hand  ;  but  it  is  a  spirit  upon  which  thy  blood 
has  been  sprinkled,  and  it  is  a  spirit  wliich  thy  spirit  has  long  since  taken  pos- 
session of.  Now  to  render  tliis  unquestionable,  we  are  to  examine  our 
selves,  whether  our  spirits  have  been  renewed  by  the  Holy  Spirit  oj  God  1 
and  be  restless  in  our  own  spirits,  tili  we  are  sure  of  such  a  renovation. 
The  apostle  once  concluded,  that  when  our  spirits  depart  from  hence, 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  will  receive  them  into  an  house  not  made  with 
hands,  eternal  in  the  Heavens  :  and  upon  what  was  it,  that  he  raised  this 
conclusion  ?  He  says,  in  2  Cor.  v.  5,  For  He  that  wionght  us.  for  this 
self  same  thing  is  God.  The  Greek  word  used  there,  is  the  same  that 
the  LXX  use  for  the  curious  works  about  the  tabernacle. 

When  Bezaleel  had  neatly  wrought  a  board,  for  to  be  set  up  in  the 
silver  sockets  of  the  tabernacle,  he  would  not  throw  it  away  among  the 
rubbish.  Man  !  if  thou  hast  a  well  wrought  soul  within  thee,  God  will 
receive  it,  and  advance  and  improve  it,  in  his  house  for  ever.  A  work 
of  grace  produced  by  the  spirit  of  God,  upon  the  spirits  of  men,  is  a 
sure  token  of  his  purpose  to  bestow  a  state  of  glory  upon  them,  at  their 
departure  from  their  bodies.  The  primitive  martyrs  were  bidden  in 
1  Pet.  iv.  19.  To  commit  the  keeping  of  their  souls  unto  God,  as  unto  a 
faithful  Creator.  But  it  is  probable,  the  new  creation  experienced  by 
renewed  souls  is  especially  therein  referred  unto.  Has  the  Spirit  of 
God  made  a  new  creature  of  the  spirit  ?  This  will  be  a  demonstration, 
that  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  has  already  received  thy  spirit,  and  that 
when  thou  dost  again  commit  thy  spirit  unto  him,  he  will  receive  it. 
When  we  do,  in  our  last  actions,  commit  a  spirit  into  the  hand  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  what  is  it  for?  It  is  that  he  may  put  an  upper  gar- 
ment of  glory  upon  that  spirit.  But  he  will  demand,  tVhere  is  the  xinder 
garment  of  grace  upon  it  ?  If  thou  art  without  that  garment,  he  will  doom 
thy  spirit  unto  outer  darkness,  that  is  to  say  (for  outer  darkness  was  th^ 
name  of  the  prison  among  the  Jews)  he  will  make  a  perpetual  imprison- 
ment, the  portion  of  thy  soul.  VVherefore,  let  us  enquire  diligently 
into  the  signs  of  a  newborn  soul  upon  us  before  we  come  to  die.  Wo  to 
us,  if  we  are  not  born  tivice  bffore  we  die  once.'  Why  should  we  incur 
this  desolation  upon  our  souls,  that  when  at  last  we  go  to  commit  them 
into  the  hand  of  the  Lord,  he  shall  reject  them  and  say,  JVo,  /  know 
thern  not ;  they  are  none  of  mine  ;  they  are  the  workers  of  iniquity ! 

The  more  certaiuly  to  prevent  this  desolation,  let  this  one  compre- 
hensive duty  of  the  new  creature,  be  often  renewed  with  you.  Receive 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  into  thy  soul,  when  he  does  command  it  of  thee, 
and  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  will  receive  thy  soul  into  Heaven,  when  thou 
dost  at  last  commit  it  unto  him.  As  Jothain  said,  in  Judg.  ix.  7,  Hearken 
to  me,  that  God  may  hearken  to  you  :  even  this  do  1  now  say  to  you  ;  and 
I  carry  it  on  to  this  issue  :    do  you   hearken  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christy 


Book  III.]         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  559 

when  he  bids  you  to  receive  him,   and  when  you  pray  him  to  receive 
you.     He  uill  then  hearken  to  you. 

The  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  often  knocking  at  the  door  of  thy  soul  : 
there  would  he  enter,  with  all  his  gracious  influences  :  open  to  the 
Lord,  by  resigning  up  thy  soul  to  the  sweet  influences  Of  his  grace  :  re- 
ply, 0  Come  in,  thou  blessed  of  the  Lord,  ■schy  standest  thou  without  ?  So 
when  thy  last  sands  are  running,  thou  mayest  joyfully  think,  My  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  will  noxa  receive  me,  more  heartily  than  ever  I  received  him  : 
if  I  have  had  an  heart,  alas  a  vile  heart !  for  him.  I  am  sure  he  has  an 
Heaven  for  me  !  Lord  I  now  commit  into  thy  hand,  a  spirit  into  which  thou 
hast  been  received,  when  thy  wondrous  grate  deitianded  it  for  an  habitation  : 
and  thou  wilt  now  receive  this  unworthy  spirit  of  mine  into  a  better  habita- 
tion.    Think  thus,  and  rejoice  with  joy  unspeakable  and  full  of  glory. 

VII.  When  we  come  to  commit  our  spirits  into  the  hand  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Chri>;t,  at  and  for  our  hist  resignation,  let  us  do  it  very  humbly, 
but  very  vvijlitigly,  but  very  chearfully. 

How  humbly  ought  we  to  commit  our  spirits  into  the  hand  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ !  With  how  much  loatb.ing  and  judging  of  our  selves,  and 
with  what  shameful  reflections  on  all  our  past  behaviours.  We  are  bit- 
terly to  acknowledge  the  disorders  and  corruptions  of  our  own  spirits, 
when  we  commit  them  unto  the  Lord,  and  acknowledge  the  numberless 
errors  whereinto  our  spirits  have  betrayed  us.  When  we  lift  up  our 
soul  unto  the  Lord,  let  it  be  in  terms  like  those  in  Ezra  ix.  6,  Omy  God, 
lam  ashamed,  and  blush  to  lift  up  my  face  to  the'',  my  God  !  And  therefore, 
whatever  blessing  we  may  expect  for  our  souls,  let  us  with  all  possible 
self  abhorrence  fo  ind  our  expectations  on  the  pure  mercy  of  God,  in 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Most  sweetly  did  our  dying  Hooker  express  the 
frame  of  spirit,  wherewith  a  spirit  is  to  be  committed  into  the  hand  of  the 
Lord  :  when  one  that  stood  weeping  by  his  bed-side  said  unto  him,  Sir, 
you  are  going  to  receive  the  reward  of  all  your  labours,  he  replied.  Broth- 
er, I  am  going  to  receive  mercy!  VVhat  shall  I  say  ?  The  frame  of  spi- 
rit necessary  m  this  glorious  transaction,  I  cannot  better  paint  out  unto 
you,  than  by  reciting  the  words,  which  I  remember  I  once  had,  from  an 
eminent  old  servant  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  at  my  taking  leave  of  him: 
said  he,  '  Sir,  I  am  every  day  expecting  my  death  ;  but  I  desire  to  die 
'  like  the  thief,  crying  to  the  cruciiied  Jesus  for  mercy.  I  am  nothing, 
'  I  have  nothing,  I  can  do  nothing,  except  what  is  unworthy.  My  eye, 
'  and  hope,  and  faith,  is  to  Christ  on  his  cross.  I  bring  an  n6worthi- 
'  ness,  like  that  of  the  poor  dying  thief  unto  him,  and  have  no  more  to 
'  plead  than  he.  Like  the  poor  thief  crucitied  with  him,  I  am  waiting  to 
'  be  received,  by  the  infinite  grace  of  my  Lord,  into  his  kingdom.  And 
'  pray  tell  me,  did  not  a  red  Paul  mean  something  of  this,  when  he  said. 
'  /  am  crucified  with  Christ  .^' 

Sirs,  this  is  the  frame  wherewith  we  are  to  do  what  we  do.  But  then 
how  willingly,  how  chearfully  !  God  forbid,  that  we  should  commit  our 
spirits  into  his  hand,  as  only  dragged  and  forced  unto  it  by  unavoidable 
de-ith.  Our  dying  Lord  s  lid.  Father,  into  thy  hands  I  commend  my  spirit. 
W^hen  God  calls  tor  our  spirit,  we  are  to  think,  'TVs  jny  Father  that  calls 
for  me  ;  and  rhall  not  I  so  to  my  Father  ? 

It  was  a  good  speech  even  of  an  heathen,  5e?ie  Mori  est  Libenter  Mori, 
one  thing  in  well  dying,  is  to  die  willingly.  It  is  a  dismal  thing  for  the 
spirit  of  a  man  to  be  torn  from  him,  and  be  pulled  away  with  roaring  re- 
luctances, with  horrid  convulsions.  Whpre  would  be  the  sense  of  it.  if 
a  dying  man  should  say.  Lord,  into  thy  hand  I  commit  my  spirit,  hut  if  I 


56^)  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  HI 

could  lutve  ray  choice,  my  spirit  should  never  come  there  !  When  we  per- 
ceive liiat  call  from  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  Go  up  and  die  !  let  us  freely 
surrender  our  sjtiritt-  unto  our  great  Lord,  and  go  up  and  die  :  he  is  the 
Lord  of  our  lives.  Freely,  did  1  say  ?  yea,  and  gladly  too.  When  we 
have  aright  cotrji'iittqd  our  spirits  into  the  hand  of  the  Lord,  then  take, 
up  that  conclusion  in  Psal.  xlix.  15,  God  ■will  receive  my  soul.  And  then, 
let  US  vvonderi'ully  comfort  our  selves,  in  the  thoughts  of  that  spiritual 
world  which  we  arc  going  into.  Think,  I  shall  quickly  restfrom  sm  and 
all  temptations,  and  all  affections,  and  all  the  cursed  effects  of  sin,  and  all 
the  annoyances  of  ill  spirits  for  ever.  I  shall  quickly  be  lodged  among  the 
pure  spirits  that  see  God,  and  serve  him  day  and  night  in  his  temple,  and 
God  shall  zvipe  away  all  tears  from  my  eyes.  Yea,  I  shall  quickly  be  with 
■my  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  za-hich  is  by  far  the  best  of  all.  Oh  !  rejoice  in  the 
hope  of  this  glory  of  God  !  And  let  not  your  joy  be  interrupted  by  anj- 
fear  of  what  may  become  of  your  friends  when  you  shall  be  dead  and 
gone.  The  Lord  that  calls  you  to  commit  your  spirits  into  his  hand,  calls 
you  at  the  same  time,  to  commit  your  widows,  your  orphans,  and  all 
your  friends,  into  that  Omnipotent  Hand  :  he  says,  Leave  (hem  all  zvith 
me,  and  ril  take  the  care  of  them  all  ! 

It  was  noted  of  the  English  martyrs,  which  dyed  at  the  stake  in  the 
bloody  J/ar?!a»  pesecution,  that  none  of  them  went  more  joyftillyto  the 
stake,  than  those  that  had  the  largest  and  the  dearest  families  then  to  commit 
unto  ihe  Lord  :  and  afterwards  those  large  families,  were  wondrously  pro 
vided  for.  The  excellent  Mr.  Heron,  a  minister  that  had  a  family  of  ma- 
ny small  children  in  it,  when  he  lay  a  dying,  his  poor  wife  said  with 
tears,  Mas,  what  will  become  of  all  these  chihhen  ?  he  presently  and  plea 
santly  replied,  Never  fear,  he  that  feeds  the  young  ravens,  wo'nt  starve  ihe 
young  Herans  !  And  it  came  to  pass  accordingly. 

Sirs,  thus  you  are  to  commit  your  spirits  into  the  hand  of  the  Lord  .Te- 
sus  Christ. 

My  reverend  Bailey  diti  so  ;  and  it  is  as  from  him,  that  I  do  this  da} 
bespeak  your  doing  like  him  ;  yea,  not  from  him  only,  but  from  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  God,  whose  he  was,  and  wlumi.  he  served.  If  you 
would  more  particularly  be  told  after  what  manner  he  did  commit  his 
own  spirit  into  the  hands  of  the  Lord,  I  can  faithfully  recite  you  his  own 
account  of  the  transaction.     He  gives  it  thus, 

'  I  spent  half  a  day  alone  in  seeking  of  God  ;  desiring  to  give  up  my 
'  self  u.rto  God  in  Christ  wholly,  and  to  be  his  in  soul  and  body.  The 
'  particulars  I  omit.  I  hope,  God  in  Christ,  will  accept  of  me,  and  ena- 
'  ble  me  by  his  spirit  to  keep  touch  with  him  :   for  I  owned  my  self  whul- 

*  ly  unworthy  to  enter  into  covenant,  and  also  unable  to  keep  it  ;  biit  Je- 

•  sus  Christ  is  both  worthy  and  able. 

It  is  from  one  who  thus  did  it,  that  you  are  now  called  upon  to  do  like- 
wise. 

When  you  see  the  coffin  of  this  man  of  God,  anon  carried  along  the 
streets,  imajjine  it  a  mournful  pulpit,  from  whence,  being  dead,  he  yet 
speaks  thus  unto  you  ;  Whatever  you  do,  commit  your  perishing  souls  into 
the  hands  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  as  you  have  been  advised. 

That  these  admonitions  may  have  the  more  emphasis,  a^hort  account 
of  this  worthy  man  must  now  be  given  you. 

He  was  born  on  Fe6.  24,  1G4.3,  near  Blackhourn  in  Lancashire ;  of  a 
very  pious  mother,  who  even  before  he  was  born,  often  as  Hannah  did 
her  Samuel,  dedicated  him  unto  the  service  of  the  Lord. 


Book  III.]        THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  561 

Of  this  his  birth-day,  in  the  return  of  every  year,  he  still  took  much 
notice  in  his  diaries  :  and  made  his  humble  and  useful  reflections  there- 
upon. 

Once  particularly,  I  find  him  thus  entertaining  it. 

'  This  is  my  birth-day,  I  am  ready  to  say  of  it,  as  Job  doth  of  his  :  but 

*  I  forbear  any  unadvised  words  about  it  :  only,  I  have   done  little  for 
'  God,  and  much  against  him  ;  for  vvliich  I  am  sorry.' 

When  this  day,  last  arrived  unto  him,  he  thus  wrote  upon  it. 

*  I    may  say  with  a  great  sigh.    This  n-ns  my  birth-day  !  O  how  little 

*  good  have  I  done  all  this  while !  O  what  reason  have  1  to  stand  amazed 

*  at  the  riches  of  God's  forbearance  !   Much  may  happen  this  year  1  Lord, 
'  carry  me  through  it  /' 

From  a  child  he  did  knoz;}  the  holy  scriptures,  yea,  from  a  child  he  was 
trj'se  unto  salvation.  In  his  very  childhood  he  discovered  the  fear  of  God, 
upon  his  young  heart  ;  and  prayer  to  God  was  one  of  his  early  exer- 
cises. 

There  was  one  very  remarkable  effect  of  it.  His  father  was  a  man 
of  a  very  licentious  conversation  ;  a  gamester,  a  dancer,  a  very  lewd 
company  keeper.  The  mother  of  this  elect  vessel,  one  day  took  him, 
while  he  was  yet  a  child,  and  calling  the  family  together,  made  him  to 
pray  with  them.  His  father  coming  to  understand,  at  what  a  rate,  the 
child  had  prayed  with  his  family,  it  smote  the  soul  of  him  with  a  great 
conviction,  and  proved  the  beginning  of  his  conversion  unto  God.  God 
left  not  off  working  on  his  heart,  until  he  proved  one  of  the  most  eminent 
christians  in  all  that  neighbourhood.  So  he  lived  ;  so  he  died  ;  a  maa 
of  more  than  ordinary  piety  And  it  was  his  manner  sometimes  to  re- 
tire unto  those  very  places  of  his  former  lewdnesses,  where  having  this 
his  little  son  in  his  company,  he  would  pour  out  floods  of  tears  in  repent- 
ing prayers  before  the  Lord. 

This  hopeful  youth  having  been  educated  in  grammar-learning  under 
a  worthy  school  master,  one  Mr.  Soger,  and  in  further  learning,  under 
the  famous  Dr.  Harrison,  at  length,  about  the  age  of  twenty-two,  he  en- 
tred  on  the  public  employment  of  preaching  the  gospel.  In  so  doing,  he 
was  not  one  of  those,  of  whom  even  the  great  Papist  Bellarmine  com- 
plains. Qui  non  valde  solliciti  esse  solent,  an  ea  qua  par  est  preparatione 
accedant,  cum  Fi7iis  eorum  inagis  sit  cibus  Corporis,  quam  Animce.  He  be- 
gan at  Chester  ;  but  afterwards  went  over  to  Ireland,  where  his  labours 
were  so  frequent  and  fervent,  that  they  gave  those  wounds  unto  his 
health,  which  could  never  be  recovered.  About  fourteen  years  of  his 
time,  in  Ireland,  he  spent  at  Limrick,  and  saw  so  many  seals  of  his  minis- 
try, in  that  country,  that  he  seemed  rather  to  fish  with  a  net,  than  with 
an  hook,  for  the  kingdom  of  God. 

I  am  not  willing  to  relate,  how  grievously,  and  yet  how  patiently  he 
suffered  long  and  hard  imprisonments,  from  those  men,  concerning  whom 
a  comformable  divine  of  the  Church  oi  England,  very  truly  says,  That  they 
were  Atheists,  with  the  inventions  of  ceremonies  habited  like  christians, f or  th^ 
service  of  the  devil,  to  corrupt  and  destroy  true  Christianity :  I  should  re- 
late but  little  of  this,  because  that  spirit  of  persecution  has  been  repent- 
ed by  an  happy  act  of  Parliament. 

And  yet  for  the  admonition  of  our  inexcusable  young  men,  the  sin  of 
which  young  men  is  very  great  before  the  Lord  !  above  that  of  those,  who 
have  been  brought  up,  as  many  very  godly  christians  have  in  those  ways 
of  the  Church  oi'  England,  for  a  secession  from  which,  this  country  was 
first  planted  :  young  men,  who  notwithstanding  their  descent  from  fathers 
Vol..  I..  71    ' 


662  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  lU 

and  grandfathers,  that  were  great  sufferers  for  their  non-conformity  to 
an  uninstituted  worship  of  Christ,  and  notwithstanding  their  education  in 
the  knowledge  of  what  is  required,  and  what  is  forbidden  in  the  second 
commandment,  and  notwithstanding  their  being  urged  by  no  temptation 
of  persecution,  or  being  tempted  by  any  thing  but  the  vanity  ofiheir  own 
minds,  do  yet  so  rebel  against  the  light,  as  to  turn  apostates  from  the  first 
principles  of  JS'ezD-Ejigland  ;  it  may  be  seasonable  to  repeat  so  much  of 
the  history  of  this  worthy  man,  as  a  little  further  to  illustrate  this  article. 

He  no  sooner  began  to  preach  the  gospel  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
but  his  tidelity  to  that  gospel,  was  tried  by  an  hard  imprisonment,  which 
he  underwent  because  his  cons'^ience  could  not  conform  to  humane  in- 
ventions in  the  sacred  service  of  Heaven.  Yea,  while  he  wasyet  ayouni; 
man,  he  often  travelled  far  by  night  in  the  winter,  as  well  as  in  the  summer, 
that  so  he  might  enjoy  the  ordinances  purely  adminislred  in  the  meetings  of 
the  fliithful  ;  and  was  laid  up  sometimes  in  Lancashire  gaol,  for  being 
found  at  those  meetings.  When  he  was  at  Limrkk,  the  attendance  of  a 
person  of  great  quality,  and  his  lady,  (who  were  nearly  related  unto  the 
Duke  of  Orrnond,  the  lord  lieutenant  of  Ireland)  upon  his  ministry,  pro- 
voked the  bishop  to  complain  unto  the  lord  lieutenant.  This  gentleman 
then  profered  unto  Mr.  Baily,  that  if  he  would  conform,  he  would  pro- 
cure his  being  made  chaplain  to  the  duke,  and  having  a  deanery  immedi- 
ately, and  abishoprick  upon  the  first  vacancy  :  but  he  refused  the  profer. 
Albeit,  another  eminent  non-conformist  minister,  not  far  from, Limr irk,  a 
godly  and  an  able  man,  and  one  who  had  appeared  much  against  conformi- 
ty at  the  tirst  pressing  thereof,  did  afterwards  accept  of  the  aforesaid 
chaplainship,  and  by  degrees  conformed,  and  arrived  unto  several  places 
of  preferment :  pretending,  that  he  did  it  for  the  sake  of  opportunities  to 
preach  the  gospel.  But  it  was  remarkable!  God  so  disabled  him  with 
distempers  after  this,  that  he  was  very  seldom,  if  ever  able  to  preach 
at  all. 

iMr.  Baili/  went  on  in  the  exercise  of  his  ministry,  not  pursuing  any 
factious  designs,  but  meerly  the  conversion  of  men  to  Christ,  and  faith, 
and  holiness,  which  the  devil  counts  the  worst  of  all  designs.  And  now. 
although  he  were  so  harmless  and  blameless  in  his  whole  conversation, 
that  he  was  always  much  beloved  wherever  he  came,  yet  another  long 
miprisonment  was  inflicted  on  him,  while  the  Papists  in  the  neighbour- 
hood, had  all  manner  of  liberty  and  countenance.  When  he  was  before 
the  judges,  he  told  them.  If  I  hud  been  drinking  and  gaming  and  carous- 
ing at  a  tavern  with  my  company,  my  lords,  I  presume  that  would  not  have 
procured  my  being  thus  treated  as  an  offender.  Must  praying  to  God,  and 
preaching  of  Christ,  with  a  company  of  christians,  that  are  as  peaceable 
xind  inoffensive,  and  serviceable  to  his  Majesty  and  the  government  as  any  of 
his  subjects,  must  this  be  a  greater  crime  ?  The  recorder  answered,  We  will 
have  you  to  know,  it  is  a  greater  crime. 

'  While  he  was  imprisoned,  his  chuich  being  divided  into  seven  parts, 
visited  him  one  part  a  day,  so  that  preaching  to  them,  and  praying  with 
them  every  day,  he  once  in  a  week  served  them  all.  But  this,  in  a  little 
while  gave  such  offence,  that  a  violent  obstruction  was  given  thereunto  ; 
and  though  his  flock,  particularly  his  dear  young  men  (as  he  called  them) 
did  pray  without  ceasing,  and  not  without  fasting,  for  his  release  ;  and 
humble  applications  were  also  made  unto  the  judges  at  the  assizes  for  it, 
yet  no  release  could  be  granted  him,  without  his  giving  security,  to  de- 
part the  land,  within  a  little  time  then  limited  unto  him. 


iJooKlII.]        THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  563 

It  was  not  long,  before  a  wrath  unto  the  utternnost  came  upon  the  city, 
which  had  thus  persecuted  this  faithful  minister  of  God  ;  and  that  per-  " 
son  particularly,  who  had  been  the  chief  instrument  of  his  persecution, 
was,  (as  we  have  been  told)  within  a  while,  upon  other  accounts,  himself 
run  into  prison,  where  he  cried  out  with  horror,  of  the  wrong;s  done  by 
him  to  Mr.  Baily,  and  then  running  distracted,  he  died  miserably  But 
J\'ew-E)igland,  a  country  originally  a  retreat  for  persecuted  non-conform- 
ists, hereupon  afl'orded  unto  our  13aUy  an  opportunity  of  labouring  near 
fourteen  years  more,  in  the  work  which  he  hived  above  all  things  in  the 
world  ;  the  work  of  turning  the  souls  of  men  from  darkness  to  light,  and  from 
Satan  to  (iod  :  wherein  for  some  time,  his  younger  and  godly,  and  sweet 
natured  brother,  who  came  over  with  him,  vvas  his  romtbrtable  compan- 
ion and  assistant ;  until  he  got  the  start  of  him  in  his  departure  to  the 
glories  of  the  better  world.  They  were  indeed.  Frairtrm  dwice  par  ;  a 
David  and  a  Jonathan.  Death,  which  for  a  while  parted  them,  has  now 
again  brought  them  together.  This  Mr.  Thomas  Baily,  died  January 
21,  1689,  as  this  his  brother  and  colleague  notes  in  his  diary  ;  He  died 
zvell,  which  is  a  great  reord  ;  so  sweetly  as  I  never  saw  the  like  before  !  But 
as  for  this  elder  brother,  he  was  a  man  of  great  holiness,  and  of  so  ten- 
der a  conscience,  that  if  he  had  been  at  any  time  innocently  chearful, 
in  tl)e  company  of  his  friends,  it  cost  him  afterwards  abundance  of  sad 
reflection,  through  fear,  lest  e'er  he  had  been  aware,  he  might  have 
grieved  the  Holy  Spirit  of  Christ.  A  savoury  book  of  his  about  The  Chief 
Etid  of  Man,  published  among  us,  has  fully  described  unto  us,  that  savour 
if  spirit,  which  was  in  his  daily  walk  maintained.  .' 

Sic  Oculos,  Sic  ille  manus,  Sic  ora  ferebat. 

The  desire  of  this  holy  man,  was  (as  himself  expressed  it)  to  get  up 
unto  three  things  :  to  patience  under  the  calamities  of  life  ;  to  impatience 
under  the   infirmities  of  life  ;  and  to   earnest  longings  for  the  next  life. 

And  his  desire  at  another  time, he  thus  expressed.  Oh!  that  I  might 
not  be  oj  the  number  of  them,  that  live  without  love,  speak  without  feeling , 
and  act  without  life  !  Oh!  that  God  would  make  me  his  humble  and  upright 
and  faithful  servant ! 

From  this  holy  temper  it  was  that  when  some  kind  presents  were 
raade  unto  him,  he  wrote  in  his  diary  thereupon  ;  I  have  my  wages^quick- 
ly  ;  but  Oh !  that  God  may  not  put  me  off",  with  a  reward  here  !  Oh  !  that 
God  may  be  my  reward ! 

We  will  more  particularly  note  a  few  notable,  wherein  the  holiness 
which  irradiated  him,  will  be  described  unto  us. 

We  might  begin  with  observing,  that  the  holy  word  of  God  was  very 
dear  to  him,  as  indeed  it  is  to  every  holy  man.  Hence,  I  find  this  pas- 
sage in  his  diary,  Jan.  11.  ^I  finished  the  reading  of  the  Bible,  in  my 
'  family  (as  formerly)  Oh  !  it  is  a  dear  book  ;  it  is  always  new.  In  the 
*  beginning  of  every  chapter  it  is  good  to  say,  Lord,  open  my  eyes,  that  I 
'  may  see  wonders  out  of  thy  law  ;  and  when  we  shut  it  up  to  say,  /  have 
'  seen  an  end  of  all  perfection,  but  thy  law  is  exceeding  broad.  Oh  !  how 
'  terrible  are  the  threatnings  ;  how  precious  are  the  promises  ;  how 
■•  serious  are  the  precepts  ;  how  deep  are  the  prophecies  of  this  book  i 
'  but  we  will  pass  on  to  some  further  observations.' 

What  is  holiness  but  a  dedication  to  the  Lord  jTesus  Christ  ?  This  holy 
man  was  often  breathing  in  himself,  and  pressing  on  others,  that  great 
point  of  dedicating  every  thing  to  the  service  of  the  Lord,     Thus  in 


564  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND         [Rook  III, 

his  diary,  there  frequently  occur  such  strains  as  these.     'Oh'!  that  I 

*  may  glorifie  God  with  all  I  am,  or  have  ;  even  with  all  the  faculties  of 

*  my  soul,  all  the  members  of  my  body,  and  in  all  the  places  and  rela- 
'  tions  that  I  stand  in,  as  man,  master,  minister,  husband,  kinsman,  and 
'  neighbour.     Oh  !  1    stand  in  need  both  of  a  justifying  Christ,  and   a 

*  sanctifying  Christ.  When  shall  1  sensibly  find  a  Christ  swaying  his 
'  scepter  in  my  soul !'  Thus  whatever  house  he  came  to  live  in,  it  came 
under  a  dedication  ;  and  once  upon  a  remove,  he  wrote  this  passage  in 
his  diary.  '  I  could  not  but  leave  my  old  house,  with  a  prayer  in  every 
'  room  of  it,  for  pardoning  mercy' 

But  it  was  particularly  expressed,  when  one  of  his  children  was  to  be 
"baptized.     He  thus  wrote  upon  it.     '  I  spent  some  time  in  offering  up 

*  my  self,  and  ray  child  unto  the  Lord,  and  in  taking  hold  of  the  cov- 

*  enant  for  my  self  and  him.  It  is  actually  to  be  done  to  morrow,  [in 
'  baptism.]  1  prayed  hard  this  day,  all  this  &ay,  that  I  might  be  able  in 
'  much  faith,  and  love,  and  new-covenant  obedience  to  do  it  to-mor- 
'  row.  It  is  not  easy,  though  common  to  offer  a  child  unto  God  in  bap- 
'  tism.  Oh!  that's  a  sweet  word,  I  ■will  be  a  God  to  thee,  and  thy  seed 
'  after  thee.     No  marvel  Abralutm  fell  on  his  face  at  the  hearing  of  it !' 

Hence,  when  he  parted  with  the  greatest  enjoyment  he  had  in  this 
world,  be  thus  wrote  upon  it,  in  his  diary  ; 

'  If  I  can  but  exchange  outward  comforts  for  inward  graces,  it  is  well 
'  enough  :  Oh  !   for  an  heart  to  glorify  God  in  the  fire  P 

From  this  holiness  proceeded  that  watchfulness,  which  discovered  a 
singular  fear  of  God,  in  his  whole  conversation.  I  find  him  entring  in 
his  diary  such  passages  as  these. 

At  one  time. 
'  I  did  not  watch  my  tongue  so   as   I   ought ;  which   cost  me  much 
'  trouhle  afterwards,  and  made  me  walk  heavily.     It  is  a  mad  thing 

'  to  sin  !' 

At  another  time. 
'  I  spoke  two  unadvised  words  to-day.  Though  ther£  was  no  great 
■  barm  in  them,  yet  I  was  rebuked  by  my  conscience  for  them.  Let 
'  the  Lord  forgive  them  ;  and  for  the  future,  set  a  watch  before  the  door 
'  of  my  lips.  Let  my  thoughts  and  words  be  acceptable  in  thy  sight, 
<  O  Lord.' 

At  another  time. 
♦  That  is  a  serious  word,  methinks,  in  Eph.  v,  30.  I  have  grieved  the 
'  Holy  Spirit,  by  my  unedifying  communication.     Oh  !  that  in  speaking, 
'1  might  administer  grace    to  the  hearer !  Oh!  that  honey  and  milk 

*  were  under  my  tongue  continually.' 

At  another  time. 
'  I  was  too  forgetful  of  God,  and  exceeding  in  tobacco.     The  Lord 

*  pardon  that,  and  all  other  sins,  and  heal  this  nature,  and  humble  this 
'  heart.' 

At  another  time. 
*■  This  day  I   have  been  more   chearful   than  I  have  been  of  a  long 
'time.     It  hath  afflicted  me  since,  fearing  it  was  not  suitable.     Oh!    I 
'  ought  to  walk  in  the  midst  of  my  house,  in  a  perfect  way.     I  ought 


Book  III.]        THE  HISTORY  OF  NEVV-ENGLAND.  566 

'  every  day  to  be  writing  copies  ;  and  to  leave  a  stock  behind  me  that 

*  others  may  trade  for  God  withal,  when  I  am  dead.'  j|Vnd  behold,  you 
see  this  day,  that  he  did  so. 

And  as  holy  men  use  to  be  full  of  hearty  prayers  and  wishes  for  the 
good  of  other  men,  thus  this  holy  man  has  filled  many  places  in  his 
diaries,  with  his  prayers  for  the  welfare  of  those,  with  whom  he  was 
concerned  ;  from  whence  we  may  gather  how  full  his  heart  was  of 
blessings  for  his  neighbours. 

Once  particularly  I  find  him  thus  writing. 

'  1  desired  to  know  of  Dr.  O.  what  I  was  indebted  to  him  for  those  ma- 

*  ny  rich  things  I  have  had  from  him  :  he  told  me,  nothing  ;  [which  was 
'  a  great  favour'.]  only  desired  my  prayers  for  him.  Oh  !  that  I  could 
'  pray  !   Whenever  1  can  pray,  I  will  heartily  say  to  God  in  the  name  ot 

*  Christ  for  him,  The  Lord  bless  him  indeed !  let  thy  hand  be  with  him,  and 

*  keep  him  from  all  evil,  that  it  may  not  grieve  him.^ 

Moreover,  it  was  not  only  among  the  great  signs,  but  also  among  the 
great  means  of  his  holiness,  that  he  was  very  solicitous,  as  well  in  his 
preparation  for  the  table  of  the  Lord,  as  in  his  observation  of  what  com- 
munion he  enjoyed  with  the  Lprd  Jesus  Christ,  at  his  table. 

His  diary  abounds  with  passages  of  this  importance  ;  the  expressions 
of  a  careful  soul 

The  last  time  of  being  at  the  Lord's  table,  he  wrote  the  ensuing  pas- 
sages. 

'  1  was  encouraged  to  carry  my  late  bad  frame  to  the  cross  of  Christ, 

*  and  to   bewail  there  my  late   prayerlesness  and  unthankfulness.     Of 

*  late  it  hath  troubled  me,  to  think  how  little  I  have  admired  Christ  for 

*  bringing  me  out  of  some  late  plunges  of  temptation.  I  now  come  to 
'  him  for  two  things  ;  namely,  for  pardon  ;  and  also  for  double  power  ; 

*  both  to  receive  him,  and  to  shew  forth  his  praises.' 

Let  me  add  ;  sometimes,  as  he  was  able,  he  would  set  apart  half  a  day 
for  extraordinary  prayers  :  he  still  did  so,  when  there  were  any  extra- 
ordinary cares  upon  him.     Thus  he  records  in  his  diaries. 

At  one  time. 
'  Being  of  late  in  so  ill  a  frame,  I  spent  some  time,  to  seek  the  fair  face 
'  of  Jesus  Christ  ;  and  I  did,  on  purpose,  address  my  self  to  him,  who  is 
'  the  most  admirable  Saviour.  1  left  my  self  with  him  ;  my  mind,  heart, 
'  mouth  ;  especially  my  conscience.  Oh  !  how  many  wonders  are  to  be 
'  wrought  in  me  !  I  know,  the  loving,  and  wonder-working  Jesus  can  do 
'  them  all.' 

At  another  time. 
'  I  spent  some  time  alone  in  prayer,  from  8  to  3.    I  was  much  tired. 
'  Oh  !  that  I  might  wait  for  returns,  and  never  more  turn  to  folly.     I 

*  cannot  tell  how  God  should  admit  me  near  him,  considering  how  I  have 
'  grieved  his  Spirit.  Having  prayed  in  the  morning  in  the  family,  I  re- 
'  tired  ;  and  first  sought  at  large  unto  God  for  help  to  go  through  the 

*  day  :  especially  begging  repentance,  and  not  only  so,  but  faith  ;  that  I 

*  might  not  rest  in  the  bare  work  ;  that  Satan  might  get  no  advantage  af- 

*  ter  it ;  that  I  might  have  reason  to  desire  more  such  days.  Then  af- 
'  ter  a  little  meditation   and  breathing,  I   went  to  prayer  again,  only  to 

*  confess  my  sin  before  God,  and  to  set  my  soul  as  before  the  Lord  ;  la- 
'  bouring  to  judge  and  loath  my  self,  for  all  my  sin,  from  first  to  last. 


{>66  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND,         [Book  HL 

'  God  helped  a  little  ;  but  Oh  !  that  my  heart  was  broken  in  pieces,  and 
'  htinibied  to  the  dust.     After  a- little  more  meditation,  1  went  to  prajer 

*  10  way  of  petition,  and  that  at  large.  Oh!  Lord,  hear  me,  and  give 
'  me  the  wisdom  that  1  want.  I  hope  God  will  hear,  pity,  pardon,  and 
'  help  me.     After  a  little  more  meditation,  I  fell  to  praise  and  bless  God 

*  for  my  mercies,  by  sea  and  land  ;  but  was  somewhat  short  in  this  part, 

*  for  whicti  1  am  sorry.  At  last  I  concluded  all,  in  praying  for  the 
'  Church  of  God  in  general,  lor  London,  Lancashire,  and  Limrick ';  and 
'  for  New-Engitnid  also.  Here  I  brought  all  my  relations  to  the  Lord. 
'  Oh,  Lord,  accept  of  me,  and  my  poor  services  in  Christ.  Oh  '.  that  1 
'  mdy  watch  afterward,  and  never  more  be  sensual,  unbelieving,  proud, 
'  nor  hypocritical       Loid,  s.iy  Jimen.^ 

And  that  praises,  as  well  as  prayers  might  not  be  forgotten  with  him, 
I  iind  him  once  particularly  in  his  diary,  thus  expressing  himself. 

December  15,  1691 . 
'  I  resolved,  through  the  grace  and  strength  of  Jesus  Christ,  even  in 
the  midst  of  ail  ray  sorrows  and  sinkings,  despairings  and  distractions, 
to  keep  as  much  of  this  day  as  1  could  in  thank.sgiving ;  which  I  did  ; 
but  could  not  go  thorow  with  it,  through  bodily  faintness.  1  spent  five 
hours  soa'iewhat  comfortably  ;  but  after  that  I  flagged.  I  resolved  to 
do  three  things.  First,  to  spend  some  time  in  praising  God  for  his  ex- 
cellencies, God  was  with  me,  1  hope,  in  that  part  of  it,  and  I  spent  my 
self  so  much  therein,  that  I  was  disabled  for  the  rest.  To  help  it  for- 
v\  ard  God  brought  to  hand  Mr.  Burroughs,  of  the  nature  of  God  ;  I  bless 
God  for  it.  After  that,  I  went  to  prayer  ;  labouring  to  exalt  God  ;  (it 
w;;s  a  good  time  !)  after  that  I  sang  tiie  148th  Psalm.  Secondly,  after 
that,  1  i«et  my  self  to  bless  God  for  his  benefits  and  kindnesses  to  me. 
But  being  spent,  I  did  not  much  ;  only  going  to  prayer,  I  made  men- 
lion  of  some  mercies  ;  such  as  these,  viz.  for  Christ;  his  covenant  of 
g  ace  ;  and  the  promises  of  it  (some  of  which,  were  particularly  men- 
tioned and  pressed  :)  also  my  education  ;  my  manifold  preservations  by 
land  and  sea  ;  (especially  that  in  Ipswich  Bay ;)  and  manifold  tedious 
sicknesses  since  ;  for  the  long  day  of  God's  patience,  notwithstanding 
many  sins  :  for  my  comfortable  provisions  all  along  ;  for  preserving  his 
great  name,  that  1  have  in  nothing  openly  dishonoured  it  ;  for  my  suc- 
cess and  acceptance  in  my  work  ;  for  my  dear  wife,  that  I  had  her  so 
long  ;  and  that  my  brother  and  my  dear  wife  died  both  of  them  glori- 
fying of  God  :  they  are  in  Heaven,  and  1  am  out  of  hell  !  that  I  have 
hitherto  been  kept  from  distraction  and  despair,  and  kept  to  my  work  : 
that  I  have  any  friends  (in  this  strange  land)  and  any  in  my  family  to 
mind  me  and  tend  me  :  that  I  have  work  here,  and  opportunities  ol 
service  :  for  my  sore  crosses  and  losses  of  late  afflictions  and  tempta- 
tions, hoping  they  may  work  for  good.  Thirdly,  to  conclude  all,  with 
a  chearful  accepting  of  Christ,  and  devoting  my  self  to  his  service  :  to 
do  for  him,  that  had  done  all  this  for  me  :  saying,  if  God  would  help 
me  to  study,  he  should  have  all  the  glory  of  it.'  Thus  did  he  walk 
wiih  God. 

His  ministry  was  very  acceptable  to  the  people,  whose  good  he  most 
aimed  at,  wherever  he  came  :  great  auditories  usually  flocking  thereun- 
to, proclaimed  it.  But  that  he  might  not  be  lifted  up,  it  seemed  meet 
nnto  the  wisdom  of  Heaven,  to  humble  him  with  sore  and  long  tempta- 
tions, often  recurring  to  bnjfet  him.  In  his  days,  he  saw  many  disconso- 
late hoiirs ;  he  was  tilled  with  desponding  jealousies,  lest  after  he  had 


[Hook  111.         THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  5G7 

preached  unto  others,  he  should  be  himself  a  cast-aicay  :  and  he  often  ia- 
treated  those,  who  saw  the  distresses  of  iii?  tuiiid,  that  they  z.oidd  by  .-o 
means  take  up  any  prejudice  a^ainsi  the  sweet  and  good  ways  ^f  religioa, 
from  zvhal  they  saw  of  liis  disconsidate  uneasinesses. 

It  may  be,  it  will  be  profitable  unto  some  discouraged  minds,  to  unaer- 
stand  how  he  expresses  himself  on  such  occasions.  In  st^rtiions  oij  ttiose 
words,  I  am  oppressed,  undertake  for  ine,  he  much  described  it  unto  us. 
iiut  in  his  diaries  it  was  thus  : 

At  one  time. 
'  I  was  almost  in  the  suburbs  of  hell  all  day  ;  a  meer  Magor  Missahib. 
'  I  saw  death  and  sin  full  of  terror  :  I  thought  1  never  sought  the  giory 
'  of  God  :  Ah  !  what  a  matchless  wretch  am  I  I  Oh  !  that  I  could  love 
'  above  all  things,  and  seek  the  glory  of  God,  and  live  contentedly  on 
'■  him  alone  !  Oh  !  that  I  could  see  the  blood  of  Christ  on  my  soul,  and 
"  at  the  bottom  of  my  profession.     Oh  !  for  a  sight  of  the  mystery  and 

*  majesty  of  the  grace  and  love  of  Jesus  Christ :  so  that  all  excellencies 
'  might  fall  down  before  it!" 

At  another  time. 
'  1  am  in  a  woful  frame  ;  far  from  saying,  with  Dr.  Avery,  Here  I  lie, 
'  not  knowing  what  God  will  do  with  me,  but  though  I  thus  lie,  God  doth  not 
'  terrify  me,  either  with  my  sin,  or  with  my  death,  or  with  himself.^ 

At  another  time. 
'  If  God  should  yet  save  my  soul,  and  his  work  in  my  hand,  it  would 

■  be  amazing.  There  is  a  may  be!  If  these  inward  troubles  hold,  I  shall 
'  be  forced  to  lay  down  my  work.  O  Lord,  step  in  for  my  relief!  O  the 
"  worth  of  the  sense  of  God's  love  in  Christ !' 

At  another  time. 
'  I  am  oppressed  unto  death,  and  filled  with  the  angry  arrows  of  God  : 

*  it  ariseth  not  at  present  from  any  particular  cause,  but  the  sense  of  my 

■  woful  estate  in  general.     Oh  !  that  the  issue  may  yet  be  peace,  and  that 

*  I  may  not  fetch  comfort  unto  my  self,  but  by/at'i/t  m  Jesus  Christ.^ 

At  another  time. 

•  Oh  !  that  Jesas  Christ  would  undertake  for  me  !  If  God  marvellous- 
'  ]y  prevent  not,  1  shall  lay  down  my  work.     O  Lord,  appear.     Oh!  for 

*  one  saving  sight  of  the  love,  and  loveliness  of  Jesus  Christ       i  wish  I 

*  could  say,  as  mj'  dear  tutor  Dr.  Harrison  said.  That  he  could  not  live  a 
■'  day,  without  a  fresh  manifestation  of  God  unto  his  soul  P 

At  another  tim^.. 

•  The  eclipse  of  the  moon  last  night,  made  one  think.  Oh  !  that  I  could 
'  mourn  bitterly,  zcho  have  sinned  my  self  into  darkness  !  How  is  the  earth 
'  interposing  I  Lord,  remove  it.  Let  the  Son  of  Righteousness  in  his  glo- 
'  ry  and  strength  yet  be  seen  by  me  !' 

At  another  time. 
'  I  have  much  reason   to  bless  God,   for   rebuking  of  Satan.     I  have 

*  been  many  a  time  ready  to  give  up  all,  and  lay  down  my  ministry,  think- 
'  ing  that  God  had  utterly  forsaken  rae,  and  hid  Jesns  Christ  from  me  ; 


568  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.       [Book  HI. 

'  which  I  would  justify  him  in.     But  by  the  consideration  of  the  brazen 
'  serpent,  1  was  somewhat  recovered.' 

Jit  another  time. 
'  I  was  now  supported  by  the  thoughts  of  a  precious  Jesus.  I  should 
'  forever  sink,  but  for  him  !  When  I  look  backward  or  forward,  upward 
'  or  downward,  I  die,  I  sink  ;  but  when  I  look  at  the  sweet  Jesus,  I  live. 
'  I  may  resolve  with  Dr.  Preston  ;  (O  that  i  could  ')  saying,  /  have  often 
'  tryed  God,  and  now  VLl  trust  him.  It  is  a  good  resolution  ;  Lord,  help 
'  me  to  it !' 

At  another  time. 
'  I  would  gladly  think,  that  God  is  my  father.     And  if  so.  Oh  !  what 
'  glory  is  due   to  the  riches  of  free  grace  !  Oh !  how  glorious  is  that 
'  grace,  and  how  vvill  it  shine  through  all  eternity  !  If  ever  I  see  my  self 

*  safe  at  last,  I  must  forever  cry  out,  lam  wonderfully  saved  /' 

In  fine,  one  thing  that  much  relieved  him  in  his  internal  troubles,  was 
what  he  had  occasion  (thus)  to  write  in  his  diary,  a  little  before  his  end. 

'  1  do  more  see  into  the  great  mystery  of  our  justification  by  faith, 
'  meerly  of  grace.  There  is  no  respect  in  it,  unto  this  or  that  ;  but  Je- 
<  sus  Christ  having  wrought  out  a  redemption  for  us,  and  by  his  active 
'  and  passive  obedience  procured  a  sufficient  righteousness,  and  making  a 

*  tender  of  it  in  the  gospel,  it  becomes  mine,  by  my  accepting  of  it,  and  re- 

*  lying  on  it  alone  for  salvation.     And  shall  I  not  accept  of  it  ?  God  for- 
'  bid ! 

'  I  see  (saith  he)  there  are  two  things,  wherein  I  can't  easily  exceed, 
'  viz.  in  ascribing  to  the  grace  of  God,  the  freeness  and  richness  of  it  in 
'  man's  salvation  ;  and  in  ascribing  to  the  righteousness  of  Christ  in  man's 

*  justification.' 

At  length,  dismal  pains  of  the  gout,  with  a  complication  of  other  mala- 
dies, confined  him  for  a  quarter  of  a  year  together.  Under  the  pains  of 
his  confinement,  he  took  an  extraordinary  contentment  in  the  fifty-third 
chapter  o{ Isaiah,  which  represents  the  sorrows  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
whereby  all  our  sorrows  are  sanctified  :  and  he  would  often  roll  over  those 
words  of  our  Saviour,  elsewhere  occurring.  They  pierced  my  hands  and 
my  feet.  When  the  remainders  of  his  flock,  which  waited  on  him  to  JVew- 
England,  visited  him,  his  usual  and  solemn  charge  to  them  was,  /  charge 
you,  that  I  find  you  all  safe  at  last !  My  brethren,  God  make  the  charge 
of  your  dead  pastor  abide  upon  you.  For  some  time  in  his  last  sickness, 
his  heavenly  soul  was  harrassed  with  terrible  discouragements  :  under 
all  of  which,  it  was  yet  a  common  expression  with  him,  The  master  hath 
done  all  thii.gs  well!  But  at  last,  he  arrived  unto  a  blessed  satisfaction, 
that  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  had  made  his  peace  in  Heaven,  and  that  he 
was  going  into  eternal  peace.  Yea,  at  the  worst,  he  would  say.  That  his 
fear  was  not  so  much  about  the  end  of  all  as  about  what  he  might  meet  with- 
al in  the  way  to  that  end.  He  had  begun  to  prepare  a  sermon  for  our 
south-church,  upon  those  words,  fVho  is  this  that  comes  tip  from  the  wilder- 
ness, leaning  on  her  beloved  ?  and  he  now  spoke  of  it,  as  expressing  his 
own  condition  ;  Thus  am  I  going,  (said  he,)  out  of  the  wilderness  of  all  my 
temptations,  leaning  on  my  blessed  Jesxis !  When  his  affectionate  friends 
were  weeping  about  him,  he  bestowed  this  rebuke  upon  them.  Away  with 
your  idols!  away  with  your  idols!  It  was  not  very  long  before  he  fell 
3ick,  that  he  wrote  this  passage  in  his  diary.  '  I  was  affected  with  what 
'  I  read  of  Mr.  Shewel  of  Cover.try,  whe  died  in  the  pulpit.     Lord,  let  not 


Book  III.]        THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.  iJ6h 

'  me  die  mcarily,  but  in  dying  bring  murk  glory  to  thee.^  And  now  it  shall 
be  so  !  At  last,  just  as  he  was  going  to  expire,  he  seemed  as  if  he  had 
some  extraordinary  apprehensions  of  the  glory,  in  which  our  Lord  Je- 
?us  Christ  is  above  enthroned  :  he  strove  to  speak  unto  his  vertuous  con- 
sort, and  anon  spoke  thus  much.  Oh  !  what  shall  I  say  ?  He  is  altogether 
lovely  !  His  worthy  sister-in-law.  then  coming  to  him,  he  said.  Oh  t  all 
aur  praises  of  him  here,  are  poor  and  loxe  things  !  and  then  added.  His  glo- 
rious angels  are  come  for  me  !  upon  the  saying  whereof  he  closed  his  own 
eyes,  about  the  time  when  he  still  opened  his  Bible  for  his  publick  la- 
bours :  on  the  Lord's  day,  about  three  in  the  afternoon  ;  and  he  never 
opened  them  any  more. 

This  was  he  whom  you  are  now  going  to  bury  ;  but  I  pray  you,  bury 
tjot  with  him  all  the  holy  counsels  and  warnings,  that  we  have  heard  from 
him  ;   remember  how  you  have  received  and  heard. 

He  was  one,  who  took  much  notice  of  what  was  from  the  oracles  of 
God,  spoken  to  him,  in  the  sermons  of  other  men.  He  has  much  re- 
plenished his  diaries,  with  remarks  of  this  importance  ;  I  have  heard  a 
good  word  to  day  !  And  he  would  often  decline  going  to  feasts,  whereto 
his  friends  invited  him,  that  he  might  go  to  private  meetings  in  some  oth- 
er parts  of  the  town,  where  he  might  at  the  same  iiaie  feast  on  the  word 
4fGod.     Thus,  more  particularly. 

At  one  time. 
'I  heard  a  very  good  word.     Are  ye  not  carnal?     Ah,   Lord,   I   am 

*  carnal.  The  Lord  give  me  his  spirit  to  make  me  spiritual !  I  was  in 
'  many  things  justly  reproved  :  let  me  take  it,  and  be  wrought  into  the 
'  likeness  of  this  good  word.' 

At  another  time. 

'  To  day  I  heard  a  most  precious  word,  with  which  I  was  much  edified 

'  and  refreshed,  viz.  Christ  is  all.     Oh  !  that  I  might  never  forget  it ! 

'  Oh  !  that  it  might  be  written  upon  the  table  of  my  heart !    Let  my  soul 

'  feed  upon  it  for  ever.     It  was  very  seasonable.     Though  it  was  a  day 

*  most  intolerably  cold  :  so  cold,  that  there  was  little  writing  it;  yet  it 
'  heartily  warmed  me.     I  needed  a  Christ ;  Oh  !   that  I  could  get  him, 

*  and  keep  him  for  ever !  I  would  make  him  my  all,  and  ceunt  him  my 
'  all.     I  need  a  whole  Christ :  Oh  !  that  I  may  prize  a  whole  Christ,  and 

*  improve  a  whole  Christ.     I  have  of  late  thought,   that  this  may  be  one 

*  evidence  of  my  right  unto  glory,  that  Christ  is  more  precious  to  me 
'  than  ever.' 

What  1  say  upon  it,  is  ;  imitate  him  in  a  point  so  imitable.  This 
preacher  is  well  worthy  to  be  imitated,  as  he  Avas  an  hearer. 

You  can  all  testify,  that  he  was  none  of  those  cold  preachers,  whereof 
one  complains,  Verba  vita:  in  quorundam  Doctorum  Labiis,  quantum  ad 
Virtutem,  4*  efficaciam  Moriuntur :  Adeo  enim  tepide,  adeo  remisse,  verba 
Dei  annunciant,  ut  Extincta  in  Labiis  Eorum  penitus  videantur ;  unde  Si- 
cut  ipsi  Frigidi  sunt,  4-  Extincti,  sic  Frigidos  4'  Extinctos  relinquunt,  fy 
ntinam  nonfacerent  Auditores. 

For  his  preaching,  he  particularly  prescribed  unto  himself,  according 
to  a  memorandum,  which  I  found  thus  entred  in  his  diary. 

'Old  Mr.  Thomas  Shepheard,  when  on  his  death-bed,  said  unto  the 
'  young  ministers  about  him,  that  their  work  was  great,  and  called  for 
■  great  seriousness.     For  his  own  part,, he  told  them  three  things.     First, 

*  that  the  studying  of  every  sermon  cost  him  tears  ;  he  wept  in  the  stu- 

Vf)L.   I.  72 


570  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW-ENGLAND.         [Book  HI. 

*  dying  of  every  sermon.  Secondly,  before  he  preached  any  sermon, 
»  he  got  good  by  it  himself.  Thirdly,  he  always  went  up  into  the  pulpit, 
'  as  if  lie  were  to  give  up  his  accounts  unto  his  master.  Oh  !  that  my  soul 
'  (adds  our  Bailij^  may  remeiaber  and  practise  accordingly  /' 

To  this  his  preaching,  when  he  saw  God  gave  any  success,  he  would 
still  in  his  private  papers  take  as  thankful  notice,  as  if  great  riches  had 
been  heaped  in  upon  him.  And  yet  he  would  add  [such  passages  I  some- 
times find] 

'  Let  my  soul  rejoice.     But,  Lord,  keep  me  from  pride.     I  desire  to 

*  be  humbled  fcr  it.     Do  I  not  know  that  God  makes  use  of  whom  he 

*  pleases,  and  usually  of  the  zveakest .'  JVoJiesh  shall  glory. ^ 

But  if  the  word  preached  by  this  lively  dispenser  of  it,  live  not  in  our 
lives,  after  he  is  dead,  he  will  himself  be,  which  he  often  told  you,  he 
feared  he  should  be  in  the   day  of  God,  a  witness  against  many  of  you. 

That  we  may  then  meet  him  with  joy,  Let  us  remember  them,  who 
have  spoketi  to  us  the  word  of  God,  and  follow  their  faith,  considering  the>^ 
end  of  their  conversation. 

But  be  thou  sensible,  O  all  my  country  of  New-England,  how  much 
thou  art  weakened,  by  the  departure  of  such  blessings  to  the  world  of 
the  blessed. 

Thy  Baily  could  sometimes  write  such  passages  as  this,  (I  find)  in  his 
reserved  papers. 

'  There  was  a  day  of  prayer.  God  was  with  me  in  prayer,  helping 
'  me  to  plead  with  him  an  hour  and  half /or  this  poor  land,  and  in  some 
'  measure  to  believe  for  it.     I  hope,  God  will  hear  and  help.' 

Such  an  one  taking  flight  from  thee,  let  thy  lamentations  thereupon 
be  heard ;  Ji'ly  Father,  my  Father  ' 


THE  END  OF  VOL.  1. 


CONTENTS  OF  VOLUME  I. 


PAGE 
9f\ 


A  General  Introduction,  giving  an  account  of  the  whole  ensuing  work. 

THE   FIRST   BOOK,   ENTITULED,    ANTIQ.UITIE3.  33 

It  reports  the  design  where-o/i,  the  manner  where-m,  and  the  people 
where-%,  the  several  colonies  of  New-England  were  planted. 
And  so  it  prepares  zl  field  for  considerable  things  to  be  acted  there- 
upon. 

The  Introduction. 

Chap.  I.   Venisti  tandem  ?  or,  Discoveries  of  America,  tending  to,     39 
and  ending  in.  Discoveries  of  jYew- England.  40 

Chap.  II.  Primordia,  or,  the  Voyage  to  JVexs- England,  which 
produced  the  first  settlement  of  New-Plymouth  ;  with  an  account 
of  many  remarkable  and  memorable  Providences,  relating  to  that 
Voyage.  45 

Chap.  III.  Conamur  Tenues  Grandia,  or,  abrief  Account  of  the  Dif- 
ficulties, the  Deliverances,  and  other  Occurrences,  through  which 
the  Plantation  oi  New-Plymouth^  arrived  unto  the  consistency  of 
a  Colony.  53 

Chap.  IV.  Paulo  Majora  !  or,  the  Essays  and  Causes,  which  pro- 
duced the  second,  but  largest.  Colony  o{  New- England  ;  and  the 
manner  wherein  the  first  church  of  this  New  Colony  was  gathered.     60 

Chap.  V.  Peregrini  Deo  Cures,  or,  the  Progress  of  the  New  Colony  ; 
with  some  account  of  the  Persons,  the  Methods,  and  the  Troubles, 
by  which  it  came  to  something.  68 

Chap.  VI.  Qui  trans  mare  Currunt,  or,  the  Addition  of  several  other 
Colonies  to  the  former  ;  with  some  Considerables,  in  the  condi- 
tion of  these  later  Colonies.  74 

Chap.  VII.  Hecatompolis ,  or,  a  Field  which  the  Lord  hath  blessed.  An 
Ecclesiastical  Map  of  New-England.     With  Remarks  upon  it.  79 

Appendix. 
The  Bostonian  Ebenezer,  or,  some  Historical  Remarks  on  the  state  of 
Boston,  the  chief  town   of  New-England,  and   of    the  English 
America.  84 

\ 

THE  SECOND  BOOK,  ENTITULED,  ECCr.ESIARUM  CLYPEI.  97 

it  contains  the  Lives  of  the  Governours,  and  the  names  of  the  Magis- 
trates, that  have  been  Shields  unto  the  churches  of  New-England. 

The  Introduction.  99 

Chap.  I.   Galeacius  Secundus.    The  hife  o(  William  Bradford,  Esq. 

Governour  of  Plymouth  Colony.  100 

Chap.  II.   Successors.  10.5 

Chap.  III.  Patres  Conscripti,  OT,  Asshteots.  107 
Chap.  IV.  Nehemias  Americanus.     The  Life  of  Jo/w  fTiWferoip,  Esq. 

Governour  of  the  Ma»sachuset  Colony.  ^^^ 


572  CUNTENTS  OV  VOL.   1. 

PAGt, 

Chap.  V.  Successors.  Amona;  whom,  larger  accounts  are  given  of 
Governour  Dudley,  Tind  Govornour  Bradslreet.  120 

Chap.  VI.  (^gj  Oyii  *•  ^-  Viri  Aniviuti,  or,  Assistents.  With  Re- 
marks. 128 

Chap.  VII.  Puhlicola  Chrialianus,  or,  the  Life  o£  Edward  Hopkins, 
Esq.  the  first  Governour  of  Connecticut  Colony.  131 

Chap.  VIII.  Successors.  135 

Chap.  IX.  Humili'as  Honoraia.  The  Life  of  Theophilus  Eaton,  Esq. 
Governour  of  JVcay-f/oDen  Colon}'.  136 

Chap.  X.    Successors.  141 

Chap.  Xi.  Hermes  Christiaiius.  Tiie  Life  of  Jolm  Winthrop,  Esq. 
the  first  Governour  o(  Connecticut  and  Mew  Haven,  united.  143 

Chap.  XII.  Assistents.  147 

Appendix. 
Pietas  in  Patriam,  or  the  Life  of  His  Excellency,  Sir  William  Phips, 
late  Governour  of  New-England.     An  History  filled  with  great 
variety  of  memorable  matters.  149 

THE  THIRD  BOOK,  ENTITfl-ED,  POLYBIUS.  209 

It  contains  the  Lives  of  m^ny  Divines,  by  whose  evangelical  ministry, 
the  Churches  of  JYew- England  have  been  illuminated. 

The  Introduction. 
A  General  History,  De  Vires  lllustribus,  dividing  into  three  classes  the 
Ministers  who  came  owiof  Old  England,  for  the  service  of  New.    213 
The  first  part,  entituled,  Johannes  in  Eremo,  223 

The  Introduction.  227 

Chap.  1.  Cottonus  Redivivus,  or,  the  Life  of  Mr.  John  Cotton.  232 

Chap.  II.  JSfortonus  Honoratus,  or  the  Life  of  Mr.  John  Norton.  261 

Chap.  III.  Memoria  Wi/soniana,  or,  the  Life  of  Mr.  John  Wilson.  275 
Chap.  IV.  Furitanismus  Nov-.inglicanus ,  or,   the  Life  of  Mr.  John 

Davenport.  292 

.Appendix. 

The  Light  of  the  Western  Churches,  or,  the  Life  of  Mr.  Thomas  Hooker.  302 

The  Second  Part,  entituled, 
Sepher  Jereim,  i.  e.  Liber  Deum  Timcntiuin,  or,  Dead  Abels  yet  speak- 
ing, and  spoken  of.  320 
The  Introduction.  ib. 
Chap.  I.  Janus  Nov-.^ngUcnnus,  or,  the  Life  of  Mr.  Francis  Higginson.  322 
Chap.  II.  Cygnea  Cantio,  or,  the  Death  of  Mr.  Avery  331 
Chap.  III.  Natus  ad  Exemplar,  or,  the  Life  of  Mr.  Jonathan  Burr.  333 
Chap.  IV.  The  Life  of  Mr.  George  Philips.  339 
Chap.  V.  Pastor  Evangelicus,  or,  the  Life  of  Mr.  Thomas  Shepard.  343 
Chap.  VI.  Prndcntius,  or,  the  lAfe  of  Mr.  Peter  Prudden.  357 
Chap.  VII.  Melancthon,  or,  the  Life  of  Mr.  Adam  Blackman,  358 
Chap.  VIII.  The  Life  of  Mr.  .dbraham  Pierson.  359 
Chap.  IX.  The  Life  of  Mr.  Richard  Denton.  360 
Chap.  X.  The  Life  of  Mr.  Peter  Bulkly.  361 
Chap.  XL  The  Life  of  Mr.  Rtdph  Partridge.  3G3 
Chap.  XU.  Psaltes.  Or,  the  Life  of  Mr.  Henry  Dunster.  366 


CONTENTS    OF    VOL.    I.  67S 

PAGE.       . 

Chap.  XIII.  The  Life  of  Mr.  Ezekiel  Rogers^  369 

Chap.  XIV.  Eulogius,  or,  the  Life  of  Mr.  Nathanael  Rogers,  373 

Appendix. 
An  extract  from  the  Diary  of  the  famous  old  Mr.  John  Rogers  of 

Dedham.  38 1 

Chap.  XV.  Bibliander Nov-Anglicanus,  or,  the  Life  of  Mr.  Samuel 

Newman.  387 

Chap.   XV^L  Doctor  Irrefragahilis,  or,  the  Life  of  Mr.  Samnel  Stone.  392 
Chap.  XVn.  The  Life  of  Mr.    William  Thompson,  396 

Chap.   XVIII.   The  Life  of  Mr.  John  Warham.  399 

Chap.   XIX.  The  Life  of  Mr.  Henry  Flint.  400 

Chap.  XX.  Fulgentius,  or,  the  Life  of  Mr.  Richard   Mather.  401 

Chap.  XXL  The  Life  of  Mr.  Zachariak  Symmes.  414 

Chap.  XXn.   The  Life  of  Mr.  John  Allen.  416 

Chap.  XXIIl.  Cadmus  Americanus,  or,   the  Life  of   Mr.   Charles 

Chauncey.  418 

Chap.  XXIV.  Lucas,  or,  the  Life  of  Mr.  John  Fisk.  430 

Chap.  XXV^.  Scholasticus,  or,  the  Life  o( Mr.  Thomas  Parker — With 

an  Appendix  containing  Memoirs  of  Mr.  James  JVoyes.  433 

Chap.  XX VL  The  Life  of  Mr   Thomas  Thacher.  441   -  — 

Chap.  XXVIL   The  Life  of  Mr.  Peter  Hobart.  448 

Chap.  XXVin.   A  man  of  God,  and  an  honourable  man,  or,  the  Life 

of  Mr.  Samuel  tVhiting.  452 

Chap.  XXIX.  S.  Asterius,  or,  the  Life  of  Mr.  John  Sherman.  461 

Chap.  XXX.  Eusebius,  or,  the  Life  of  Mr.  Thomas  Cobbet.  467 

Chap.  XXXL  Modestus,  or,  the  Life  of  Mr.  John  Ward.  470 

Mantissa. 
The  Epitaph  of  Dr.  John  Owen.  472-    — - 

The  Third  Part,  Entituled, 
^0)iiiTi%^cc  hnynf'Uirx,  sive.  Utiles  Narrationes.  474 

It  contains,  the  life  of  the  renowned  John  Eliot ;  with  an  account,  con- 
cerning the  success  of  the  gospel  among  the  Indians.  A  very  enter- 
taining piece  of  Church  History. 

The  Fourth  Part,  Entituled,  Remains.  533 

The  Introduction.  ib. 

Chap.  L  Remains  of  the  First  Classis,  or.  Shorter  Accounts  of  some 

useful  Divines.  534 

Chap.  II.   The  Life  of  Mr.  Thomas  Allen.  537 

Chap.  III.   The  Life  of  Mr.  John  Knowles.  538 

Chap.  IV.  Elisha's  Bones.  Or,  the  Life  of  Mr.  flenri/  Whitfield.         540 
Chap.  V.  Remains  of  the  Second  Classis.  And  more  largely,  the  Life 

of  Mr.  John  Woodbridge.  542 

Chap.  VI.  Remains  of  the  Third  Classis.     With  more  punctual  ac- 
counts of  Mr.  John  Oxenbridge,  Mr.  Thomas  Walley,  and  Mr.  Sam- 
uel Lee.  544 
Chap    VII.  Agoodman  making  a  good  end,  or,  the  Life  and  Death 

of  Mr.  JohnBaily.  '  S4P   - 


Date  Due 


